FIJI
World Bank issues warning
The country must take urgent action to reduce a debt burden that exceeds 90 percent of GDP or put at risk its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and plans for sustainable economic development, the World Bank said yesterday. “Levels of [debt at] around 90% [of GDP] leave the country with limited buffers to address future shocks and highlight the scale and urgency of the fiscal consolidation required,” the bank said in a report. “This situation, combined with emerging global economic risks, threatens Fiji’s macro-fiscal stability, an essential foundation for sustainable economic and social development,” the report said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
GSK to buy Bellus Health
GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) agreed to buy Canadian biotech Bellus Health Inc for a total equity value of about US$2 billion to bolster its pipeline of experimental medicines. The UK drugmaker is to pay US$14.75 per share in cash for Bellus, a 103 percent premium to the stock’s Monday close, it said in a statement yesterday. The takeover would bring GSK a treatment for chronic cough that has shown promising results in clinical trials and has advanced through much of the research process. Bellus’ experimental medicine camlipixant would probably launch in 2026 and the transaction would likely start boosting earnings per share in 2027, GSK said.
TECHNOLOGY
Apple offers savings account
Apple Inc introduced a long-promised high-yield savings account with Goldman Sachs Group Inc, looking to attract US financial clients with an attractive rate and the ease of its Wallet app. The new offering would let Apple Card users earn a 4.15 percent annual yield, more than 10 times the national average, the tech company said in a statement on Monday. The account has no fees, minimum deposit or balance requirements and can be set up from within the Wallet app. The move thrusts the tech company’s clout into a broader fight for depositors, potentially adding to the pressure on other financial firms that are trying to protect their funding.
SINGAPORE
MAS head to step down
Ravi Menon, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) longest-serving managing director, is poised to leave the central bank this year, people familiar with the matter have said. Menon has been at the helm of the MAS since 2011 and his term ends on May 31. Chia Der Jiun (謝?真), one of his former deputies, is tipped to be his successor, the people said. Chia is the Ministry of Manpower’s permanent secretary for development.
TECHNOLOGY
Ericsson beats estimates
Ericsson AB reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, but said that a pull back in 5G spending in some of the company’s more mature markets was set to continue. The Swedish maker of mobile networks yesterday reported an adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of 4 billion kronor (US$387 million) in the quarter, more than the analysts’ estimate of 3.28 billion kronor. Revenue rose to 62.6 billion kronor, more than the expected 60.78 billion kronor. The company also gave guidance that the second-quarter earnings before interest, taxes and amortization margin would “reach mid-single-digit level” on the group level and gradually recover in the second half amid “a choppy environment during 2023 with poor visibility.”
‘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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