GERMANY
Business confidence dives
A closely watched survey is showing that business confidence has fallen to a near five-year low as managers’ expectations for the coming six months have deteriorated. The Ifo institute yesterday said that its monthly confidence index slipped to 97.4 points this month from 97.9 last month, in line with market expectations. The third straight monthly fall takes the index to its lowest since November 2014 and was entirely due to managers’ waning views of future prospects. Their assessment of the current situation rose modestly from last month.
BANKING
Deposit protection planned
New Zealand is one of the few developed countries where people with bank savings have no recourse if their bank fails, but Minister of Finance Grant Robertson yesterday announced plans for a program aimed at individual account holders that would guarantee bank deposits of up to NZ$50,000 (US$33,000). The plan would fully protect about 90 percent of savers and cover about 40 percent of the total NZ$352 billion in bank deposits, he said. The program should be finalized into legislation next year, he added.
AVIATION
Lufthansa adjusts dividends
Deutsche Lufthansa AG has adjusted its dividend policy in a bid to soothe investor worries a week after issuing its second profit warning this year. The airline is to rebase payments to 20 percent to 40 percent of adjusted net income, which would provide flexibility to pay attractive dividends, a spokesman said yesterday. Lufthansa previously paid out 10 percent to 25 percent of earnings before interest and tax. The new policy would help achieve more continuity and would be adjusted for one-time gains and losses, Lufthansa said.
ELECTRONICS
Erajaya shares rise
Shares of PT Erajaya Swasembada, an Indonesian distributor of Apple Inc’s iPhones and Samsung Electronics Co’s smartphones, yesterday headed for the biggest gain in more than a year after it said it was close to a tie-up with electronic cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. Erajaya would announce details of the partnership soon, president director Budiarto Halim said yesterday. “I’m currently bound by a non-disclosure agreement,” he said. Juul has signed a distribution deal with one of Erajaya’s units and would begin to retail e-cigarettes in greater Jakarta area, Java and Bali from the end of this month, Citigroup Inc said.
SAUDI ARABIA
Residency plan announced
The kingdom has opened applications for a permanent residency program designed to attract foreign investment, priced at 800,000 riyals (US$213,000). A one-year renewable residency is to cost 100,000 riyals. The residencies would allow foreigners to buy property and do business without a local sponsor, switch jobs and exit the kingdom easily and sponsor visas for family members. Applicants must be at least 21 years old, prove financial solvency and have a clean criminal record.
RUSSIA
Crackdown on Georgian wine
The consumer watchdog agency yesterday said it is tightening checks on Georgian alcohol imports after seeing an increase in cases of sub-standard wine. The move comes after a speech by a Russian lawmaker in Georgia’s parliament sparked protests and led to President Vladimir Putin banning the nation’s airlines from flying to Georgia.
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