■CURRENCY
Stiglitz backs new reserve
The declining role of the US dollar as a global reserve currency may be good for the US economy, potentially boosting US competitiveness and jobs, Nobel laureate and economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Thursday. “We will move out of the dollar system ... the real question is how fast, and do we do it in an orderly or disorderly way,” said Stiglitz, a former World Bank chief economist and adviser to former US president Bill Clinton. He said Americans see the advantage of the dollar reserve system as being able to borrow at low interest rates, but that there is “a flip side” as well. “If people are buying US dollars what we are doing in effect is exporting dollars instead of exporting goods,” he said. “When you export [Treasury] T-bills, you don’t create jobs, and therefore the trade deficit contributes to the weak economy and to our problem with jobs. If we do it the right way, it will increase aggregate global demand and be a benefit to the US,” he said.
■RETAIL
Online buying grows in UK
Internet shopping will continue to grow strongly in Britain this year despite concerns over the economic outlook, an industry body forecast yesterday, as it reported a pickup in online sales growth over Christmas. IMRG and consultants Capgemini said online retail sales rose 17 percent year-on-year last month to £5.46 billion (US$8.9 billion), ahead of last year’s average growth of 14 percent. Growth this year would be 13 percent, they predicted. Sales of accessories, gifts, electrical goods and health and beauty products all rose strongly last month. A 13 percent month-on-month rise in sales at “multichannel” retailers, which also operate stores, contrasted with an 8 percent fall at Internet-only firms. But IMRG said attributed this to a number of multichannel retailers, like department stores, offering guaranteed delivery for Christmas.
■BRAZIL
GDP forecast to rise 5.2%
Brazil is forecasting economic growth of 5.2 percent this year and a 16 percent increase in investment, the finance ministry said on Thursday. The projections confirmed official optimism that Brazil was back on track to becoming one of the world’s leading emerging nations. The expansion of GDP comes after a short and shallow downturn brought on by last year’s global financial crisis that reduced growth to an anemic 0.1 percent. A Cabinet report submitted by Finance Minister Guido Mantega predicted average annual growth of 5 percent between last year and 2014. Consumers were expected to spend an additional 6.1 percent this year, boosting GDP. “The growth is sustainable because it relies on solid bases and inflation is under control. There is fiscal responsibility and low external vulnerability,” Mantega said.
■AUTOMOBILES
Tycoon backs electric cars
Russian automaker Yarovit-Motors said on Thursday it was preparing to launch a project to produce low-cost electric cars with funding from one of the country’s biggest tycoons. The cars will sell for about 9,000 euros (US$12,700). “The project will be carried out by Yarovit and Mikhail Prokhorov will be the investor,” company spokeswoman Anastasya Aksenty said, without giving further details. Metropol bank analyst Andrei Rozhkov said the investment would be around US$1.5 billion, with initial production of 500 cars a year. Prokhorov, a metals business tycoon, was listed last year by Forbes magazine as the richest man in Russia with a fortune of US$9.5 billion.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique