The European Central Bank lowered interest rates for the first time in more than a year as economic growth stalls and inflation recedes.
Policy makers reduced the minimum rate commercial banks are charged for loans by half a percentage point to 2.75 percent, the lowest in three years. The cut is the first since November 2001.
The US$7 trillion economy of the dozen nations sharing the euro, second only in size to the US, may shrink in the first quarter, the EU's executive branch predicts. That's curbing inflation, which has exceeded the ECB's 2 percent limit for more than two years.
"It's a step in the right direction, but people shouldn't believe it will solve all of our problems," said Heinrich von Pierer, chief executive officer of Siemens AG, whose orders fell this quarter. "It won't prevent Germany from being the laggard of Europe."
The reduction means cheaper credit costs for companies and consumers in a region that's home to 300 million people from Dublin to Helsinki. Retail sales plunged 2.1 percent in September and unemployment climbed to 8.4 percent in October, the highest in more than two years.
Business investment hasn't gained since the third quarter of 2000.
"I'm rather pessimistic about the economic outlook," Holger Haerter, chief financial officer of Porsche AG, said in an interview. "I don't see strong growth this year and next."
Government debt rose. The yield on the 3 1/4 percent German note due in 2004 declined 3 basis points to 3.02 percent. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
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