HONG KONG
Opening hinges on jabs
The territory’s full reopening to the outside world hinges on further boosting COVID-19 vaccination levels, Financial Secretary Paul Chan (陳茂波) wrote in a blog. It has been an extremely challenging balancing act to try to curb the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitate travel, while preserving the economy, Chan wrote in the blog post on Sunday. Just under 75 percent of the territory’s population aged 12 or older have received three doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the latest official data showed. Chan did not give a target for immunization levels before additional reopening could occur.
TURKEY
Account deficit widens
The current-account deficit widened more than expected, driven by higher energy prices. The gap was US$4.01 billion in July, widening US$3.7 billion from a year earlier, the central bank said on its Web site yesterday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts was for a US$3.7 billion shortfall in July. The country’s current-account deficit is expected to reach 5.9 percent of its GDP this year, fueled by an estimated trade deficit of US$105 billion due to a rally in energy prices, economists said.
DENMARK
CPI near four-decade high
Inflation reached the highest level in almost four decades, as prices for food and energy soared, threatening to halt economic growth in the Nordic economy. The consumer price index (CPI) jumped 8.9 percent last month from a year earlier, the fastest pace since early 1983, Copenhagen-based Statistics Denmark said yesterday. That is up from 8.7 percent in July. Core inflation, which excludes the effects of energy, rose to 6 percent from 5.5 percent the month before.
ENERGY
Widodo eyes Russian oil
Indonesian President Joko Widodo is considering joining India and China in buying Russian oil to offset increasing pressure of rising energy costs, the Financial Times reported yesterday. “We always monitor all of the options. If there is the country [and] they give a better price, of course,” Widodo said in an interview with the paper when he was asked whether Indonesia would buy oil from Russia. Any move to purchase Russian crude at prices above the cap agreed by G7 countries could subject Indonesia to US sanctions.
TOURISM
UAE revenue tops US$5bn
The United Arab Emirates’ tourism revenue surpassed US$5 billion in the first half of this year, while hotel occupancy was up more than 40 percent year-on-year, Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. “Our tourism sector’s revenues surpassed 19 billion dirhams [US$5.2 billion] in the first half of 2022,” he said. “The total number of hotel guests reached 12 million, achieving 42 percent growth, and we expect a strong tourism performance in this winter season.”
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan to extend suspension
Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co is to extend its suspension of an assembly plant in St Petersburg, Russia, for three months until late December, it said yesterday. The plant, which was idled in March after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was originally set to resume late this month. The Nissan plant suspension was extended because of continuing difficulties obtaining parts from Europe and Japan, the Nikkei Shimbun reported.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
UNCERTAINTIES: Exports surged 34.1% and private investment grew 7.03% to outpace expectations in the first half, although US tariffs could stall momentum The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast to 3.05 percent this year on a robust first-half performance, but warned that US tariff threats and external uncertainty could stall momentum in the second half of the year. “The first half proved exceptionally strong, allowing room for optimism,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “But the growth momentum may slow moving forward due to US tariffs.” The tariff threat poses definite downside risks, although the scale of the impact remains unclear given the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s policies, Lien said. Despite the headwinds, Taiwan is likely
READY TO BUY: Shortly after Nvidia announced the approval, Chinese firms scrambled to order the H20 GPUs, which the company must send to the US government for approval Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) late on Monday said the technology giant has won approval from US President Donald Trump’s administration to sell its advanced H20 graphics processing units (GPUs) used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to China. The news came in a company blog post late on Monday and Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run China Global Television Network in remarks shown on X. “The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the post said. “Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us
The National Stabilization Fund (NSF, 國安基金) is to continue supporting local shares, as uncertainties in international politics and the economy could affect Taiwanese industries’ global deployment and corporate profits, as well as affect stock movement and investor confidence, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday. The NT$500 billion (US$17.1 billion) fund would remain active in the stock market as the US’ tariff measures have not yet been fully finalized, which would drive international capital flows and global supply chain restructuring, the ministry said after the a meeting of the fund’s steering committee. Along with ongoing geopolitical risks and an unfavorable
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