Sat, May 06, 2023 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  GERMANY

  Industrial orders plummet

  Industrial orders data for March showed the biggest fall since 2020, fueling fears that Europe’s biggest economy is entering a sharp downturn. New orders, which give a foretaste of industrial output, posted a surprise drop of 10.7 percent from February, provisional figures from federal statistics authority Destatis showed yesterday. It was the biggest decline since April 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had just started, prompting lockdowns and border closures. Orders had been rising in the past few months, bolstering hopes that the economy had weathered the fallout from the Ukraine war and resulting energy crisis better than feared. Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg economist Jens-Oliver Niklasch called the plunge a warning for investors. “This figure destroys what had been a good start to the year for German industry, and is a real recession signal,” he said.

  INDONESIA

  Consumption boosts GDP

  The economy accelerated last quarter as it likely benefitted from strong domestic consumption, even as exports took a knock from slowing global demand. GDP rose 5.03 percent in the three months through March from a year earlier, official data showed yesterday. That was faster than the median estimate of 4.97 percent in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Compared with the three months ended December last year, the economy shrank 0.92 percent in the first quarter, still better than economists’ median estimate for a 1 percent contraction. As slowing global demand saps exports that make up about one-quarter of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, focus is to turn to domestic consumption to shore up expansion.

  CRYPTOCURRENCIES

  Coinbase slows downtrend

  Coinbase Global Inc posted a narrower loss and a smaller-than-estimated revenue decline, as the biggest US digital-asset trading platform saw first-quarter results stabilize somewhat during a rebound in cryptocurrency prices. The loss narrowed to about US$79 million from US$430 million a year earlier. It was the fifth consecutive quarterly loss. Revenue fell about 34 percent to US$772.5 million, although it increased from the fourth quarter of last year, when token prices tumbled amid a series of industry scandals and bankruptcies. The average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg for revenue was about US$654 million. The cryptoindustry “continues to be volatile, as evidenced most recently by the disruptions in the banking sector and ongoing regulatory uncertainty,” Coinbase said.

  AIRLINES

  Companies eyeing surge

  British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) and Air France-KLM reported bumper summer bookings as travelers pressed ahead with holiday plans despite a cost-of-living crisis, although IAG’s CEO said strikes and lack of staff could disrupt major airports. European airlines and airports are under pressure to avoid a repeat of last summer’s chaotic scenes that marred the return to mass travel after the freeze caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. IAG, which also owns Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, yesterday said that robust ticket sales for the summer and a winter season that beat expectations meant this year’s profit would come in above its previous forecasts. IAG called the outlook for the summer “encouraging” and said capacity in its key North Atlantic and Latin American markets was back at pre-pandemic levels, with demand from leisure travelers driving bookings.
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