Hong Kong’s government will give away 500,000 free air tickets to international travelers starting next month as part of a free-spending plan to promote Hong Kong tourism after the pandemic and as mainland China reopens from its strict “zero-Covid” policy. Most of the air tickets, bought by the Airport Authority in 2020, will be distributed […]Continue Reading
To anyone wondering how high interest rates will go and when they will start coming down, the Federal Reserve has just provided an answer: “We still don’t know.” That’s the real meaning of the quarter-point interest rate increase the Fed announced Wednesday and the signals it sent in making the announcement. Financial markets read those […]Continue Reading
Telecommunication equipment maker Huawei Technologies will have to source 4G chips elsewhere to make its smartphones as it cannot purchase more processors from the United States. The Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for US companies to ship items to Huawei over national security concerns, Reuters reported. US officials have told Qualcomm Inc and Intel […]Continue Reading
In 2022, the geopolitical tensions caused by the war in Ukraine, slowing growth in the Chinese economy and sharp rises in energy and food prices led to a significantly higher inflationary outlook globally. These factors all added to the risks confronting Vietnam as its economy recovered from its lengthy Covid-19 lockdowns. Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu […]Continue Reading
China will have to pay more to buy coal from Mongolia, which says it will stop shipping its solid fuel to China directly from February and instead sell it through auctions. Mongolia will also use border price, instead of pithead price, to sell its coal starting Wednesday, meaning that the new price will include the transportation […]Continue Reading
MANILA – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr trumpeted the particular Philippines’ fastest economic growth rate within recent memory in the World Economic Discussion board in Davos within a bid to stoke new investor interest in his country. Based on the latest data launched by the Philippine Stats Authority (PSA), the Southeast Asia nation’s gross domestic item (GDP) expanded […]#@@#@!!Continue Reading
The oil “price cap” of US$60 per barrel for Russian oil is a controversial move by the European Union and G7. The price cap prohibits Western insurers and shipping companies, which account for more than 90% of the marine insurance industry, from servicing vessels that carry Russian oil above $60 per barrel. The intention is lofty — […]Continue Reading
Despite Western media reports that the Netherlands would follow the US guidelines on technology exports to China, ASML’s chief executive Peter Wennink said Wednesday that the company would probably maintain its level of exports to mainland China this year. ASML’s sales of chipmaking equipment to China rose from about US$700 million in 2016 to US$2.8 […]Continue Reading
Indonesian Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia suggested that Indonesia is looking into forming an OPEC-style cartel for nickel and other inputs used in battery production. Nickel is becoming a hot commodity as it is a key input in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries needed for electric vehicles (EVs) — and Indonesia has the world’s largest nickel ore […]Continue Reading
In 2022, North Korea exported tensions through stepped-up missile tests and threats toward South Korea. It also kept a national quarantine that prevented official imports of economic goods in place, but ultimately failed to keep Covid-19 from infecting the country. North Korea achieved a record number of around 90 missile tests of various types and ranges, including […]Continue Reading