British Prime Minister Liz Truss yesterday dismissed her finance minister, forcing Kwasi Kwarteng to carry the can for turmoil sparked by her economic platform as restive Conservatives plotted her own demise.
The chancellor of the exchequer was dismissed in person by Truss after he rushed back early from international meetings in Washington, multiple media reports said, and she was due later to hold her first Downing Street news conference.
There was no immediate announcement of his successor, who would become Britain’s fourth chancellor of the exchequer this year.
Photo: Reuters
Financial upheaval sparked by the new government’s Sept. 23 plan to slash taxes — financed via billions in more borrowing — has subsided somewhat since the Bank of England intervened in bond markets.
However, the central bank was adamant about ending its bond-buying spree yesterday, and market analysts said only a bigger climbdown by Truss following Kwarteng’s disastrous budget announcement last month would avert fresh panic.
No timing was given for Truss’s news conference, but the announcement underscored the sense of peril as some Conservative lawmakers reportedly mobilized to unseat the new leader just five weeks since she succeeded Boris Johnson.
Kwarteng was due to conclude annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington this weekend, after earning a rebuke from IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva on the need for “coherent and consistent” policies.
Kwarteng confirmed his dismissal, posting his letter of resignation on Twitter.
“You have asked me to stand aside as your Chancellor. I have accepted,” Kwarteng wrote.
“It is important now as we move forward to emphasise your government’s commitment to fiscal discipline. The Medium-Term Fiscal Plan is crucial to this end, and I look forward to supporting you and my successor to achieve that from the backbenches,” he wrote.
Tony Travers, a professor at the London School of Economics, said that Kwarteng had been made “the fall guy for the government’s mistakes,” but the sacking had not taken the pressure off Truss or calmed the Conservatives.
“It’s very hard to see them coming back from this” by the next election, he added.
Speculation was rife that Truss would row back on planned changes to corporation tax, having already changed her mind about cutting income tax for the highest earners.
The promised tax cuts were the centrepiece of Truss’s successful pitch to Conservative party members that she, rather than rival Rishi Sunak, was the best candidate to replace Johnson. That program now lies in tatters, and Truss’ judgement is in question more than ever, after Sunak’s warnings were entirely vindicated: Higher borrowing to pay for tax cuts served only to terrify the markets and drive up borrowing costs for millions of Britons.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook