■ INTEREST RATES
Thailand raises key rate
Thailand raised its benchmark interest rate yesterday for a second consecutive month after an unexpectedly strong performance by its economy in the face of deadly political unrest. The Bank of Thailand (BOT) raised its main lending rate by 25 basis points to 1.75 percent, following a quarter-point hike last month — the first in almost two years. “The Thai economy expanded faster than expected in the second quarter, despite decelerating somewhat from the first quarter due to [the] domestic political situation,” BOT Assistant Governor Paiboon Kittisrikangwan said. “Exports have been growing in tandem with global economic recovery, although the pace of growth is expected to slow down in the second half of the year,” he said.
■ GERMANY
Business confidence up
Business confidence posted a surprise rise this month, rising to 106.7 points on a key index from 106.2 points last month, the Ifo economic research institute said yesterday. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast on average a slight decline to 106 points following a record rise of 4.4 points last month. The latest survey was released a day after official data confirmed Europe’s biggest economy grew 2.2 percent in the second quarter from the previous three-month period, the biggest quarterly increase since east and west Germany were reunified in October 1990.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Toyota aiming high
Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday it wanted to reach cumulative sales of 5 million hybrid vehicles in the early part of this decade. Toyota, the pioneer in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, said earlier this month it had sold more than 2.68 million hybrid vehicles globally since it launched the first model in 1997. Toyota has a goal of selling at least 1 million hybrid vehicles a year in the early part of this decade, and plans to introduce a hybrid option across its whole lineup as early as possible in the 2020s.
■ BREWERIES
Heineken’s profits rise
The Dutch brewer Heineken NV said yesterday its first-half net profit rose 42 percent on a mix of factors, including cost cutting, positive currency effects and one-time gains. Net profit was 695 million euros (US$881 million), up from 489 million euros in the same period a year earlier. This year’s figures include a net 121 million euros in exceptional gains, mostly due to the sale of Heineken’s 68.5 percent stake in an Indonesian subsidiary to Asia Pacific Breweries for 157 million euros. Heineken’s sales rose 5.2 percent to 7.52 billion euros, mostly due to its US$7.8 billion acquisition in April of Mexico’s Femsa.
■ AVIATION
Mergers rising: Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the German airline that acquired three European carriers last year, said industry mergers combining partners from different parts of the world would rise as companies seek higher margins. “The trend toward consolidation will become more intercontinental in the next years than is currently the case,” Stefan Lauer, the head of Lufthansa’s subsidiary airline brands including Austrian Airlines and British Midland, told reporters in Frankfurt on Tuesday. “It remains an exciting topic.” The German carrier is confident of reaching earnings goals this year as some divisions beat forecasts, Lauer said, without being more specific. The Cologne-based company has a target for operating profit to exceed last year’s 130 million euros as sales increase.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
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