CHINA
More tax cuts planned
Beijing is planning more tax cuts this year than last year and pledged to step up support to struggling local governments to compensate for weaker revenue, Minister of Finance Liu Kun (劉昆) said yesterday. “Transfer payments by the central government to regional governments will increase by a large margin this year,” Liu said, without providing more details. The government granted 1.1 trillion yuan (US$173 billion) in tax breaks last year, with Liu saying that the amount would rise further this year.
AIRLINES
SAS seeks new capital
SAS AB yesterday said it would launch a new transformation program and look to raise new capital after reporting a wider quarterly loss than a year earlier. The airline, which is part-owned by the governments of Sweden and Denmark, reported a loss before tax of 2.60 billion kronor (US$275 million) for the November-to-January quarter after posting a loss of 1.92 billion kronor a year earlier. SAS said it would fully transform its business, aiming to save 7.5 billion kronor a year.
EQUITIES
Exchange to buy TORA
London Stock Exchange Group agreed to buy cloud-based technology provider TORA for US$325 million, the British stock exchange operator said yesterday, adding the rapidly growing digital assets class to its trading capabilities. The potential acquisition of TORA — which supports customers trading multiple asset classes, including equities, fixed income and digital assets across global markets — is expected to close in the second half of this year.
AUTOMAKERS
Ship fire losses tallied
A cargo ship carrying about 4,000 Volkswagen AG vehicles that caught fire last week could cost the automaker at least US$155 million, a risk-modeling company’s estimate showed. Of the roughly US$438 million total value of goods aboard the Felicity Ace, which went up in flames off the coast of Portugal’s Azores Islands, Russell Group said on Monday it estimates there are US$401 million of vehicles. VW group had Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini models on the vessel. Russell Group estimates automakers other than VW might have lost about US$246 million of vehicles.
GEMSTONES
Diamond sales surge
Botswana’s state-run diamond trader reported record revenue last year with sales surging almost fivefold after imports from the US recovered from a slowdown amid COVID-19 restrictions. Okavango Diamond Co sold US$963 million of rough diamonds last year, company spokesman Dennis Tlaang said. The revenue was the most since the company began operations in 2012, Tlaang said. Sales might rise further this year after De Beers pushed through one of its most aggressive diamond price increases in the past few years, he said.
SRI LANKA
Inflation hits new record
Inflation hit a record for the fourth consecutive month, official data showed yesterday as an economic crisis driven by a crippling foreign exchange shortage worsens. The National Consumer Price Index rose 16.8 percent last month from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive record rise and more than double October’s figure of 8.3 percent. The record highs came as the nation struggles to find dollars to finance imports including food, fuel and medicine.
STIMULUS PLANS: An official said that China would increase funding from special treasury bonds and expand another program focused on key strategic sectors China is to sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds this year to spur business investment and consumer-boosting initiatives, a state planner official told a news conference yesterday, as Beijing cranks up fiscal stimulus to revitalize its faltering economy. Special treasury bonds would be used to fund large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, said Yuan Da (袁達), deputy secretary-general of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission. “The size of ultra-long special government bond funds will be sharply increased this year to intensify and expand the implementation of the two new initiatives,” Yuan said. Under the program launched last year, consumers can
Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp said they are leaving a global climate-banking group, becoming the latest Wall Street lenders to exit the coalition in the past month. In a statement, Citigroup said while it remains committed to achieving net zero emissions, it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Bank of America said separately on Tuesday that it is also leaving NZBA, adding that it would continue to work with clients on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The banks’ departure from NZBA follows Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co. The largest US financial institutions are under increasing pressure
FUTURE TECH: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang would give the keynote speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which is also expected to highlight autonomous vehicles Gadgets, robots and vehicles imbued with artificial intelligence (AI) would once again vie for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, as vendors behind the scenes would seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US president-elect Donald Trump. The annual Consumer Electronics Show opens formally in Las Vegas tomorrow, but preceding days are packed with product announcements. AI would be a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies. “Everybody is going to be talking about AI,” Creative Strategies Inc analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “From fridges to ovens
Twenty years after he was a young, struggling actor in Toronto, Thomas Lo (盧瑞麟) is now the one giving young Asian actors their big breaks. He just had to go to Hong Kong to do it. The Chinese Canadian has been the creative director of one of the territory’s biggest TV broadcasting companies for only a few years, but is already making original English-language content to reach viewers around the world. “It was a bit of a full-circle moment for me,” Lo said. “You see more Asians, but you’re still seeing the same Asians on screen, right? We’re looking for more opportunities
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