■TAXATION
Global bank agreement near
Large economies are nearing agreement on a global bank tax, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in an interview yesterday, but he played down expectations a deal could be struck as soon as June. Britain, France and Germany were broadly agreed on the need for a levy that would cost financial institutions billions of dollars, Brown told the Financial Times newspaper, adding he hoped the US would join them. But the prime minister sought to play down suggestions the levy, which he has been promoting for some time, could be agreed upon at the G20 summit in June in Toronto, the paper said.
■OIL
Crude rises above US$85
Oil prices rose above US$85 a barrel yesterday in Asia, extending gains from last week as investors bet an improving US job market will herald growing crude demand. Benchmark crude for May delivery was up US$0.30 to US$85.17 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract climbed up US$1.11 to settle at US$84.87 on Thursday following a gain of US$1.39 on Wednesday. Global oil trading was closed for the Good Friday holiday. In London, Brent crude was up US$0.12 at US$84.13 on the ICE futures exchange.
■SOUTH KOREA
Early rate hike unlikely
The government and central bank agreed yesterday to cooperate closely in economic and monetary policy, a statement seen by analysts as ruling out an early interest rate rise. “Both sides agreed to share information and work closely for harmonized economic and monetary policies,” they said in a joint statement after a meeting between Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun and the new Bank of Korea governor, Kim Choong-soo. Kim took office on Thursday. The bank last month kept its key rate at an all-time low of 2 percent for a 13th straight month. It will hold the next rate-setting meeting on Friday.
■RESOURCES
Japan eyes rare metals
Japan is planning to offer economic aid to countries rich in rare metal resources, with an eye on securing supplies of the materials used in environmentally friendly cars, a report said yesterday. In the first of such deals, Japan is looking to offer hundreds of millions of dollars in loans as early as next month to help build a 100-megawatt geothermal power plant in Bolivia, the Nikkei Shimbun reported, without citing sources. About half of the world’s lithium deposits are believed to be in Bolivia’s Great Lake of Uyuni. Lithium is used in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars. It is also used in pharmaceutical and fine-chemical industries as well as in the manufacturing of alloyed metals.
■CAMBODIA
Foreign ownership allowed
The Cambodian parliament yesterday approved a law allowing foreign ownership of property such as apartments and office buildings, in a measure intended to increase economic growth. The draft law, which will permit foreigners to buy leaseholds on buildings and apartments, but not own the land beneath them, was passed when 85 of 96 members of parliament who attended the meeting voted in favor. The law will take effect after approval from Cambodia’s Senate and promulgation from King Norodom Sihamoni.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
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.
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