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by Shingo ITO Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s economy exited recession in the third quarter, growing a better-than-expected 5.0 percent, government data showed Monday, following a record contraction. A rise in domestic demand as well as exports helped drive the quarter-on-quarter growth, after the coronavirus pandemic and a consumption tax hike slammed the economy into reverse earlier in the year. The positive figures come after three quarters of contraction in the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning Americans from investing in Chinese firms deemed to be supplying or supporting Beijing’s military and security apparatus, earning a sharp rebuke from China. The order listed 31 companies Thursday it said China was using for the “increasing exploitation” of US investment capital to fund military and intelligence services, including the development and deployment of weapons of mass destruction. US-China […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The Philippine economy shrank for the third straight quarter in July-September, official data showed Tuesday, but there were signs activity was slowly picking up as coronavirus restrictions eased and more businesses reopened. President Rodrigo Duterte’s government has been gradually loosening measures introduced in March to contain the virus after they sent the country plunging into its first recession in three decades and pushed many families deeper into poverty. Gross domestic product […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s virus-hit economy contracted in the third quarter, plunging it into its first recession since the archipelago was mired in the Asian financial crisis more than 20 years ago. Activity in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy slumped 3.49 percent on-year in July-September, the statistics agency said Thursday, with tourism, construction and trade among the hardest-hit sectors. The data marked the second consecutive quarter of contraction after a 5.3 percent decline in April-June. […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s super wealthy have earned a record $1.5 trillion in 2020, more than the past five years combined, as e-commerce and gaming boomed during pandemic lockdowns, an annual rich list said Tuesday. An extra 257 people also joined the billionaires club in the world’s number-two economy by August, following two years of shrinking membership, according to the closely watched Hurun Report. The country now has a total of 878 billionaires. The […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.9 percent in September, as the coronavirus kept the brakes on hopes of a speedy economic recovery. The country’s statistical agency said Thursday that unemployment grew 0.1 percent from 6.8 percent in August, with around 20,000 more people leaving the workforce entirely. Australia — with a population of 25 million — is experiencing its first recession in almost 30 years. The latest unemployment figures were […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The rise in Chinese consumer prices slowed for a second successive month in September, official data showed Thursday, as pork supplies bounce back from the devastating African swine fever while farms recovered from flooding. The consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of retail inflation, rose 1.7 percent last month from a year ago, compared with a 2.4 percent reading in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore’s coronavirus-hit economy shrank at a slower pace in the third quarter as restrictions were eased, official data showed Wednesday, but the trade-reliant city-state still faces a long road to recovery. The financial hub plunged into its first recession since the 2008 global financial crisis in the second quarter when the government closed businesses as part of drastic measures to contain infections. One of the world’s most open economies, Singapore is […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The World Bank said Tuesday that it approved $12 billion for developing countries to finance the purchase and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatment. The financing “aims to support vaccination of up to a billion people,” the bank said in a statement. The money is part of an overall World Bank Group (WBG) package of up to $160 billion through June 2021 designed to help developing countries battle […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Software giant Microsoft will let employees work from home permanently if they choose to, US media reported on Friday, becoming the latest employer to expand work-from-home provisions prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Verge said most Microsoft employees are still at home as the health crisis drags on, and the company doesn’t expect to reopen its US offices until January of next year at the earliest. But when it […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered a nationwide drive to boost the ailing economy ahead of a key party congress in January, state media reported Tuesday. The decision was made during a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party and comes as the coronavirus pandemic and recent floods have added yet more pressure on the isolated country’s flagging economy. Mandatory mass mobilisation drives, featuring extra-long work hours and additional […]
by Benoît PELEGRIN Agence France-Presse The coronavirus pandemic that has slammed oil demand and prices is forcing energy majors to tighten their belts on exploration, even if finding new deposits remain essential to their existence. While the sector is increasingly diversifying into greener energies such as electricity and wind power, its core business remains oil and gas. “Questions abound over whether it is still profitable to look for oil given subdued demand growth prospects and […]
