Fri, Jan 06, 2023 page11

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  UKRAINE

  GDP drop largest in 30 years

  GDP fell 30.4 percent last year — the largest annual fall in more than 30 years — because of the war with Russia, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Yulia Svyrydenko said yesterday. Svyrydenko, who is also first deputy prime minister, said in a statement that the economy had suffered its largest losses since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, although the fall was less than initially expected. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade said Russian missile attacks on energy infrastructure continued to put pressure on business activity and sentiment. Ukraine’s GDP grew 3.4 percent in 2021.

  UNITED KINGDOM

  Sentiment remains sluggish

  Business confidence is lingering near the lows it touched during the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies brace for falling profit during a recession this year, the British Chambers of Commerce said. The employers group said its quarterly survey of almost 6,000 companies, many of them small and medium-sized enterprises, showed that just one-third of them expected profits to increase this year, while 36 percent anticipated a decline. The group said business activity has not recovered since plummeting in the third quarter of last year, with 67 percent of firms reporting further declines or no change in the final three months of last year.

  MALAYSIA

  EV tax break may continue

  The government is planning to extend tax breaks on electric vehicles (EV) in the federal budget due next month, as part of efforts to boost green mobility, Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Nik Nazmi bin Nik Ahmad said. The country aims to install 10,000 electric vehicle charging points by 2025, up from 900 at present, as it transits to low-emission vehicles to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the minister said at an event in Cyberjaya. “There will be a greater push from the government to ensure we reach the 10,000 target,” he said. The government is due to present its spending plan for this year in parliament on Feb. 24.

  DEBT

  HK sells US$5.8bn of bonds

  Hong Kong sold US$5.8 billion of green bonds denominated in three currencies on Wednesday, as markets roared back to life amid a global rush of deals. The territory priced US$3 billion of sustainable US dollar bonds across four tenors, a 1.25 billion euros (US$1.33 billion) two-tranche note and a 10 billion offshore yuan (US$1.45 billion) portion, people familiar with the matter said. Investors sent in more than US$25 billion of bids for the US dollar notes, the people said. That has enabled the issuer to trim pricing on the bond, while it has also seen a strong reception to its new green notes in the other currencies.

  UNITED STATES

  Manufacturers report dip

  Manufacturing activity contracted for a second straight month last month, remaining at the lowest levels since May 2020 as new orders and production slipped, survey data showed on Wednesday. The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing index dipped 0.6 points to 48.4 percent last month, firmly below the 50 percent threshold that indicates growth. The manufacturing purchasing managers index also remains at its lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic recovery began, ISM manufacturing survey head Timothy Fiore said in a statement.
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