JAPAN
Economy continues to grow
The economy grew for the eighth straight quarter at the end of last year, government data released yesterday showed, its longest period of expansion since the “bubble” boom days of the late 1980s. GDP expanded just 0.1 percent in the final quarter of last year, the Cabinet Office said, a far cry from the 0.6 percent figure for last year’s July-to-September quarter. At an annualized rate, the world’s third-largest economy grew 0.5 percent. For the calendar year, the economy grew 1.6 percent, compared with 0.9 percent in 2016, the data showed.
SINGAPORE
Growth expected to slow
The economy lost some of its momentum in the fourth quarter and the government sees growth moderating slightly this year as an export boom eases. GDP rose at a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 2.1 percent from the prior quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said yesterday. The economy expanded 3.6 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and posted full-year growth of 3.6 percent, the ministry said, adding that it is set to expand slightly above the middle of the 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent forecast range this year.
MALAYSIA
Economy outgrows forecast
The economy last quarter grew at a slightly faster pace than economists projected, boosted by a global trade recovery and rising private consumption. GDP rose 5.9 percent from a year earlier, after climbing 6.2 percent in the third quarter of last year, Bank Negara Malaysia said in a statement yesterday. The economy last year expanded 5.9 percent, the fastest pace in three years, the central bank said, adding that growth this year will remain favorable and domestic demand will remain the key driver.
GERMANY
Exports support GDP rise
Strong exports helped the economy to continue its solid upswing at the end of last year and grow by 0.6 percent in the quarter from October to December, Federal Statistical Office data released yesterday showed. The headline figure for seasonally adjusted GDP growth was in line with a consensus forecast and marked a slowdown from the downwardly revised 0.7 percent in the third quarter. For the whole year, the economy grew by a calendar-adjusted 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the data showed.
UNITED STATES
Household debt on rise
Total debt held by households last year surged to more than US$13 trillion, the fifth straight annual increase, amid a continued rise in home mortgages and auto loans, New York Federal Reserve Bank data released on Tuesday showed. However, nearly 10 years after the start of the global financial crisis, the hangover from the housing market collapse is still evident in some areas of the country, the bank said in its quarterly report.
BANKING
PNG finds US$1.8bn fraud
India’s second-largest state-run bank yesterday said it had detected fraud of almost US$1.8 billion at one of its branches, sending its shares plunging more than 7 percent. Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of several state-owned lenders the government is trying to clean up, said transactions worth US$1.77 billion had been made “for the benefit of a few select account holders with their apparent connivance.”
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
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
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