INDIA
GDP could grow 7.5%
Authorities yesterday said they expect economic growth to rise to between 7 and 7.5 percent in the next fiscal year as the negative impact of two controversial reforms diminishes. The economy is expected to grow 6.75 percent this fiscal year on the back of a recovery in the second half, the government said in its economic report released before the annual budget. Growth has been hit by the introduction of a new national goods and services tax last year and by a controversial 2016 move to withdraw all high-value banknotes from circulation. The economy has also been helped by a rise in exports, Indian Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian told reporters.
UNITED STATES
Singapore rules real estate
Singapore last year ousted China to become the biggest Asian investor in US commercial property. It was the first time since 2012 that the city outspent China, data from Real Capital Analytics and Cushman & Wakefield Inc showed. Deals by Chinese investors plunged 66 percent to US$5.9 billion as regulators cracked down on capital outflows. “We expect Singapore to continue to be the single largest source of Asian investments in the US real estate markets,” Cushman regional executive director of capital markets for Asia-Pacific Priyaranjan Kumar said, adding that money might flow into data centers, student accommodation and logistics.
GERMANY
Chinese money raises fears
Germany wants to acquire the legal means to take a closer look at bids from Chinese companies to acquire German and European companies to better protect technologies, German State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Matthias Machnig told newspaper Welt am Sonntag. Machnig said it is urgent that proposed Europe-wide measures to police surging Chinese investment be adopted by the end of this year. “It is essential that we get a tougher law in the European Union this year to resist takeover fantasies or outflows of technology or know-how,” he said in an interview, excerpts of which were made available on Saturday. The paper cited a study by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research that showed the volume of known Chinese investments in Germany had risen to 12.1 billion euros (US$15 billion) last year from about 11 billion in 2016 and just 100 million euros seven years ago.
VIETNAM
Moody’s urges tighter policy
Vietnam should be cautious against more monetary accommodation, as it could pose risks to the economy and the banking sector, Moody’s Investors Service said. “Given the government’s focus appears to be towards supporting headline growth, the State Bank of Vietnam may continue to pursue a neutral to accommodative policy stance,” Anushka Shah, Moody’s sovereign analyst in Singapore, said in an e-mailed reply to questions on Friday. “However, easier monetary policy risks undermining macroeconomic stability, particularly amid already rapid credit growth,” Shah said. “A continued acceleration in credit growth could also pose some risks to the banking sector by eroding banks’ capital buffers.” The country’s central bank will hold interest rates throughout the year after an unexpected cut last year, analysts in a Bloomberg survey said, in contrast to others in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia where policymakers tightened policy last week.
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
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
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