Asian nations must brace for possible threats to the world’s economic recovery, but a global double-dip recession is unlikely, the IMF chief said yesterday. \n“Policymakers need to remain attuned to negative shocks,” said IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, citing a potential spillover from the eurozone debt crisis, the sharp rise in capital inflows into Asia and the risks of overheating. \nBut Strauss-Kahn said he does not foresee a global double-dip recession and the economic recovery is on track. \n“I don’t believe there will be another dip. Our baseline is that there will be a recovery,” he said in a speech to a conference in the central South Korean city of Daejeon. \nThe IMF last week forecast growth for all Asia in 2010 of 7.5 percent compared with an average 4.6 percent worldwide. \nStrauss-Kahn hailed the continent’s role as “a global economic powerhouse” in the wake of the global slowdown. \n“As Asia’s economic weight in the world continues to rise, its stake in the economic performance of other countries is rising too,” he said, crediting reforms put in place since the 1997-1998 East Asian financial crisis. \n“So, despite being hit hard initially, Asia was able to bounce back quickly from the global financial crisis,” Strauss-Kahn said. \nBut with Europe and the US expected to face a possibly extended period of low growth, the IMF chief urged Asia to increase domestic investment and consumption to counterbalance reliance on exports. \n“It’s encouraging that many of the changes needed to foster and sustain this second engine of growth are already under way across the region,” he said. \nThese include strong social safety nets, which can boost private consumption, better infrastructure to encourage private investment and more flexible exchange rates, he said. \nSouth Korean Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun called for changes to the quota voting system of the Washington-based IMF to reflect Asia’s growing voice. \nHe also urged it to come up with a “detailed and realistic” plan for tackling the volatility that can arise from rapid international capital flows. \n“I believe the IMF has an important contribution to make, by proposing and enacting concrete and realistic measures to strengthen financial safety nets around the globe,” Yoon said. \nSouth Korea, which will host a G20 summit in November, has been pushing the issue of a global financial safety net — partly to discourage the excessive accumulation of unproductive foreign exchange reserves. \nStrauss-Kahn said Asia would get a bigger say in the IMF and this could be completed by the G20 summit. \nThe IMF chief told a press conference it was “time to rebuild relationships with Asian countries” and said their economies should have been rebuilt after 1997-98 in a “less painful” way. \nIn South Korea the crisis is still known as the “IMF crisis” amid lingering resentment at the fund’s tough prescriptions.
Tesla Inc temporarily halted some production at its auto assembly plant in California because of problems with its supply chain, but work has begun to resume, CEO Elon Musk told employees in an e-mail on Thursday. “We are experiencing some parts supply issues, so took the opportunity to bring Fremont production down for a few days to do equipment upgrades and maintenance,” Musk said in an all-staff message seen by Bloomberg. The factory was “back up and running as of yesterday,” and would rapidly ramp up to full production of Model 3 and Model Y cars “over the next several days,”
Boeing Co on Sunday called for the grounding of 128 of its 777 planes around the world as US regulators investigated a United Airlines Holdings Inc flight whose engine caught fire and fell apart over a suburban city. United and Japan’s two main airlines confirmed they had already suspended operations of 56 planes fitted with the same engine that fell apart mid-flight over Colorado on Saturday. The US National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) is also investigating the incident, in which no one was hurt. Boeing said similarly fitted planes should be taken out of service until the US Federal Aviation Authority
The production value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry grew 20.9 percent year-on-year to NT$3.22 trillion (US$113.6 billion) last year, and it is expected to build on that performance this year, the Industrial Technology Research Institute’s (工研院) Industry, Science and Technology International Strategy Center said yesterday. The global semiconductor market grew 6.8 percent to US$440.4 billion last year, boosted by robust demand from the digital transformation and growing stay-at-home economy seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, the center said. That strength is likely to carry over to this year, leading to an 8.6 percent increase in domestic output to a new record NT$3.49 trillion,
‘MAINTAINING MOMENTUM’: The Swedish automaker might pursue plans for an initial public offering, which it had put on hold in 2018, the company said China’s Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd (吉利汽車) and its Swedish affiliate Volvo Cars are putting off earlier plans to merge, wagering that they would be more agile as standalone entities. The manufacturers would preserve their separate corporate structures, while cooperating more closely on electrification, autonomous-driving technology and software, a joint statement said. While they would no longer pursue a combination as announced last year, new listings could be on the table. “This is about maintaining top-line momentum,” Volvo chief executive officer Hakan Samuelsson said in an interview. “A merger isn’t always positive. You risk losing momentum because there’s too much internal focus.” Geely and
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