TRADE
Indonesia ready for war
Indonesia stands ready to respond to global risks brought about by an intensifying trade war and rising US interest rates that have driven the nation’s currency to a two-decade low, officials said. The government would coordinate its policy response with the central bank and the financial services authority, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati told reporters in Jakarta yesterday. Bank Indonesia will take steps to stabilize the currency and ease volatility, central bank Governor Perry Warjiyo said. The rupiah was headed for a 1.8 percent loss this week.
INDUSTRY
German orders rebound
New orders for industrial firms booked a strong rebound in August from a slip in July, official data showed yesterday, brightening the outlook for the second half of the year. Companies reported a 2 percent month-on-month increase in new business, adjusting for price, seasonal and calendar effects, federal statistics authority Destatis said in a statement. That was well above the 0.6 percent boost forecast by analysts.
PHILIPPINES
Inflation near decade high
Inflation jumped to an almost 10-year high last month, data showed yesterday, putting pressure on President Rodrigo Duterte to act as the cost of food and fuel hits the country’s poor in the pocket. Consumer price increases accelerated to 6.7 percent, from 6.4 percent in August, in the steepest climb since February 2009, the Philippine Statistics Authority said. That compared with a 6.8 percent median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey.
MEXICO
Central bank maintains rate
The central bank kept its key rate unchanged, saying that while it expects faster inflation to be transitory, the board would take the necessary actions to ensure its goal for prices is reached. Policymakers at Banco de Mexico, led by Governor Alejandro Diaz de Leon, kept borrowing rates at 7.75 percent on Thursday, the highest in almost 10 years, as forecast by 26 of 28 economist surveyed by Bloomberg.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota recalls 2.4m hybrids
Japanese car giant Toyota Motor Corp yesterday said that it is recalling more than 2.4 million hybrid cars over a fault that could cause crashes, just a month after an another recall affecting hybrids. The firm last month said it was recalling more than 1 million hybrid cars globally after uncovering a technical problem that could cause fires. The latest recall affects several models of Toyota’s Prius and Auris hybrid vehicles produced between October 2008 and November 2014, with more than 1 million of the affected cars in Japan.
CONGLOMERATES
KRR sells Vietnam stake
KKR & Co raised about US$209 million selling its stake in Vietnamese conglomerate Masan Group Corp, people with knowledge of the matter said, after its shares doubled since the private equity firm invested. KKR sold 54.8 million Masan shares at 89,200 dong apiece, the midpoint of a marketed range, the people said. The price represents a 5 percent discount to Masan’s last close. The shares were offered at 87,800 dong to 90,600 dong each, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg earlier.
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
LIMITED MEASURES: The proposed restrictions on Chinese chip exports are weaker than previously considered, following lobbying by major US firms, sources said US President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing additional curbs on sales of semiconductor equipment and artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips to China that would escalate the US crackdown on Beijing’s tech ambitions, but stop short of some stricter measures previously considered, said sources familiar with the matter. The restrictions could be unveiled as soon as next week, said the sources, who emphasized that the timing and contours of the rules have changed several times, and that nothing is final until they are published. The measures follow months of deliberations by US officials, negotiations with allies in Japan and the Netherlands, and
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) yesterday said it expects any impact of new tariffs from US president-elect Donald Trump to hit the company less than its rivals, citing its global manufacturing footprint. Young Liu (劉揚偉), chairman of the contract manufacturer and key Apple Inc supplier, told reporters after a forum in Taipei that it saw the primary impact of any fresh tariffs falling on its clients because its business model is based on contract manufacturing. “Clients may decide to shift production locations, but looking at Foxconn’s global footprint, we are ahead. As a result, the impact on us is likely smaller compared to
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
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