Fri, Nov 20, 2020 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  INDONESIA

  Central bank cuts rate

  Bank Indonesia yesterday cut its policy rate for the first time in four months, aiming to support the economy’s recovery and reaffirming its commitment to accommodative policy. The central bank cut its seven-day reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 3.75 percent, the lowest since the benchmark was introduced in 2016. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy contracted more than expected last quarter, falling into its first recession since the Asian financial crisis more than two decades ago. However, the central bank has said that the outlook for the current-account deficit is improving, with the country posting a US$3.61 billion trade surplus last month, its highest in a decade.

  TRADE

  UK-Canada deal looms

  The UK and Canada are on the brink of signing a new trade agreement to replace the existing deal the UK has through EU membership. An announcement could come within days, according to people familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition that they not be identified. Without the agreement, the UK and Canada would face tariffs on trade from Jan. 1, when the Brexit transition period ends and the UK will no longer be part of Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, an EU-Canada deal. “Trade talks are at an advanced stage and progressing well,” the UK’s Department for International Trade said in a statement. “The UK is committed to seeking to secure a continuity trade deal with Canada before the end of the transition period.”

  ELECTRONICS

  Sharp to return to Nikkei 225

  Sharp Corp is to return to Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average, replacing NTT Docomo Inc and marking a comeback on Japan’s premier blue-chip index just four years after it was removed. The electronics maker would join the gauge on Dec. 2, Nikkei Inc said in a statement. The unscheduled change comes as a result of Docomo’s impending delisting after parent Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp succeeded in its US$40 billion tender offer for the mobile unit. The addition caps a turnaround led by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), which took over Sharp in 2016 in a US$3.5 billion deal following years of losses.

  LENDERS

  Affirm makes IPO bid

  Lending start-up Affirm Holdings Inc on Wednesday disclosed its application for an initial public offering (IPO), lining up with other high-profile Silicon Valley firms such as DoorDash and Airbnb to float their shares by the end of the year. Affirm Holdings, founded by PayPal Holdings Inc cofounder Max Levchin, said that revenue for the three months ended on Sept. 30 nearly doubled to about US$174 million from a year earlier. Net loss narrowed to US$15.3 million, from US$30.8 million.

  INDIA

  Pandemic woes expected

  The nation would be worst-affected among the world’s major economies even after the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, with output 12 percent below pre-pandemic levels through the middle of the decade, Oxford Economics said. Balance sheet stress that had been building before the pandemic would probably worsen, Priyanka Kishore, head of economics for South Asia and Southeast Asia, wrote in the report. She projected potential growth for India at 4.5 percent over the next five years, lower than 6.5 percent before the pandemic.
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