NEW ZEALAND
Slow GDP growth in Q1
Economic growth remained sluggish at 0.6 percent in the first three months of this year, official data showed yesterday, fueling expectations of another interest rate cut before year’s end. The modest increase in GDP for the quarter was the same as the growth rate in the final three months of last year, Statistics New Zealand said. It said the figure was boosted by a 3.7 percent rise in construction and brought the country’s annual growth to 2.7 percent for the year to March 31. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut its base rate to a record low of 1.5 percent last month.
NORWAY
Interest rates raised again
The nation’s central bank yesterday delivered its third interest rate hike since September last year and signaled there is more to come, in a move that further widens the gap between it and the world’s major central banks. “Our current assessment of the outlook and balance of risks suggests that the policy rate will most likely be increased further in the course of 2019,” Norges Bank Governor Oystein Olsen said in a statement. The deposit rate was raised by a quarter point to 1.25 percent, as expected. The krone surged 1 percent against the euro, its strongest gain since March. Against the US dollar, the krone was up 1.5 percent.
INDIA
Ministry mulls tax measures
The nation is considering increasing the personal income tax threshold in next month’s budget, people familiar with the matter said yesterday, as authorities seek to kick-start consumption in the economy. Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman might raise the tax exemption limit for working-age individuals to 300,000 rupees (US$4,312) of their annual income, up from 250,000 rupees, the people said. The tax measures have not been finalized yet. The economy has slowed sharply this year, with growth reaching a five-year low of 5.8 percent in the first three months of the year.
SOUTH KOREA
Sustainability bonds surge
The nation has this year become the world’s biggest source of so-called sustainability bonds, as borrowers rush to sell notes that can fund projects to help the middle-class and smaller firms in a sluggish economy. Sales of debt globally for sustainability projects have more than doubled this year to US$16.4 billion, and South Korea makes up about 16 percent of that total, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Ministry of Economy and Finance sold its first green and sustainability note last week, following issuance of such debt this year by five domestic firms, including KEB Hana Bank and Kookmin Bank.
TECHNOLOGY
Oracle beats expectations
Oracle Corp on Wednesday reported quarterly sales that topped Wall Street estimates on strong demand for applications, marking the world’s second-largest software maker’s return to growth amid a crucial transition to cloud-based computing. Revenue for the fourth quarter of its 2019 fiscal year, which ended on May 31, increased to US$11.1 billion, up 1.1 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Analysts, on average, projected US$10.9 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Profit, excluding some expenses, was US$1.16 a share, compared with estimates of US$1.07 a share.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six