SINGAPORE
IMF urges policy readiness
The central bank should be ready to adjust its monetary policy further if deflation takes root in the city state, the IMF said. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) took “appropriate” action last month when it eased policy by announcing it would not seek currency appreciation, the IMF said on its Web site. Consumer prices have declined every month since November 2014, partly due to lower oil prices and reflecting a weakening economy. Tighter restrictions on foreign workers and an aging workforce is a constraint to growth, IMF said.
MOBILE
Nokia reports Q1 loss
Nokia Oyj yesterday reported a first-quarter net loss of 513 million euros (US$584 million), down from a standalone profit of 177 million euros a year earlier and warned of a further decline, hit by a lower demand in mobile networks. CEO Rajeev Suri described the revenue decline as disappointing and said the climate remained “challenging” in mobile networks. He warned of further cuts and layoffs as the company searched for savings. Sales in Nokia’s main networks sector dropped 8 percent in the period, mainly because of a 12 percent decline in Ultra Broadband Networks, Nokia said. Nokia earlier said it expected some market headwinds in the wireless sector this year and still holds the view.
TELECOMS
Sprint drags Softbank profit
Softbank Group Corp posted full-year profit that missed analysts’ estimates as it struggles to turn around US carrier Sprint Corp. Net income was ¥474.2 billion (US$4.4 billion) in the 12 months ended March, the Tokyo-based company said yesterday. Softbank is struggling to revive Sprint as it reduces capital spending, lowers prices to woo users and puts assets up as collateral to lower borrowing costs. Chairman Masayoshi Son’s 2013 acquisition of the US carrier has weighed on the Japanese company’s stock even as its domestic business adds customers and taps into rising demand for data services. Annual operating profit was ¥999.5 billion, missing estimates for ¥1.06 trillion. Fourth-quarter operating profit was ¥124.2 billion, according to numbers derived from the full-year result.
EGYPT
Inflation rose last month
Annual urban consumer price inflation jumped from 9 percent in March to 10.3 percent last month, the official statistics agency CAPMAS said yesterday. It was the first time since December last year that inflation has accelerated. The central bank devalued the Egyptian pound in March by about 13 percent, and then hiked interest rates by 150 basis points at a meeting on March 17 to curb inflationary pressures.
BANKING
ING Groep profit falls
ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch lender, said first-quarter profit declined 29 percent on growing regulatory expenses and a loss at its financial-markets division. Net income dropped to 1.26 billion euros from 1.77 billion euros a year earlier, the Amsterdam-based bank said in a statement yesterday. The lender is looking worldwide for more financial-technology investments to build its capabilities in areas from lending and payments to money management. First-quarter regulatory costs jumped to 496 million euros from 174 million euros a year earlier on higher levies and contributions to fund deposit-insurance programs. The bank expects costs of 960 million euros for the full year, up from 620 million euros last year.
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
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