Tue, Dec 09, 2014 page15

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  MACROECONOMICS

  Foreign debt causes concern

  The foreign-debt levels of companies in emerging markets from China to India and Brazil are underestimated, threatening financial stability, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said. Companies are raising more foreign funds through their offshore affiliates and accounting practices understate the currency risk in such transactions, the Basel, Switzerland-based institution said in its quarterly report. Almost half of the US$554 billion that the firms raised in the five years through last year came from the affiliates, the BIS said.

  BANKING

  BOJ to cut forecast: sources

  The Bank of Japan (BOJ) looks increasingly likely to cut its inflation forecasts next month, sources say, making its target of 2 percent for this year from April look ever more ambitious. The BOJ surprised markets on Oct. 31 with its decision to flood the market with cash to counter the effect of slumping oil prices and weak domestic demand on inflation expectations, but oil prices have fallen 15 percent since then. Some central bankers now fear core consumer inflation is also set to slow to about 0.5 percent by the middle of next year as gasoline and electricity bills fall, down from May’s peak of 1.4 percent and far below the 2 percent target Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has committed to achieving.

  MACROECONOMICS

  German output still rising

  German industrial production rose for a second month in October in a sign that a slow recovery in Europe’s largest economy is continuing. Production, adjusted for seasonal swings, gained 0.2 percent from September, when it climbed a revised 1.1 percent, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs said yesterday. The increase was less than the median estimate of 0.4 percent in a Bloomberg News survey. Output advanced 0.8 percent from a year earlier. While the Bundesbank last week cut its economic forecasts for the country through 2016, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said there is reason to “hope that the current sluggish phase will prove to be short-lived.” GDP barely grew in the third quarter after a contraction in the three months through June. “That said, the pace is modest and, considering the euro area’s weakness, it will remain so for quite some time,” Frankfurt-based Helaba economist Stefan Muetze said. Yesterday’s report highlighted Germany’s reliance on private consumption for growth, with output of consumer goods climbing 0.5 percent in October.

  TECHNOLOGY

  BlackBerry invests in health

  BlackBerry Ltd’s investment in healthcare technology has produced its first apps targeted at doctors and nurses who use its smartphones. The Canadian phone maker’s networks and devices will run apps developed by Los Angeles-based NantHealth, a healthcare company run by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. BlackBerry invested in NantHealth last April. Healthcare is a key target for BlackBerry, said chief executive officer John Chen (程守宗). The first part of the deal will connect physicians’ BlackBerrys with a NantHealth system that analyzes tumors and recommends treatment options. It is set to be available early next year, the companies said. More applications are planned, Chen and Soon-Shiong said in a joint telephone interview. Chen, who has said he plans to double software revenue to US$500 million by March 2016, declined to comment on what the healthcare business could be worth.
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