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.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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