TOKYO: Japan’s defence ministry on Thursday (Aug 31) asked for a record 7.7 trillion yen (US$52.67 billion) in spending for the 2024 fiscal year, the latest step of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plan to boost military spending by 43 trillion yen over five years. The plan, announced last year, seeksContinue Reading
The real estate market is one of the key drivers of Thailand’s economy, contributing about 10 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Mr Phattarachai Taweewong, director of research and communications at Colliers Thailand, told CNA that “this is a wait-and-see moment”.
“Most developers delay their decisions. It is not the right time to launch new projects during the political vacuum. If the company launches a new project, there is a tendency the project will not reach its sales goal,” he explained.
He noted that listed companies and developers in the country had planned to launch numerous new projects in the first half of this year, but the political situation has driven them to adjust their targets.
“We had expected to see new condominiums being launched in the Bangkok Metropolitan area, of almost 45,000 new units. However, after the first half of the year, with the uncertain political situation, only 12,000 units of condominiums were being launched,” said Mr Phattarachai.
He dismissed concerns that Vietnam could follow India to impose curbs on rice exports.
“Our domestic market consumes about 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the total rice that we produce,” he said. “So, export is a must.”
Rice is the most consumed staple food in the country, with each Vietnamese eating about 90 kilograms a year, according to official estimates.
The nation has exported nearly 4.9 million tonnes of rice in the first seven months of 2023, an almost 20 per cent jump year-on-year in volume. Export revenue totalled US$2.58 billion, up close to 30 per cent from last year.
More rice will soon be grown in the fields of the Mekong Delta region, with authorities aiming to ramp up rice production by about 200,000 tonnes this year.
The nation, which is the world’s third largest supplier of the staple, plans to export 7.8 million tonnes of rice in 2023, a 10 per cent increase from last year.
TOKYO: Japan expects a “significant” impact from the seafood import ban by Hong Kong and Macao due to the upcoming release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, said an official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). Japan is to start releasing more than 1 millionContinue Reading
The weaker yen has sparked a rebound in US and European tourists that is exceeding pre-pandemic levels, but with their own currency also weaker, the exchange rate does not appear to be a drawcard for Chinese tourists. Neither is the frenzied shopping that was their hallmark, said CLSA Japan strategistContinue Reading
KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court ruled on Wednesday (Aug 23) that Swatch can challenge the seizure of more than 100 pride-themed watches, the Swiss company’s lawyer said. The government in Malaysia – where homosexuality is outlawed and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people face widespread discrimination – hasContinue Reading
TIANJIN: At an unfinished Country Garden residential complex on the outskirts of the northern Chinese metropolis of Tianjin, construction has slowed to a dull whirr and a few idle workers roam a near-empty site. “They haven’t paid us since Chinese New Year (in January). We are all worried,” said aContinue Reading
Goldman did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The US bank has always denied wrongdoing in the 1MDB case. Malaysian and US authorities estimate some US$4.5 billion were stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014, in a globe-spanning scheme that implicated high-level government and banking officials inContinue Reading
Their software should not create content that contains “false and harmful information”. AI programmes must be trained on legally obtained data sources that do not infringe on others’ intellectual property rights, and individuals must give consent before their personal information can be used in AI training. SAFETY MEASURES Companies designingContinue Reading
OTTAWA: China – a major source of outbound tourists – has left Canada off a list of countries now approved for travel by tour groups, its embassy in Ottawa said on Wednesday (Aug 16), due to anti-Beijing rattling by Ottawa. Last week Beijing lifted a COVID-era ban on group tours toContinue Reading