INDIA
Delhi mulls oil austerity
The government is considering closing fuel pumps at night as one of a number of “austerity measures” aimed at cutting its ballooning oil import bills, Minister of Oil Veerappa Moily said yesterday. Moily said details have not yet been finalized on the new measures, expected to be introduced later this month. “We have not worked out the details, how the austerity measures or the conservation mission will have to be launched,” Moily told NDTV news channel. The country imports about 80 percent of its oil needs and the import bill has risen dramatically because of high global prices and a plunging rupee. The Ministry of Oil wants to cut fuel demand by 3 percent and save about US$2.43 billion in foreign exchange outflows.
SOUTH KOREA
Falling prices cool inflation
The nation’s inflation slowed slightly to 1.3 percent last month, helped by stable or falling prices of education services, fuel and household items, state data showed yesterday. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.3 percent last month after gaining 1.4 percent in July, Statistics Korea said. The inflation rate has remained between 1 and 2 percent for 10 straight months. Last month’s reading was below the Bank of Korea’s target range of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent. The central bank said earlier it expected inflation to accelerate to 2.1 percent in the second half of the year from an estimated 1.3 percent in the first half, projecting 1.7 percent for the entire year. The core CPI, which excludes volatile oil and agriculture prices, gained 1.3 percent year-on-year last month, compared with a 1.5 percent rise a month earlier.
EMPLOYMENT
Poll shows what lures talent
Sunshine and sandy beaches are all very well, but they are not enough to snare the best expatriate executives to Australia’s biggest city, Sydney, a study found yesterday. A survey of more than 3,000 executives around the world found that the “dominant issue in deciding where to locate is workplace related” and Sydney must do more to emphasize its desirability as a work destination. “While Sydney’s lifestyle remains the city’s major selling point, the challenges are to better define Sydney’s role in global talent’s career path and better promote the advantages it offers for career progression,” the study said. Global high-flyers nominated the opportunity to work on interesting and challenging projects as their top reason for moving cities, with “liveability” — such as the ease of getting around and a city’s security — ranked second.
GREECE
State to handle asset sale
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Minister of Finance Yannis Stournaras have both insisted any sale of state assets will be handled by the agency set up for this purpose and not by any firm based abroad and run by foreign management. Samaras and Stournaras were responding to rumors that the country’s creditors, unimpressed by the pace of privatizations, are pushing for a foreign-based special purpose vehicle to handle the selloffs. Stournaras told the Ethnos newspaper that he “categorically denied” that the national Asset Development Fund would be moved abroad. The fund’s two last chairmen have resigned over the past six months, one to face unrelated legal issues and the other for improper contact with the buyer of former state betting firm OPAP.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS