Greek lawmakers approved the nation’s first budget in decades forecasting almost no deficit, as eurozone finance ministers prepare to meet in Brussels to discuss a potential extension to Greece’s bailout program.
Of the 300-seat parliament, 290 lawmakers voted on the plan on Sunday. Those in favor numbered 155; 134 voted against and one expressed no view, according to results read out by Greek Parliament Speaker Evangelos Meimarakis.
“We are exiting the era when bond markets were closed to us and we needed bailout loans to survive,” Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told lawmakers before the vote. “Greece is now becoming a gateway for trade between Europe and the Far East.”
The plan sees 2.9 percent growth in GDP by next year, one of the fastest growth rates in the eurozone, as Greece is on track to emerge this year from the longest and steepest recession in more than half a century.
While general government debt is projected to fall to 171.4 percent of GDP from 177.7 percent this year, it is set to remain the highest in the EU.
The government, trailing in polls to Syriza, and with a constitutional impasse over a new president likely to trigger snap elections early next year, is pushing to exit its unpopular bailout program at the end of this year.
Samaras has vowed to replace regular emergency loan disbursements with precautionary credit lines from the IMF and the European Stability Mechanism, which would come with fewer strings attached than the current program, and only be used if the nation’s borrowing costs spike.
Greece first needs to agree with the troika of officials representing the nation’s lenders — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF — on the measures required to complete the last review of the current program, paving the way for the disbursement of about 7 billion euros (US$8.6 billion) in aid outstanding.
This review, which started in September, remains stalled, as the nation’s creditors raise doubts about the projections of next year’s budget, and ask Greece to adopt more budget savings in order to ensure that it meets its targets.
Eurozone finance ministers scheduled to meet in Brussels yesterday and today plan to discuss a possible extension to allow the completion of the last review before the current bailout expires on Dec. 31.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
A TAIWAN DEAL: TSMC is in early talks to fully operate Intel’s US semiconductor factories in a deal first raised by Trump officials, but Intel’s interest is uncertain Broadcom Inc has had informal talks with its advisers about making a bid for Intel Corp’s chip-design and marketing business, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Nothing has been submitted to Intel and Broadcom could decide not to pursue a deal, according to the Journal. Bloomberg News earlier reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is in early talks for a controlling stake in Intel’s factories at the request of officials at US President Donald Trump’s administration, as the president looks to boost US manufacturing and maintain the country’s leadership in critical technologies. Trump officials raised the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS