■ INTEREST RATES
BOJ leaves rates unchanged
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) left its super-low interest rates unchanged yesterday as it cut its growth forecast for Asia’s largest economy for the second time in less than three months. The central bank’s policy board decided unanimously to leave the benchmark overnight call rate at 0.5 percent, where it has been since February last year. The bank trimmed its growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 1.2 percent from 1.5 percent. It also lowered its forecast for GDP growth in the next fiscal year to 1.5 percent from 1.7 percent. At the same time, the central bank said it now sees core inflation at 1.8 percent compared with its April outlook of 1.1 percent.
■REAL ESTATE
Spanish company insolvent
Leading Spanish property group Martinsa-Fadesa said yesterday that it was declaring itself insolvent, having failed to raise a loan as part of a refinancing package. The company said that a board meeting late on Monday had decided to make a request to be declared in breach of payments. This would prevent its crisis from becoming “irreversible and having grave repercussions on creditors and the interests of all shareholders.” Spanish press reports said the group was considering cutting its 880-person work force.
■AUTOMOBILES
Ex-Mitsubishi men guilty
A Japanese court has found three former Mitsubishi Motors executives guilty of making a false report to the government in a fatal 2002 accident. The Tokyo High Court yesterday threw out a lower court decision in December that acquitted the three executives, including Takashi Usami, former chairman of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. The focus of the trial was whether the executives tried to hide a wheel defect suspected of being linked to the February 2002 accident that killed Shiho Okamoto. A wheel rolled off a Mitsubishi truck and crushed her.
■THAILAND
Investor confidence falls
Investor confidence in Thailand has fallen by 38 percent since the beginning of the year, ING bank’s investor sentiment index showed yesterday. The survey showed a drop from 131 points for the first quarter to 81 points for the second quarter, against a backdrop of reduced optimism throughout the region. Pan-Asian sentiment fell by 13 percent over the same period. “An unstable political landscape, rapidly rising inflation and volatile food prices have all contributed to the lowest reading of investor sentiment that we have seen in several quarters,” ING chief executive Maris Tarab said. The Thai government yesterday announced a new 46 billion baht (US$1.36 billion) economic stimulus package to aid the nation’s poor in the face of rising living costs.
■OIL
Petrobras rig workers strike
A strike by workers on Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) offshore rigs cut oil production by Brazil’s state-run company on Monday, fueling concerns of further oil price increases on international markets. Production was down by as much as 7 percent during the day, but a contingency plan helped reduce the drop to about 4 percent by the evening. Petrobras oil workers began a five-day strike at 33 rigs in a dispute over work days, initially halting work at 12 of the rigs and reducing production by 400,000 barrels a day, the workers’ union said. Work began resuming later in the day, however, and Petrobras said only two rigs were totally shut down.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft