INVESTMENT
Manila plans bond offering
The Philippines may offer about US$750 million of global bonds next year while seeking to keep domestic funding elevated. Manila plans to borrow 747 billion pesos (US$16.6 billion) next year, and will probably sell 33 billion pesos of global bonds, Philippines Treasurer Roberto Tan on Saturday said in an interview with Bloomberg at the Clark economic zone in Pampanga, a province north of Manila. About 643 billion pesos, or 86 percent, will be raised locally as the market remains very liquid, Tan said.
The nation has increased reliance on the local market to fund its budget as money supply almost doubled in the five years under Philippine President Benigno Aquino III. A steady flow of remittance by overseas workers and revenue from the outsourcing industry boosted liquidity to 7.6 trillion pesos in May, compared with about 4 trillion pesos at the end of 2009.
ECONOMY
Saudi PMI fell last month
An indicator of growth in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil industries last month fell to the lowest level in six years as the biggest Arab economy loses momentum. The Emirates NBD Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 56.1 from 57 in May, driven by a weak increase in new orders and slower output growth, the Dubai-based bank said in a report released yesterday. The same measure for the United Arab Emirates fell to 54.7 last month, the lowest in 22 months. Saudi Arabia’s PMI index has dropped in four of the first six months this year as the kingdom grapples with the plunge in crude oil prices.
GREEN ENERGY
Nice Grid shows weaknesses
A major pilot project by Europe’s largest power network operator to integrate power from rooftop solar panels into the grid has shown that battery storage of renewable energy is not yet economically viable in Europe. The conclusion is a sobering one for proponents of sun and wind energy because as more of it comes on tap, better storage will be needed to keep the power produced when it is sunny and windy so it can be used at other times. The 30 million euro (US$33.34 million) “Nice Grid” pilot is one of the biggest in a EU-backed “Grid4EU” scheme in which five national power companies test the power grids of tomorrow. EDF’s power grid unit ERDF has connected compact batteries to solar panels on rooftops in the village of Carros on the outskirts of Nice, France, and utility-size batteries to its local power distribution network. The technology works perfectly, but the pilot has shown it is still too expensive for wider rollout.
UNITED KINGDOM
Liquid futures on tap
There is no shortage of liquidity at London’s first stock exchange-themed bar, where beer prices fluctuate with demand and the occasional market crash can send prices tumbling. With its sterile white walls, piercing ceiling lights and flatscreen TVs flashing green and red, Reserve Bar Stock Exchange in the “Square Mile” financial district has the feel of a trading room. To capture the best deals, customers use an app to monitor prices that constantly shift based on how much customers are buying. The bar’s signature cocktail Black Tuesday is a nod to one of the most famous crashes on Wall Street in 1929. With the first full-week of business under his belt, owner Alan Grant plans to launch a futures market where customers can lock in bargain prices up to three months in advance and an “insider trading” Twitter account that will give customers hints about when crashes may occur.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last