MACROECONOMICS
Energy slump hurts Qatar
Qatar’s balance of trade fell almost 60 per cent in the year to last month, official figures released on Saturday showed, as the Gulf country grapples with a slump in global energy prices. The Qatari Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics said that the trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, fell 10.1 billion riyals (US$2.77 billion) last month year-on-year. That represents a fall of 58 percent, the ministry said in a statement. In comparison to January last year, there was a decrease in the value of exports of the major commodity groups, “oil-gas and other gaseous hydrocarbons,” the ministry said.
MACROECONOMICS
UK rakes in home-sale tax
The British Treasury has netted 15 percent more tax on home purchases worth more than £1 million (US$1.39 million) since reforming the levy on property transactions, analysis by the tax authorities showed. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne introduced the change in December 2014 and since then more than 780,000 homebuyers saved about £657 million on so-called stamp duty, the Treasury said yesterday. The measure, which introduced marginal rates that only apply to the portion of the price above a series of thresholds, was aimed at reducing costs for average families and increasing the levy on more expensive homes.
PHARMACEUTICALS
China to speed drug approval
The China Food and Drug Administration said it would accelerate approvals of new medicines, long a headache for pharmaceutical firms that complain it takes too long to get drugs to market. The agency on Friday said in a statement that it would prioritize the approval of drugs with clear clinical value, including those that use advanced technology or innovative methods. It added that certain categories of drugs would get priority, including those for children and the elderly, rare diseases, AIDS, malignant tumors and viral hepatitis. The announcement also outlined new processes for applying for clinical trials and manufacturing registration.
SOLAR INDUSTRY
Hanergy to report big loss
Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd (漢能薄膜發電集團), the once high-flying Chinese solar company whose shares plunged 47 percent in a single day in May last year, on Friday said in a statement that revenue has plummeted and it expects to report a “significant” loss for last year. The announcement caps months of turmoil for Hanergy, whose shares have been suspended from trading in Hong Kong since May last year. The company said that sales, which were HK$9.6 billion (US$1.23 billion) in 2014, might fall “substantially” for last year. Profits, which were HK$3.3 billion the prior year, would give way to a loss, it said.
FINANCE
Credit Suisse sells off debt
Credit Suisse Group AG has begun selling US$1.9 billion of distressed-debt holdings that triggered losses at the end of last year, as part of an overhaul by the company’s chief executive officer Tidjane Thiam, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Zurich-based lender has been marketing small blocks of its hard-to-sell loans to hedge funds and money managers who purchase distressed debt, the people said. The bank has also been contacted by asset managers interested in buying its entire distressed-debt book, but none of the offers were considered viable, they said.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last