■ FINANCE
IMF board approves loan
The IMF said on Thursday it had awarded a loan of US$15.7 billion to Hungary to help the country combat negative fallout from the global financial crisis. The IMF executive board approved the emergency loan, with about US$6.3 billion immediately available, the Washington-based multilateral institution said in a statement. The IMF and a group of European countries are also preparing a US$6 billion loan to Iceland, which has been hit hard by the financial crisis, Poland’s finance ministry said yesterday.
■ ECONOMY
ADB warns of recession
The world could easily slide into a global recession, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned yesterday, adding that growth in Asian economies would slow further next year amid weaker demand for exports. Recent dismal trade, employment and manufacturing data all point to a shrinking global economy and falling consumer demand for products made in Asia, ADB managing director general Rajat Nag said. “The global slowdown could easily turn into a global recession,” Nag said in a speech in Singapore. “Growth in developing Asia will likely slow further in 2009.”
■ BANKING
Manila cuts reserve ratio
The government unexpectedly reduced the size of deposit lenders need to set aside as reserves to shield the economy from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The central bank cut the reserve requirement to 19 percent from 21 percent effective next Friday, it said in a statement in Manila yesterday. Every 1 percentage-point reduction in the reserve ratio will free up about 30 billion pesos (US$615 million) in cash, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.
■ BANKING
DBS to lay off 900 staff
Singapore’s DBS Group, Southeast Asia’s biggest bank by assets, said yesterday it was cutting 900 staff to trim costs amid the global credit crisis and reported a slump in third-quarter net profit. Chief executive Richard Stanley said most of the cuts, to be carried out at the end of the month, would come from its offices in Singapore and Hong Kong and account for 6 percent of the work force.
■ INTERNET
Microsoft not interested
Microsoft Corp said it had no interest in acquiring Yahoo Inc, after Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang (楊致遠) said the Internet company was willing to sell. Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, has “moved on” and isn’t planning to make another bid, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said yesterday at a conference in Sydney. It may still have partnership deals with Yahoo, he said. “We’re not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition,” Ballmer said. “I’m sure there are still opportunities for some kind of partnership around search.”
■ FINANCE
PRC may turn ‘proactive’
China may adopt a more aggressive fiscal policy next year to maintain fast growth amid the global economic downturn, state media reported yesterday. Beijing may shift its policy to “proactive” next year from “prudent” this year in a move experts said would lead to an expansion in government spending, the China Business News said, citing an unnamed source. The decision is likely to be announced at the Central Economic Work Conference, a gathering of top leaders held at the end of the year.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
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