■ POLAND
Cabinet drafts finance plan
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday his Cabinet had prepared a 24 billion euro (US$31 billion) plan to stabilize the nation’s finances and boost the economy. Tusk said the plan was preventative and that the country was in a “not bad situation despite the crisis.” The plan, which includes credit and deposit guarantees, credits for businesses and paves the way for faster absorption of EU funds, needs approval from parliament. The government already attempted to bolster confidence in the banking sector by guaranteeing deposits up to 50,000 euros. Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski said on Sunday the Cabinet also revised its projected GDP growth for next year to 3.7 percent from an earlier estimate of 4.8 percent.
■RUSSIA
Growth forecast slashed
The economic development ministry significantly downgraded next year’s growth forecast, but denied falling oil prices would spark an economic crisis, Ria Novosti news agency reported on Sunday. The economy would grow by between 3 percent and 3.5 percent next year, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach was quoted as saying, far less than the up to 5.7 percent growth predicted by the finance minister last month. Still, “the drop in oil prices to US$50 [a barrel] does not create a crisis,” Klepach was quoted as saying. He also revised downward growth for this year to between 6.8 percent and 7 percent, compared with an earlier estimate of 7.3 percent.
■AUTOMOBILES
Hyundai’s car sales dip
Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea’s largest automaker, said sales last month dropped 1.6 percent from a year earlier as the global economic slump cut vehicle demand. Hyundai sold 234,211 Elantra small cars, Sonata sedans and other models last month, the fewest in three months, compared with 237,941 last year, the Seoul-based carmaker said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Domestic sales tumbled 34 percent while sales out of South Korea rose 8.2 percent. Hyundai is cutting output at domestic factories and in the US as fewer customers are buying new cars amid tighter credit and economic contraction.
■OIL
Exxon retains LNG forecast
Exxon Mobil Corp is keeping its forecast of 4 percent demand growth for liquefied natural gas (LNG) until 2030 even as the global economy contracts, said Peter Graham, manager of the company’s Papua New Guinea LNG project. Exxon expects to award an engineering contract for the facility in the second half of next year and seek long-term leases for its gas tanker supply in the first quarter, Graham said at a conference in Sydney yesterday. LNG is natural gas chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one six-hundredth of its original volume, for transportation by tanker to destinations not connected by pipeline.
■FINANCE
Zurich Financial buys firms
Zurich Financial Services AG, Switzerland’s biggest insurer, completed its purchase of two Brazilian insurers from Banco Mercantil do Brasil SA. Zurich Financial’s Brazilian unit took an 87 percent stake in Companhia de Seguros Minas Brasil and full control of Minas Brasil Seguradora Vida e Previdencia SA, the Zurich-based company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The Swiss insurer agreed to buy the two companies for 286 million reais (US$124.1 million) in July.
Taiwan last night blanked world No. 1 Japan 4-0 to win the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 for the first time. Taiwanese ace Lin Yu-min (林昱珉) held defending champions Japan to just one hit and no runs in the first four innings, before catcher Lin Chia-cheng (林家正) opened the fifth inning with a solo home run. That was soon followed by a three-run homer from Taiwanese captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) to put Taiwan ahead in the prestigious tournament of the world’s top 12 baseball teams. In addition to a superb performance from 21-year-old Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Lin, three more Taiwanese pitchers
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday held an equipment installation ceremony for its first 2-nanometer fab in Kaohsiung, six months ahead of schedule, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. “To cope with the strong global demand for advanced chips, TSMC is to start moving in equipment for its first-ever 2-nanometer fab half a year earlier than scheduled,” Chen said at an question-and-answer session at the Kaohsiung City Council. TSMC’s 2-nanometer process technology would help accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) applications as well as the transformation of local industries in Kaohsiung, Chen said in a
TEAM TAIWAN: While lawmakers proposed declaring Nov. 24 a national day, the CPBL commissioner urged the legislature to pass the budget for sports development Lawmakers yesterday proposed designating Nov. 24 as National Baseball Day and updating the design of the NT$500 bill to honor the national team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 championship on Sunday, as thousands of fans came out to see the players parade down the streets of Taipei. Players, coaches and staff from the national team returned home on Monday night after achieving their best-ever performance in an international baseball tournament. After receiving a rapturous welcome at the airport, the players turned out yesterday for a street parade in front of thousands of adoring fans waving Taiwanese flags and
Taiwan moved clear of Mexico to be the only country at No. 2 in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Men’s Baseball World Rankings. Meanwhile, draft bills to set up a ministry of sports were approved at a joint session at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. After previously being tied with Mexico for second on 4,118 points, Taiwan moved clear on 5,498 points after they defeated Japan in the final of the WBSC Premier12 tournament on Sunday. Mexico (4,729) dropped to fourth, behind Venezuela (4,846), who finished fourth at the tournament. Taiwan narrowed the gap to first-placed Japan to 1,368 points from 1,638, WBSC
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