Sat, Dec 11, 2021 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  UNITED KINGDOM

  GDP growth disappoints

  The British economy barely grew in October, before the emergence of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, further denting expectations that the Bank of England would raise interest rates next week for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck. GDP edged up by a weaker-than-expected 0.1 percent in October. That meant the economy was 0.5 percent smaller than it was in February last year, just before the country went into its first lockdown, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast growth of 0.4 percent from September. “Growth disappointed in October, reinforcing concerns about the resilience of the UK’s economic recovery to the Omicron variant and the impact of further restrictions,” said Alpesh Paleja, lead economist at the Confederation of British Industry. The dominant services sector rose 0.4 percent in output, while industrial output fell 0.6 percent, hit by big falls in electricity and gas and in mining and quarrying.

  FOOD

  Tyson expanding globally

  Tyson Foods Inc is expanding its global protein production capacity and investing more than US$1.3 billion in automation to meet soaring demand for meat in the COVID-19 pandemic era. The biggest US meat company by sales is building six new chicken plants in Asia, part of its plan to expand global capacity by 2 percent over the next two years. The owner of Hillshire Farm and Ball Park hot dogs is also adding a Texas bacon plant, and additional beef and pork retail output in South Carolina and Utah, the company said on Thursday during its annual presentation for investors. A growing world population, especially in Asia, is boosting demand for meat and poultry, as well as plant-based protein.

  JAPAN

  PM to push for pay hike

  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida followed last month’s record economic stimulus package with a move to boost worker pay as part of his campaign to revamp capitalism so prosperity is shared more widely and growth is more sustainable. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) yesterday unveiled a set of carrots and sticks that use the tax code to try to coax businesses into raising worker pay and punish those that do not. The promised tax breaks are about 50 percent more generous than ones already on the books, according to the LDP’s tax plan for fiscal 2022. However, pushing up worker pay that has languished for years would not be easy, especially as Japan’s economy has lagged other developed nations in recovering from the pandemic.

  AUTOMAKERS

  VW cranks up EV investment

  German auto giant Volkswagen on Thursday said that it would bulk up its investment in electric vehicles (EV) and digitalization to 89 billion euros (US$100.4 billion) over the next five years. The 12-brand group plans to dedicate 56 percent of its 159 billion euros of investment to developing the cars of the future, up from 50 percent, and estimates that “one in four cars sold in 2026 will have a battery-electric motor.” Last year, Volkswagen announced 73 billion euros of investment in the vehicles of tomorrow for the period up to 2024. The need to raise the commitment through 2025 was “mainly due to the accelerated ramp-up of e-mobility as part of the green deal” agreed by the EU, the group said in a statement. The heightened investment would go into the opening of six new battery factories through partnerships with other companies over the coming years.
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