AUSTRALIA
Housing market takes a dive
The housing market last year recorded its biggest annual decline since 2008, as sharp interest rate hikes sapped buying power and put off investors. The national Home Value Index fell 5.3 percent last year, the first drop since 2018, CoreLogic Inc said in a report on Monday. Annual declines were the biggest in the bellwether market of Sydney, which slid 12.1 percent, followed by an 8.1 percent drop in Melbourne. National values last month declined 1.1 percent, the report said. Home values could fall further in the early months of this year, CoreLogic said.
TURKEY
Inflation rate slows again
The annual inflation rate slowed for a second month last month after hitting a two-decade high, official data showed yesterday. Consumer prices rose 64.3 percent from a year earlier, the state statics agency said, compared with an 84.4 percent annual increase in November. Analysts attribute the sharp slowdown to the so-called base effect. The latest reading is still higher than in any other emerging market aside from Argentina.
SRI LANKA
Austerity drive begins
The country on Monday began a fresh austerity drive, freezing government recruitment as new taxes and higher electricity prices were implemented, with authorities trying to secure a US$2.9 billion bailout from the IMF. A record 20,000 civil servants retired at the end of last month — eight times as many as usual, according to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government — after President Ranil Wickremesinghe reduced their retirement age from 65 to 60. They would not be replaced, the ministry said.
INDIA
Rules to curb risky gaming
Regulations have for the first time been drafted to oversee areas of online gaming that fall into a gray area between gambling and entertainment, seeking to resolve growing complaints of addiction particularly among minors. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has published proposed rules governing apps or Web sites that involve an exchange of users’ money, from online casinos and card games to fantasy sports clubs. That sets them apart from gaming titles such as Electronic Arts Inc’s FIFA Soccer, which is to be regulated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
FRANCE
Retirement age under debate
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said a contentious overhaul of the pension system might not necessarily require raising the minimum retirement age to 65 from 62. Consultations with worker and business representatives would continue for another week before the government finalizes a plan to be debated in parliament early next month, Borne said on France Info radio. “There are other solutions that could enable us to meet our objective of balancing of our pension system by 2030,” Borne said.
RUSSIA
Ex-Soviet states buy less gas
Gas exports to countries outside a group of former Soviet republics plunged 45.5 percent annually last year, figures from gas giant Gazprom showed on Monday. Gazprom PJSC said in a statement that exports outside the Commonwealth of Independent States totaled 100.9 billion cubic meters compared with 185.1 billion in 2021. Europe was previously Gazprom’s main export market, but supplies have been drastically reduced because of sanctions following Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
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