■TRADE
Russia may halt WTO deals
Russia will suspend some of its agreements made during its bid to become a member of the WTO, Interfax quoted Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as saying on Sunday. Putin said the deals covering elements in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors are unfair, but vowed to return to the agreements once Russia becomes a member of the Geneva-based body, the news agency said. “Not being a member of this organization, we do not receive anything positive in return. This situation goes against our interests in certain sectors of the Russian economy, particularly agriculture,” he said. “We will suspend a number of programs, but we will return to them as soon as we become a full-fledged member of the WTO,” he said. Putin said the suspension concerned red meat, poultry and manufacturing.
■RETAIL
German sales drop 1.5%
German retail sales fell by 1.5 percent in July from June, much more than expected for the biggest European economy, figures released yesterday by the national statistics service showed. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a drop of just 0.4 percent. In June, sales had fallen by 1.4 percent, according to seasonally corrected data provided by the Destatis service. The volatile index is calculated from information provided by seven German states. German consumers are traditionally thrifty, and consumption is one of the economy’s weak links despite falling unemployment and significant increases in wages.
■BANKING
HSBC’s Swiss inflows slow
HSBC Holdings PLC’s Swiss private bank said inflows of new client assets in the six months through June slowed to half the volume of a year earlier as market turmoil eroded the value of funds. Net new money increased by 6.9 billion Swiss francs (US$6.3 billion) compared with an increase of SF12.7 billion last year, the Geneva-based bank said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Client assets under management fell 13 percent to SF162.6 billion from SF186.5 billion at the end of December. Net income increased 1 percent to SF350 million compared with the first half of last year, the bank said.
■REAL ESTATE
Colonial posts hefty loss
Spanish property group Colonial, struggling under huge debts, announced losses of 2.38 billion euros (US$3.5 billion) for the first half of this year which it blamed on asset depreciation. Colonial said late on Sunday that it had reached an agreement in principle to reschedule its debt of nearly 9 billion euros this month. The firm did not say whether the agreement included the planned sale of its shares in France’s Societe Fonciere Lyonnaise, estimated to be worth more than 4 billion euros, or Spanish construction group FCC.
■CREDIT
Consumer loans up in UAE
Personal consumer loans in the United Arab Emirates, the second-biggest Arab economy, were 48 percent higher in the second quarter than in the year-earlier period, helped by robust economic growth. Consumer loans advanced to 54 billion dirhams (US$14.7 billion) in the quarter, from 36.8 billion dirhams a year earlier, data posted on the UAE central bank Web site showed yesterday. In the first quarter, personal loans grew by 47 percent, to 48.4 billion dirhams, from 32.9 billion in the first quarter of last year. Overall, second-quarter bank loans increased by 69 percent from a year earlier, to 893.9 billion dirhams; the first quarter saw a 58 percent rise.
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than
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