Tue, Jul 05, 2022 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  GERMANY

  Trade deficit reported

  The country reported its first monthly trade deficit in three decades after exports unexpectedly fell in May. The shortfall of 1 billion euros (US$1.04 billion) was the first since 1991. Cross-border sales declined 0.5 percent, compared with an economist forecast of an increase of 0.7 percent. At the same time imports rose 2.7 percent, much more than anticipated. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s COVID-19 lockdowns are wreaking havoc with international supply chains, with substantial fallout for Germany’s export-oriented economy.

  SOUTH KOREA

  Officials to boost efforts

  Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong and Minister of Finance Choo Kyung-ho met yesterday and agreed to ramp up their cooperation to deal with rising risks to the economy. Rhee and Choo agreed to “pre-emptively” act to prevent macroeconomic risks with rates rising at home and abroad, the ministry said in a statement. They also expected a “complex economic crisis situation” to last for a considerable period, it said. Choo has warned inflation could surpass 6 percent this summer. Higher-than-expected gains in consumer prices have prompted the finance ministry and the bank to revise their earlier growth forecasts to below 3 percent this year.

  TURKEY

  Inflation nears 79 percent

  Inflation last month soared to an annual rate of 78.6 percent, the highest in 24 years, official data showed yesterday, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unconventional economic policies continued to take their toll. Inflation had stood at 73.5 percent in May and at 15 percent at the start of last year. The data showed that headline inflation was driven by a 123.4 percent jump in the cost of transportation and a 94 percent increase in non-alcoholic drinks. The price of household goods surged by 81.1 percent, the statistics agency calculated. Minister of Economy Nureddin Nebati on Friday “promised” that consumer prices will start dropping in December.

  UTILITIES

  UK Power deal collapses

  A ￡15 billion (US$18.2 billion) takeover approach led by KKR & Co for the UK’s largest electricity distribution business collapsed, the Financial Times reported. CK Infrastructure Holdings Ltd (長江基建), which jointly owns UK Power Networks Holdings Ltd, tried to increase the sale price before an agreement was due to be signed last month, the newspaper said, citing two people close to the deal who it did not identify. The bidder group, which also includes Macquarie Group Ltd, APG, China Investment Corp (中國投資), Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and PSP Investments, had been in advanced talks over an agreement, people familiar with the issue told Bloomberg News in March.

  TELECOMS

  Thai firm eyes expansion

  Advanced Info Service PCL, Thailand’s biggest mobile phone operator, plans to expand its network by acquiring Triple T Broadband PCL and an infrastructure fund for a total of 32.4 billion baht (US$908 million). The Bangkok-based company is to buy Internet provider Triple T from Jasmine International PCL for 19.5 billion baht, chief financial officer Tee Seeumpornroj said in an exchange filing. It would also acquire 1.52 billion units, or a 19 percent stake, in Jasmine Broadband Internet Infrastructure Fund for 12.9 billion baht. At 8.5 baht a unit, that is a 7.6 percent discount to the fund’s latest unit price of 9.2 baht.
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