Wed, Jul 20, 2022 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  UNITED KINGDOM

  Jobless rate remains low

  The unemployment rate remains close to a 50-year low, but decades-high inflation is causing the value of wages to fall at a record pace, official data showed yesterday. Unemployment stood at 3.8 percent in the three months to the end of May, unchanged from the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. Job vacancies remain close to record-high levels. ONS head of labor market statistics David Freeman said that demand for workers was “clearly still very high” after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. However, “following recent increases in inflation, pay is now clearly falling in real terms, both including and excluding bonuses,” he said.

  CURRENCIES

  Rupee hits record low

  The Indian rupee yesterday fell to more than 80 per US dollar for the first time on record, as the greenback extended its rally and foreign capital outflows intensified. The rupee hit 80.0600 against the greenback soon after trading started, compared with the previous close of 79.9775, Bloomberg data showed. In a written statement to parliament on Monday, Indian Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman attributed the rupee’s sharp fall to external reasons. “Global factors such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, soaring crude oil prices and tightening of global financial conditions are the major reasons for the weakening of the Indian rupee against the US dollar,” she said.

  AIRLINES

  SAS pilots end strike

  Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) pilots in Sweden, Norway and Denmark early yesterday called off a strike that has been causing major disruption for 15 days after reaching a deal with management. SAS chief executive officer Anko van der Werff said the parties had agreed on an agreement for the next five-and-a-half years that guarantees both cost savings and job security for the pilots. SAS said the strike led to the cancelation of more than 3,700 flights, affecting more than 380,000 passengers, adding that the walkout cost 100 million to 130 million Swedish kronor (US$9.76 million to US$12.68 million) per day in lost revenue and costs.

  CHINA

  Banks to forfeit US$4.6bn

  Chinese banks would forfeit 31 billion yuan (US$4.6 billion) of interest income from mortgages under a proposal to give home buyers in stalled projects a temporary payment holiday, according to estimates from Citigroup Inc. The figure amounts to about 1.2 percent of estimated net profit in the banking system for next year, assuming 561 billion yuan of home loans would be at risk if Beijing signs off on the plan, Citigroup analysts wrote in a research report yesterday. Credit risk from the latest round of stress in the property sector is manageable for most banks, the analysts estimated.

  CONGLOMERATES

  Softbank pauses Arm IPO

  Softbank Group Corp has put on hold plans for a London initial public offering of the British chip technology firm Arm Ltd because of the political turmoil in the UK government, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The departures of investment minister Gerry Grimstone and digital minister Chris Philp, following the collapse of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government earlier this month, have led Softbank to pause discussions about Arm’s UK listing next year, the report said, citing people briefed on the talks. They had both played leading roles in talks with the Japanese tech investor, the report said.
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