TAXATION
Resistance to Australian cut
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull faces a fresh blow in parliament this week, with the Senate yesterday poised to reject his government’s plans for a corporate tax cut after several independent lawmakers vowed to vote against the measure. The government has proposed to cut the corporate tax rate from 30 percent to 25 percent in a bid to boost the economy less than a year away from the next election. Although the government won backing for its centerpiece A$144 billion (US$106 billion) package of income tax cuts, lawmakers are resistant to extending tax breaks after a public inquiry exposed alleged misconduct in the financial sector.
GERMANY
Confidence ebbing
Business confidence ebbed this month to its lowest in more than a year, suggesting the mood among company executives in Europe’s biggest economy is darkening as the world edges toward a full-blown trade war. Activity in all four economic sectors measured by the Munich-based Ifo institute in the survey — manufacturing, services, trade and construction — fell, adding to signs the economy is cooling after a boom last year. Ifo said its business climate index fell to 101.8, the lowest level since May last year. The reading was slightly stronger than predicted in a Reuters consensus forecast of 101.7. “The tailwind enjoyed by the German economy is [easing],” Ifo head Clemens Fuest said. However, economists ruled out a recession and predicted the economy would continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace than last year’s 2.5 percent.
TRANSPORTATION
Uber in court in London
Uber yesterday went to court in the UK to overturn a decision stripping it of its license in London after being ruled unfit to run a taxi service in its most important European market. Regulator Transport for London (TfL) shocked the Silicon Valley firm in September last year by refusing to renew its license, citing failings in its approach to reporting serious criminal offences and to background checks on drivers. The appeal is due to be heard over three days and is to hear from witnesses including Uber’s UK chairman Laurel Powers-Freeling, UK head of cities Fred Jones and TfL’s Interim Director of Licensing Helen Chapman. The company is seeking an 18-month license to prove to London authorities that it has reformed.
TRANSPORTATION
Didi Chuxing in Melbourne
Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing (滴滴出行) has intensified its drive for global business, yesterday launching in Melbourne as it joins rivals Uber, Taxify and Ola in Australia’s taxi market. Didi Chuxing’s latest expansion is part of attempts to rival US behemoth Uber. “Didi’s entry into Australia marks a new milestone in its outreach to global communities,” it said.
BANKING
Commonwealth streamlines
Commonwealth, Australia’s biggest bank, yesterday announced plans to spin off its wealth management and mortgage-broking arms as it tries to streamline operations and focus on core businesses. It is also considering offloading its general insurance business. The demerged business, CFS Group, is to include Commonwealth’s Colonial First State, Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM), Count Financial, Financial Wisdom and Aussie Home Loans businesses. The new entity will list on the nation’s stock exchange next year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day