GERMANY
Economic growth slows
The economy expanded at the slowest pace in six years last year, when manufacturing took a battering and the country was dragged to the brink of a recession. Expansion was just 0.6 percent amid trade tensions and a broader slowdown in demand that added to fundamental structural challenges the country is battling. Automakers including Volkswagen AG are facing a critical period as they push sales of electric vehicles, while manufacturers such as Siemens AG are under pressure to adapt to climate change. Geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East and continued risk of a disruptive Brexit are also weighing on sentiment and momentum. That means while last year was a year Germany will want to forget, the outlook for this year is barely any better. Economists see growth accelerating to only 0.7 percent this year.
CHINA
Holiday cash infusion
The nation added liquidity to the financial system yesterday, helping to offset a cash squeeze ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. It kept interest rates on the loans unchanged. The People’s Bank of China added 300 billion yuan (US$43.56 billion) through the medium-term lending facility at 3.25 percent, according to a statement from the central bank. It also injected 100 billion yuan through open market operations after a 15-day hiatus, selling 14-day reverse repurchase agreements at 2.65 percent. Some 257.5 billion yuan of targeted medium-term loans are to mature on Thursday next week. “The liquidity injection from the previous RRR [required rate of return] cut wasn’t enough to fill the gap in January because of the earlier Chinese New Year holiday season, heavy bond issuance and tax payment,” Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp economist Tommy Xie (謝東明) said. “The offering is not a surprise.”
SOUTH KOREA
Employment at record high
The employment rate hit a record high last year, offering President Moon Jae-in evidence that he is delivering on his pledge to provide more jobs, ahead of a parliamentary election. The employment rate climbed to 60.9 percent last year, matching a previous high set in 1997, statistics office data showed yesterday. At first glance, the rate, boosted by an increase in part-time work, appears to contradict the view among Moon’s opponents and some economists that his policies, including a higher minimum wage strategy, have priced people out of work. Still, the jobs growth relied heavily on part-time and elderly workers, a fact which casts doubt on the real strength of the recovery in the labor market and its effectiveness in boosting consumption.
BRAZIL
OECD membership coming
The government on Tuesday welcomed the US’ change of stance to support its bid to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ahead of Argentina. The US plans are a win for President Jair Bolsonaro, who has sought closer ties with Washington since taking office last year. Backing Brazil’s path to joining the OECD had been seen by many as a tangible benefit of the ideological similarities between Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump, who have sought to cast aside years of trade spats and political distrust between their two nations, and build a tighter relationship. OECD membership is seen as a stamp of approval that would boost investor confidence in the government and economy.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained