The German government on Saturday downplayed as only “speculation” a report in a German weekly that Europe’s biggest economy would slash its growth forecast for next year to 0.5 percent from the previous 1.2 percent estimate.
“There is not yet an official forecast. It is only speculation,” an economy ministry spokesman said in commenting on a Der Spiegel report, which cited ministry experts.
The government will publish its next economic forecasts on Oct. 16.
WEAKER
Meanwhile, European Central Bank chief economist Juergen Stark said that Germany would go through “a period of weaker economic growth, the duration of which will depend on the extent of the repercussions from the [financial] shockwave coming from the United States,” he said in an interview to appear in yesterday’s newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
Stark said, however, that he did not see “any potential for a recession,” either in Germany or in the global economy, nor any signs of deflation in the eurozone.
‘DIFFICULT’
Last month, German Economy Minister Michael Glos said he could not rule out revising down the economic growth forecast for next year, given the current “difficult” situation, as Germans said they were more pessimistic about the health of their economy.
OPTIMISM
Nevertheless, on Friday the government maintained its estimate of 1.7 percent economic growth this year, despite the doubts of many economists who point to a slowdown in exports and higher inflation.
The head of the German Industrial Federation, Juergen Thuman, said in an interview with the Rheinpfalz am Sonntag that for the moment the financial crisis had not caused any serious problems for the German economy.
But he warned that this could change.
“Germany is strong … I continue to think that it is possible to achieve economic growth of two to three percent this year,” he told the Bild am Sonntag.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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