Russia is to create a 300 billion ruble (US$4 billion) anti-crisis fund to try to shield its economy from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said yesterday.
Moscow has said it might miss its growth targets this year and global markets have been bruised by the impact of the virus.
A sharp drop in the price of oil, Russia’s main export, has left Russia particularly vulnerable, with the rouble sinking to four-year lows against the US dollar.
The Russian Ministry of Finance and the Russian central bank have already pledged support to everything from the banking sector to the rouble and the state debt market, and attention is now focused on a key interest rate meeting set for Friday.
New support measures would include tax breaks for tourism companies and airlines, and that Russia would expand its preferential loans program for businesses, Mishustin said.
Andrei Belousov, his first deputy, last week said that Russia might miss its economic growth target this year, originally set at 2 percent, while economists have warned that the country’s economy might turn negative amid low oil prices and slower business activity.
Russia has 63 confirmed COVID-19 cases and is building a new hospital outside Moscow to prepare for a possible increase in numbers. That is in addition to a hospital that was recently converted to treat coronavirus patients only.
There have been no deaths from the virus in Russia so far, authorities say.
Russia is already restricting passenger flights and has halted many trains to Europe.
Russia would close its border with Belarus as well, Mishustin said.
Russia has recommended that institutions of higher education switch to distance learning, while the city of Moscow has made school attendance optional.
There have been some signs of panic buying. Shelves over the weekend in a number of Moscow shops were lacking toilet paper, washing powder and canned products, as well as rice and flour.
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
RSS