ECONOMY
Kuwaiti revenues drop 4.4%
Kuwait’s revenues dropped 4.4 percent in the first half of the fiscal year due to sliding oil prices, but the emirate still reported a healthy provisional surplus. Official figures posted yesterday on the Ministry of Finance’s Web site put April-September public income at 15.1 billion Kuwaiti dinars (US$52.1 billion) compared with 15.8 billion dinars in the same period a year ago. Oil income, which accounts for 94 percent of revenues, dropped 5.3 percent to 14.2 billion dinars in the first half from 15 billion dinars previously, the new figures show. Despite the fall, the emirate still managed to post a provisional budget surplus of 9 billion dinars. Spending was 6.1 billion dinars, up 19.6 percent on last year’s 5.1 billion dinars. The sharp dive in global oil prices did not reflect fully in the government’s figures because most of the slump took place last month and deepened this month.
BANKING
UBS may recall bonuses
UBS, one of six banks fined last week for attempting to manipulate foreign exchange markets, on Saturday said it was considering taking back bonuses from traders over the scandal. The bank confirmed a report in Financial Times stating that it was one of five fined banks looking into clawing back millions of dollars in bonuses from individual traders. A spokeswoman said the bank would especially aim to cancel the payment of deferred bonuses in cases where wrongdoing was found. Another of the fined banks, Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), hinted it could take similar action. “We are still working our way through disciplinary and accountability processes involving over 50 employees and their managers,” RBS boss Ross McEwan said in a statement on Friday.
FRANCE
Privatization plan outlined
The government will start a privatization plan by selling stakes in regional airports and companies in which it holds double voting rights, Minister of the Economy, Industry and Employment Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying in an interview published on Saturday in Le Monde. The government will not start by selling shares in nuclear operator Electricite de France SA or lottery company Francaise des Jeux, according to the interview. The state has “room to maneuver” on the planned stake sales which could be used to lower debt and invest in priority areas. Macron last month said the Treasury will sell between 5 billion and 10 billion euros (US$6.26 billion to US$12.5) of state assets within 18 months as a way to raise funds to cut debt and invest in sectors to develop the economy. Paris has stakes in 74 firms, of which 13 are listed entities whose state holdings were worth 76.4 billion euros as of Friday, according to the Agence des Participations de l’Etat, which manages the portfolio.
CYPRUS
Moody’s upgrade praised
The government has hailed rating agency Moody’s three-notch upgrade of the bailed-out nation’s credit grade as validation of its adherence to the terms of its rescue. Moody’s said the upgrade to “B3” from “Caa3” with a stable outlook reflects the progress so far in shoring up the island’s finances and buttressing a hobbled banking sector. Deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos on Saturday said the nation remains “firm and steady” to the terms of its 10 billion euro bailout because it is not out of the woods. Even with the upgrade, the rating is still “junk,” or non-investment grade. Moody’s said the nation still faces a weak economic outlook and a growing number of bad loans.
COMMUNICATIONS
Sercomm profit hits high
Sercomm Corp (中磊), the nation’s biggest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, reported a record-high net profit of NT$239 million (US$7.77 million) last quarter. The company attributed the strong showing to soaring demand for telecom equipment such as fiber optic and commercial networking products. With last quarter’s result, Sercomm’s combined net profit for the first three quarters of the year hit another all-time high of NT$695 million.
TECHNOLOGY
E Ink profits on tax gains
E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), the world’s top e-paper display manufacturer, posted a second profitable quarter last quarter due to tax gains. The company’s net income grew 18 percent last quarter to NT$100 million, including a tax gain of NT$393 million, compared with the NT$85 million it posted in the second quarter, a financial statement it released last week showed. However, excluding the tax gains, E Ink actually lost NT$306 million last quarter after booking an impairment loss of NT$977 million from selling assets of its South Korean flat-panel manufacturing arm, Hydis Technologies Co.
TRADE
Upgrade plan unveiled
A series of seminars will be held later this month to help local industries upgrade as part of government efforts to mitigate the potential impact of an impending free-trade agreement between China and South Korea, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. According to the ministry, a task force is to start offering upgrade services later this month and will also host five seminars — two each in central and southern Taiwan, and one in the north — early next month.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
DOLLAR CHALLENGE: BRICS countries’ growing share of global GDP threatens the US dollar’s dominance, which some member states seek to displace for world trade US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100 percent tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the US dollar. His threat was directed at countries in the so-called BRICS alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members and several other countries have expressed interest in joining. While the US dollar is by far the most-used currency in global business and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, members of the alliance and other developing nations say they are fed
TECH COMPETITION: The US restricted sales of two dozen types of manufacturing equipment and three software tools, and blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities US President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled new restrictions on China’s access to vital components for chips and artificial intelligence (AI), escalating a campaign to contain Beijing’s technological ambitions. The US Department of Commerce slapped additional curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and chipmaking gear, including that produced by US firms at foreign facilities. It also blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities that it accused of acting on Beijing’s behalf, although it did not name them in an initial statement. Full details on the new sanctions and Entity List additions were to be published later yesterday, a US official said. The US “will
COLLABORATION: The operations center shows the close partnership between Taiwan and Japan in the field of semiconductors, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Tokyo Electron Ltd, Asia’s biggest semiconductor equipment supplier, yesterday launched a NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) operations center in Tainan as it aims to expand capacity and meet growing demand. Its new Taiwan Operations Center is expected to help customers release their products faster, boost production efficiency and shorten equipment repair time in a cost-effective way, the company said. The center is about a five-minute drive from the factories of its major customers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) advanced 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer fabs. The operations center would have about 1,000 employees when it is fully utilized, the company
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