Fri, Apr 14, 2023 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  UNITED KINGDOM

  Strikes slow economy

  The British economy stalled unexpectedly in February, when strikes crippled public services, but is still likely to perform better than the Bank of England has forecast. GDP was unchanged from January instead of eking out the 0.1 percent growth analysts had expected, the British Office for National Statistics said yesterday. The figure for January was revised upward to 0.4 percent. Together, the readings bring output in the UK above its pre-2020 level and suggest that the economy is unlikely to shrink in the first quarter. That further reduces the risk of a recession, but leaves the UK on track for an extended period of stagnation. Weak February figures reflect the effect of widespread strikes during the month. Services output fell 0.1 percent, hit by walkouts by teachers and civil servants.

  GERMANY

  Measures tame inflation

  Inflation in Germany eased to 7.4 percent last month, mainly due to government measures to bring down energy prices, data showed yesterday. A downward trend was charted by the German Federal Statistical Office since annual inflation peaked at 10.4 percent in Europe’s biggest economy in October last year — revised to 8.8 percent by new methodology. The slowdown has been helped by easing energy prices as a result of European efforts to source liquefied natural gas and a huge government relief package. Berlin has committed 200 billion euros (US$220.5 billion) to help bring energy prices down until next year, including a cap on gas and electricity prices. Energy prices rose by only 3.5 percent year-on-year last month, after jumping by 19.1 percent in February and 23.1 percent in January. However, food prices rose by 22.3 percent, up from 21.8 percent in February and 20.2 percent in January.

  SEMICONDUCTORS

  Merck to boost US industry

  The electronics subsidiary of German multinational pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA on Wednesday said it would spend US$300 million to expand its specialty gas production facility in eastern Pennsylvania in a step that state officials said would boost the area’s appeal to the fast-growing semiconductor industry. The subsidiary, EMD Electronics, said the expansion would create the world’s largest integrated specialty gas facility as part of its program to invest more than US$3.5 billion on projects by 2025, including at sites in Arizona, Texas and California. The state has pledged more than US$1 million for the expansion.

  LUXURY BRANDS

  China lifts LVMH sales

  Chinese shoppers helped LVMH bounce back from the world’s strictest COVID-19 lockdowns and splashed out on luxury handbags and jewelry. The shares rose to a record. Organic sales at the group’s biggest unit, which sells fashion and leather goods, rose 18 percent in the first quarter, LVMH said on Wednesday. That is almost twice the gain that analysts were expecting from Europe’s most valuable company. The division’s growth in China hit a double-digit percentage, LVMH chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony told analysts, adding that the company is “extremely optimistic” for China this year. Demand grew in every region in the first three months as shoppers snapped up luxury items from Christian Dior handbags to Tiffany rings. Japan saw the strongest quarterly growth, rising 34 percent on an organic basis, followed by a 24 percent uplift in Europe and a 14 percent jump in Asia outside of Japan.
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