■Trade
China posts surprise deficit
China unexpectedly posted a trade deficit for the first time in more than six years as the nation stockpiled crude oil ahead of a possible war on Iraq and consumers took advantage of tariff cuts to buy more imported cars. The deficit last month was US$1.25 billion, the first time the nation has posted a shortfall since December 1996, Xinhua news agency said, citing customs statistics. Imports rose 63 percent to US$31 billion, driven by a 78 percent increase in the volume of oil imported. Exports rose 37 percent to US$29.8 billion. General Motors Corp and other carmakers took advantage of China's entry into the WTO to import more cars into China and also to increase production at plants assembling parts shipped from overseas. The government may be able to point to rising imports in trade talks with the US and EU, which have been pressing for greater access.
■ US economy
Snow defends tax cut
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is wrong and the economy does need the benefit of the George W. Bush administration's US$690 billion tax cut plan, Treasury Secretary John Snow said. "The package will not only help America return to its economic potential, it will increase it, creating a more abundant future with more good jobs and rising real wages," Snow told the Detroit Economic Club, in his first speech since being sworn in 10 days ago. Greenspan told Congress this week that growth should accelerate once the Iraq situation is clarified, and additional stimulus isn't needed now. Greenspan's comments, along with Democrats' arguments that the plan rewards the rich and will exacerbate budget deficits, have made President George W. Bush's proposal a tough sell in Washington.
■ GDP
Japanese economy grows
Japan's economy squeezed out growth for the fourth straight quarter during the October-to-December period, but worries remained about the nation's fragile recovery possibly fading into another recession. The numbers released yesterday by the Cabinet Office for the GDP -- the value of goods and services produced in a nation -- showed that GDP grew 0.5 percent for the quarter ended Dec. 31. That translates to an annual rate of 2.0 percent growth. The economy grew 0.7 percent for the July-to-September quarter, 1.3 percent for the April-to-June quarter and 0.1 percent in January-to-March. It had contracted for three straight quarters before that -- Japan's worst recession in at least two decades.
■ Advertising
Britain bans tobacco ads
Britain yesterday banned tobacco advertising in newspapers, magazines, cinemas and on billboards, confining companies such as British American Tobacco Plc and rivals to promoting their cigarettes in stores. The UK and the 14 other members of the EU last December endorsed rules to outlaw most forms of tobacco ads. The region must implement them by August 2005, at the latest. "It's goodbye to tobacco advertising," said Tim Robertson, a spokesman for Gallaher Group Plc, the UK maker of Silk Cut and Benson & Hedges cigarettes. Gallaher has been increasing the number of its sales staff in response. The ban comes at a time when UK tobacco sales are stalling. About 13 million British people smoke some 56 billion cigarettes a year.
Agencies
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