MALAYSIA
Jobless rate falls to 3.5%
The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent in February, as growth in all sectors of the economy led to increased labor demand, the Department of Statistics said. Labor force participation in the Southeast Asian nation climbed to 69.9 percent, the highest in records going back to 2010, causing the overall unemployment rate to drop to the lowest since February 2020, the data show. The labor market’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue in line with the broad economy, which is forecast to grow between 4 to 5 percent this year.
TURKEY
Balance stays in red
The country’s current-account balance stayed deep in the red in February, a key vulnerability for the economy as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government tries to keep the lira and inflation in check ahead of elections next month. The shortfall in the broadest measure of trade in goods and services was US$8.78 billion, the central bank said in a report yesterday, more than forecast by economists. That compares with a record deficit in January that was revised to US$10 billion and a gap of US$5.3 billion in February last year. The two main drivers of the deficit have been purchases of energy and gold, especially as households increasingly turned to bullion to shield themselves against inflation that climbed over 85 percent last year.
INDIA
New Delhi ends UK talks
The government has “disengaged” from trade talks with Britain after accusing it of failing to condemn the Sikh extremist group that attacked the Indian High Commission in London last month, The Times reported yesterday, citing British government sources. The incident occurred on March 19, when protesters with “Khalistan” banners staged a demonstration at the High Commission and took down an Indian flag from the building’s first-floor balcony to denounce recent police action in Punjab. “Indians don’t want to talk about trade until they get a very public demonstration of condemnation of Khalistan extremism in the UK,” a Whitehall source told The Times.
INVESTMENT
Berkshire selling yen bonds
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc has started sounding out investors about the sale of yen bonds, having already established itself in recent years as one of the biggest foreign issuers of debt in the Japanese currency. Early guidance for pricing of the three-year portion of the debt is about 70 basis points over mid-swaps, people familiar with the matter said. Multiple tranches are up for sale, with early guidance for the 30-year maturity at roughly 125 basis points, the people said. The deal, if it proceeds, might price on Friday.
ELECTRONICS
Huawei mulls Riyadh HQ
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) is looking to make Riyadh its headquarters for the Middle East amid a push by the Saudi Arabian government to position itself as a regional business hub and growing diplomatic and business ties with China, people familiar with the matter said. The Chinese company, which already has offices in the Saudi capital and other cities across the Middle East, is in talks with Riyadh authorities to upgrade its presence in the country, the people said. The company has headquarters for the region in Dubai and Bahrain.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
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