■ Public Debt
China's debt hits record
China issued a record US$76 billion in domestic treasury bonds this year, according to new government data that highlight its reliance on debt to stimulate economic growth. Treasury bond sales were up nearly 6 percent from the 2002 total of US$72 billion, according to Tuesday's report by the state-backed National Debt Association of China. However, 2003 sales fell short of the government's target of US$77 billion. China's bond sales have set new record highs every year since 1994, financing massive government investment in roads, power plants and other infrastructure and keeping millions of people employed. The money has helped to buoy growth of about 8 percent a year and create new jobs as tens of millions of people are thrown out of work amid cutbacks in state industry. Bond sales in 2003 outpaced even China's massive inflows of foreign investment, which were expected to top US$50 billion for a second straight year.
■ Gambling
Accor ponders team-up
French leisure and tourism group Accor SA is examining a possible tie-up between its casinos arm and Groupe Lucien Barriere, France's No. 2 gaming company, a source close to the discussions said Tuesday. The source spoke on condition of anonymity after newspaper Le Monde reported that Barriere and Accor Casinos were soon to merge to create France's biggest gaming operator. The paper reported that the merged company would control 35 casinos accounting for about one-third of the lion (US$3.18 billion) revenue generated annually by France's 180 licensed gambling houses. The source said the two sides were working out the terms of a deal to "create synergies and develop capacity" for the combined entity. Groupe Partouche is currently France's biggest casino operator, with a 27 percent market share.
■ Hotels
Le Meridien purchased
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc said Tuesday they have taken control of British hotel group Le Meridien for less than US$1.3 billion. Lehman is taking over the 126-hotel chain's outstanding senior debt of US$1.3 billion at a discount. Starwood is funding US$200 million through a high-yield junior participation in the debt. As part of the funding, Lehman and Starwood have agreed to negotiate a recapitalization of Le Meridien in the coming months. Lehman, the New York-based financial services company, already owned about US$354 million of Le Meridien's debt. Starwood, which is based in White Plains, New York, owns or manages hundreds of hotels worldwide and its brand names include Sheraton, Westin, The Luxury Collection, St. Regis and W Hotels.
■ Macroeconomics
Goh gives holiday speech
Singapore's economy expanded 3.7 percent from a year earlier in the final quarter of 2003, lifting full year growth to 0.8 percent, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in a New Year message to the nation. GDP expanded for the second straight quarter, following 1.7 percent growth in the September quarter. The median forecast of seven economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for 4.5 percent growth between October and December. Singapore's growth slowed in 2003 from a 2.2 percent expansion in 2002 because the war in Iraq slowed trade, and the outbreak of SARS in March emptied hotels and shopping malls.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
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