INDIA
Central bank keeps rates
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yesterday kept interest rates on hold, defying expectations of a sixth consecutive cut this year to jumpstart the economy after quarterly growth plunged to its lowest level since 2013. The bank said the benchmark repo rate — the level at which it lends to commercial banks — would remain unchanged at 5.15 percent, a nine-year low. However, it slashed its annual growth forecast to 5 percent from 6.1 percent, as consumer demand and manufacturing activity contracts. The economy grew at its slowest pace in more than six years in the July-to-September period, dropping to 4.5 percent from 7 percent a year ago.
CANADA
Central bank maintains rates
The Bank of Canada on Wednesday maintained its key lending rate at 1.75 percent, saying it is cautiously optimistic that global growth is set to rebound and recession fears are “waning.” “There is nascent evidence that the global economy is stabilizing,” the bank said in a statement, adding that growth was “expected to edge higher over the next couple of years.” Financial markets have been bolstered by “waning recession concerns,” despite being “buffeted by news on the trade front,” it said. The economy slowed in the third quarter to 1.3 percent as exports fell.
GERMANY
New orders slip October
New orders slid in October after a September boost, official data showed yesterday, highlighting that manufacturing in Europe’s largest economy remains plagued by trade disputes and a global growth slowdown. New contracts fell 0.4 percent month-on-month in October, federal statistics authority Destatis said in seasonally adjusted figures. When counting out volatile large orders for items like aircraft, the fall was less steep, at 1.4 percent month-on-month. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in a statement underlined net growth in new business of 1 percent in September-October over July-August.
FINANCE
SMFG Indonesia expanding
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (SMFG) wants to add securities, credit card and consumer finance operations to its commercial banking presence in Indonesia, SMFG president Jun Ohta said yesterday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. The new services are part of plans to create a “financial conglomerate” in the Southeast Asian nation, Ohta said. SMFG owns Jakarta-based PT Bank BTPN, which it bought in 2013. Overseas countries provide the “engine for growth” for SMFG since it is hard to boost top-line revenue in Japan, Ohta said.
AUTOMAKERS
Italy questions FCA deal
Italian tax authorities believe that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) underestimated the value of its US business by 5.1 billion euros (US$5.65 billion) following Fiat’s phased acquisition of Chrysler, according to a company filing and a source close to the matter. The audit, which concerns transactions dating back to 2014, could result in FCA having to pay back taxes for US$1.5 billion, the source added. FCA said in its third-quarter report that the tax authorities had issued to the company a final audit report in October “which, if confirmed in the final audit assessment, could result in a material proposed tax adjustment related to the October 12, 2014, merger of Fiat SpA into FCA NV.”
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