UKRAINE
Payment deferral planned
The government said yesterday that it intends to postpone repayments of eurobonds and payments of interest on them for two years from Aug. 1. The government, which is trying to deal with the effects of Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, instructed the Ministry of Finance to hold negotiations with creditors on deferring payments by Aug. 15, and promised additional interest on postponed payments. The government is also planning to postpone payment on GDP-linked warrants to August 2024 from May next year, it said. Ukraine is facing a record external debt payment in September of almost 57 billion hryvnias (US$1.93 billion), and state budget revenue covers only one-third of its financial needs.
GERMANY
Uniper bailout talks slated
Details of a Uniper SE bailout could be discussed at a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, the Handelsblatt daily said yesterday, citing people familiar with the negotiations. A rescue package for Uniper must be agreed by Monday next week, when the utility could face more serious funding issues as a result of reduced gas supplies from Russia, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. Berlin is leaning toward taking an equity stake of 15 to 30 percent in Uniper as the preferred option for a bailout of the stricken group, the sources said.
CHINA
Developer bailout planned
A city facing the country’s most boycotts by angry homeowners is setting up a bailout fund to help cash-strapped developers complete housing projects. Henan Asset Management Co (河南資產管理) and government-backed developer Zhengzhou Real Estate Group (鄭州地產集團) are to jointly set up a fund for the real-estate sector, the provincial asset manager said in a statement on Tuesday, without providing further details. Zhengzhou’s fund marks the first state-backed bailout proposal in the country, as the government grapples with a property crisis that risks engulfing banks and middle-class homeowners.
INDIA
Gasoline export levy axed
The government eliminated a levy on gasoline exports and cut windfall taxes on other fuels less than three weeks after they were imposed, benefiting the country’s largest fuel exporter, Reliance Industries Ltd, and top crude explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp. New Delhi reduced the windfall tax on diesel and aviation fuel shipments by 2 rupees (US$0.03) a liter and scrapped a 6 rupees levy on gasoline exports, a government notification said. It also exempted overseas shipments from refineries located in export-focused zones. The tax on domestically produced crude oil has been lowered by about 27 percent to 17,000 rupees a tonne.
MYANMAR
Last foreign telecom to exit
Qatari telecommunications firm Ooredoo is in talks to sell its local unit in what would mark the exit of the country’s last foreign telecom, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The people said Doha-based Ooredoo has informed the Posts and Telecommunications Department of its intention to sell the unit, which was Myanmar’s third-biggest operator with nearly 15 million users in 2020, before the industry was disrupted by last year’s military coup. The main potential buyers include local conglomerate Young Investment Group, Singapore-headquartered network infrastructure operator Campana Group and SkyNet telecom, the people said.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
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