SOUTH KOREA
Seoul eyes tax expansion
The government yesterday proposed expanding its capital gains taxes to include a larger number of affluent stock investors, in its push to reduce inequality by levying more from the wealthy and less from general share trading. Starting in 2023, the government would impose taxes on annual capital gains exceeding 20 million won (US$16,624) for retail investors, Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki said in a policy meeting. That would affect about 300,000 people or the top 5 percent of all stock investors in the nation, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said.
GERMANY
Consumer mood improves
The mood among consumers is brightening further as the country emerges from a months-long COVID-19 lockdown, pollsters GfK said yesterday. “Rapid reopening of the economy and society in Germany is helping consumers get over the corona shock more and more,” GfK said, as its monthly forward-looking barometer predicted minus-9.6 points for next month, up nine points on this month. The measure had fallen as low as minus-23.1 points, an all-time low, last month.
AVIATION
EU approves bailout
The European Commission yesterday approved the German government’s massive bailout of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, saving the airline from bankruptcy, but with conditions. The commission said that Berlin’s injection of 6 billion euros (US$6.74 billion) to keep the company afloat was allowed, but Lufthansa would have to give up prized slots at the Frankfurt and Munich airports to ensure fair competition. Its shareholders were to vote on the plan later yesterday.
MULTINATIONALS
Softbank plans buyback
Softbank Group Corp said it would buy back as much as ￥500 billion (US$4.7 billion) of its own stock, continuing a repurchase effort that has boosted its share price after heavy losses earlier this year. The Tokyo-based company said it would buy back up to 5.75 percent of its shares. It said this month that it had finished an earlier repurchase program, also for ￥500 billion. Meanwhile, founder Masayoshi Son yesterday announced that he is stepping down from the board of e-commerce titan Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴).
CANADA
Fitch downgrades nation
The country on Wednesday lost its “AAA” debt rating, after Fitch downgraded it a notch to “AA+,” warning that its fiscal position is deteriorating amid efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Fitch said the country is poised to “emerge from recession with much higher public debt ratios.” Although the rising debt and deficit levels “will support recovery, the economy’s investment and growth prospects face challenges,” Fitch said. It sees gross government debt surging to 115 percent of GDP this year from 88.3 percent.
COSMETICS
Unilever to rename brand
Unilever plans to rename Fair & Lovely, a melanin suppressing face cream that is one of its best-sellers in India, as the backlash against branding that trades off racial stereotypes grows. The Anglo-Dutch conglomerate, which derives more than US$500 million in annual revenue from the brand in India alone, would also remove “fair,” “whitening” and “lightening” from its packaging and marketing material and feature women of all skin tones in advertising campaigns. The brand is sold in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan and elsewhere in Asia.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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