General Motors (GM) is preparing for oil prices as high as US$130 dollars a barrel once the world economy recovers and will develop more electric cars and biofuels, GM’s top executive said on Wednesday.
“We’re planning for oil in the US$100 per barrel to US$130 per barrel range,” the bankrupt automaker’s chief executive, Fritz Henderson, said at an energy conference in Detroit sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club.
“This is a structural change,” he added, noting increased global demand.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Analysts said the sharp decline in crude inventories showed energy demand was picking up in the US, the world’s biggest energy consumer.
The weekly US Department of Energy report released on Wednesday showed crude stockpiles falling for the second week running, by 3.9 million barrels, far sharper than analysts’ predictions.
In Asian trade yesterday, oil prices were higher above US$71 a barrel following a sharp fall in US crude reserves and amid continued unrest in Iran and Nigeria.
New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, gained US$0.47 to US$71.50 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for August delivery was up US$0.48 to US$71.33.
For GM to be competitive, the company had to look at “multiple paths” including electric cars and biofuels, he said, adding: “In the end, it’s the consumer that will drive us to make more efficient automobiles.”
Henderson said he was in daily contact with US President Barack Obama’s auto task force and was preparing for an upcoming hearing on whether GM should be sold to a consortium of investors including the US Treasury, the Canadian government, the company’s blue-collar retirees and creditors.
The new GM is expected to exit bankruptcy at the end of the summer.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
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