Tue, Aug 02, 2022 page11

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  HONG KONG

  Economy contracts 1.4%

  The territory’s economy contracted for a second consecutive quarter, with the financial hub facing mounting headwinds as interest rates rise and global trade weakens. GDP declined 1.4 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to advance estimates released by the government yesterday. The number was worse than the median forecast for a 0.2 percent decline. Financial Secretary Paul Chan (陳茂波) said exports, consumption and investments have come under pressure, all of which would compel the territory to “inevitably revise down” its full-year forecast of 1 to 2 percent in the middle of next month.

  EUROZONE

  Manufacturing activity falls

  Manufacturing activity across the eurozone contracted last month, with factories forced to stockpile unsold goods due to weak demand, a survey showed yesterday, adding to concerns the bloc could fall into a recession. S&P Global’s final manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.8 from June’s 52.1, just ahead of a preliminary reading of 49.6, but its first time below the 50 mark separating growth from contraction since June 2020. An index measuring output, which feeds into a composite PMI due tomorrow and seen as a good gauge of economic health, sank to a more than two-year low of 46.3. It was 49.3 in June.

  SOUTH KOREA

  Exports extend gains

  The country’s exports extended gains last month, suggesting ongoing resilience in a global economy that is under pressure from elevated energy prices, rising interest rates and China’s COVID-19 restrictions. Overseas shipments climbed 9.4 percent from a year earlier, just shy of a forecast 10 percent gain, government data showed yesterday. Average daily shipments, which take into account one fewer business day than a year earlier, rose 14.1 percent, it said. The country’s overall imports advanced 21.8 percent last month, resulting in the second-largest trade deficit on records dating back to 2000, and the longest monthly streak of shortfalls since the 2008 global financial crisis.

  INDONESIA

  Inflation approaches 5%

  The country’s consumer prices jumped 4.94 percent last month, the most in nearly seven years, the national statistics agency said yesterday. It beat the median forecast of 4.82 percent in a Bloomberg survey of analysts and marked the second straight month that it has breached Bank Indonesia’s 2 to 4 percent target. However, core inflation — the metric watched by the central bank in deciding on its interest-rate policy — crept up to 2.86 percent last month, still in the lower half of the monetary authority’s target range.

  AVIATION

  ANA returns to profit

  Japan’s biggest airline, All Nippon Airways Co (ANA), yesterday posted a quarterly net profit for the first time in two-and-a-half years as the sector recovers from the financial pain of the COVID-19 pandemic. The relaxation of COVID-19 measures in Japan and other countries increased demand for domestic and international travel, ANA said, with a cheaper yen also providing a boost. In the April-to-June period, the company logged a net profit of ￥1 billion (US$7.6 million), following nine consecutive quarters of losses beginning in January-March 2020, when the virus started to cause havoc worldwide.
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