EGYPT
Non-oil sector rebounds
Economic activity for the country’s non-oil private sector accelerated the most since 2014, a sign that growth might be recovering after authorities abandoned currency controls and secured a US$12 billion IMF loan deal. The Emirates NBD purchasing managers’ index for the whole economy climbed for the third month in a row to 46.7 last month from 43.3 in January. The new orders sub-index rose to 44 from 39.2. While readings below 50 indicate the economy is still in contraction, the magnitude of the gain signals an improvement in business confidence three months after Egyptian policymakers floated the pound to ease a crippling dollar shortage.
UKRAINE
IMF agrees on update
The IMF on Saturday said it had reached an agreement with Ukraine on an updated memorandum under a US$17.5 billion program, paving the way for its board to consider the disbursement of the fourth loan tranche of US$1 billion later this month. “The IMF staff has reached agreement with government authorities on an updated memorandum of economic and financial policies,” IMF Ukraine mission chief Ron van Rooden said in a statement. The country also gets the reprieve of not having to go though the unpopular measure of raising its pension age to get the cash.
MACHINERY
Caterpillar sued for fraud
Caterpillar Inc was sued on Friday for allegedly deceiving shareholders about its business, one day after US federal law enforcers raided three of its buildings in connection with a probe into the heavy machinery manufacturer’s offshore tax practices. In a complaint filed in Chicago federal court, Jacob Newman accused Caterpillar of defrauding him and other shareholders in regulatory filings by touting its commitment to good ethics while concealing how it “unlawfully used foreign subsidiaries” to avoid paying billions in US taxes. Newman is seeking unspecified damages in his proposed class-action lawsuit on behalf of Caterpillar investors.
COMMODITIES
EGA to sell shares
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the largest aluminum producer in the Middle East, is preparing to sell shares amid a comeback in commodity prices, according to people familiar with the matter. The United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company is seeking advisers for a potential initial public offering on the local stock exchange as early as this year, the people said. The UAE agreed to merge its two flagship state aluminum firms in 2013 to create EGA, with an enterprise value of about US$15 billion. EGA said profit last year rose about 10 percent to 2.1 billion dirhams (US$572 million) on record production. Output jumped 4.2 percent to a record 2.5 million tonnes, the company said.
SRI LANKA
Tourist numbers slip
Tourist arrivals fell 0.4 percent to 197,517 last month for the first time since a nearly three-decade-long civil war ended in May 2009, government data released on Friday showed. It snapped a 93-month streak of tourist increases on the island, popular for its Indian Ocean beaches and varied wildlife. Tourism accounts for about 5 percent of Sri Lanka’s economy. The slight decline was due to inconveniences and long waiting times at its main airport, which currently closes eight hours a day for runaway renovations, analysts said. The airport is due to open again early next month.
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