Tue, Apr 26, 2022 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  TRADE

  EU, India to set up council

  The EU and India yesterday agreed to set up a trade and technology council to step up cooperation between them, they said in a joint statement as the EU chief met government officials in New Delhi. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is on a two-day visit to India’s capital. She is expected to offer to increase sales of European military equipment to India and relaunch talks on a free-trade deal when she meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The visit came days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Modi, and agreed to increase bilateral defense and business cooperation.

  TOURISM

  Singapore eases virus rules

  More people are looking to travel to Singapore as the city-state eases virus rules. Travel-related searches on Google for the island destination have jumped, particularly from neighboring Malaysia, as well as Indonesia, India and Australia, according to data tracked by economists at Maybank Investment Bank Bhd. Last week, Singapore became one of the first major regional economies to announce it would end all testing for vaccinated travelers, starting today. Short-term visitor numbers “will likely accelerate in the second quarter driven by the reopening of borders in neighboring ASEAN countries,” Maybank said.

  RETAIL

  UK grocers cut prices

  Asda Stores Ltd and WM Morrison Supermarket PLC said they would yesterday cut the prices of essential items, ratcheting up competition in Britain’s food retail sector against a backdrop of soaring inflation. Surging prices are causing the biggest squeeze on household incomes since at least the 1950s in Britain, where grocery price inflation hit 5.2 percent over the four weeks to March 20, the highest level since April 2012, industry data last month showed. Supermarket groups typically try to keep down the prices of so-called known value goods, of which shoppers instinctively know the cost, while pushing up the prices of others.

  AUTOMAKERS

  Ferrari merger unlikely: CEO

  Ferrari NV is interested in expanding its partnerships network, but a combination with another group in not on the cards, the Italian luxury automaker’s new CEO Benedetto Vigna said in an interview with the Sole 24 Ore daily on Sunday. “Ferrari is not only a car brand, it’s essentially a luxury brand,” Vigna said. “Having so many passionate people working in the same place it is an incredible asset that could lead us everywhere,” he added when asked if Ferrari was in a position to go it alone. Vigna said he sees room for the luxury automaker to grow in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, where the company saw deliveries grow 5 to 8 percent last year.

  FINANCE

  HNA finishes restructuring

  HNA Group Co (海航集團), the conglomerate that collapsed with billions of dollars of debt, has completed its restructuring work after a joint working group was set up more than two years ago to handle the task. All four restructuring plans related to HNA Group have been completed with court approvals, the conglomerate said on its Wechat account, adding that the “risk-disposal work” is basically finished. HNA was effectively seized in February 2020 by the Hainan provincial government. The company in October last year reached an agreement with creditors on a debt-restructuring plan.
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