SOUTH KOREA
Special budget approved
The nation’s parliament approved an extra budget that had been caught up in a fight between the new government and the opposition for the past month. The 11 trillion won (US$9.8 billion) in extra spending is the centerpiece of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s plans to create tens of thousands of new jobs and boost growth. The parliament has cut back about 150 billion won from the initial 11.2 trillion won plan that would have created about 110,000 new jobs both directly and indirectly, according to the South Korean Ministry of Finance and Strategy. Most of those would be in the public sector, including police, firefighters, assistant teachers and social workers.
HONG KONG
Growth target likely to rise
The territory’s government is likely to raise its growth target as the economy expands faster than expected this year, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan (陳茂波) said on Saturday, according to RTHK. The government is likely to raise its full-year growth estimate by 0.5 percentage points from the 2 percent to 3 percent forecast in its annual budget in February after it reviews data in August, Chan said. The city’s economy is rebounding after growing 1.9 percent last year. There are still downside risks remaining for the city, including uncertainty surrounding US trade policies and capital flows amid rising US Federal Reserve interest rates, Chan said.
TOBACCO
India reacts to Reuters report
India plans to seek an explanation from Philip Morris International Inc about its marketing practices after Reuters reported that the tobacco giant used tactics that government officials say flout the country’s law, an Indian Ministry of Health and Welfare official said on Friday. Philip Morris advertises Marlboro cigarettes, the world’s best-selling brand, at tobacco shops in the nation and distributes free smokes at nightclubs and bars frequented by young people to promote the brand, Reuters reported earlier this week.
CANADA
Signs of rising inflation
Canada’s core consumer prices and retail sales came in faster than expected, signaling that overall inflation may turn around to clear the way for another rate increase this year. The average of the central bank’s three core inflation measures rose to 1.4 percent last month, Statistics Canada said on Friday, up from a May reading of 1.3 percent. Retail sales doubled economists’ forecasts for May with a 0.6 percent increase, bringing the year-over-year gain to 7.3 percent. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz lifted the key rate to 0.75 percent this month, the first such move in seven years, and said further tightening depends on how fresh data change the inflation outlook.
BANKING
SG fined for security failings
France’s banking watchdog on Friday said it had fined Societe Generale SA 5 million euros (US$5.8 million) over lapses in its measures to prevent money laundering that could finance terrorism. The punishment was for a number of failings picked up during regular checks carried out in 2015, bank and insurance supervisory body ACPR said. Societe Generale had been slow to release information to Tracfin, the French Ministry of Economy and Finance body that tracks the movement of money that could be used to finance terrorism. In addition, some operations that should have been brought to Tracfin’s attention had not been, and these were significant lapses, the agency added.
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
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