Bloomberg Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda says it’s the most significant challenge facing his economy. Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol says it’ll be tougher to manage than record levels of household debt or future Federal Reserve interest-rate increases. The issue perplexing Asia’s central bankers: demographics. And making matters worse is the realisation there’s very little they can do …

Bloomberg Seven Philippine conglomerates, including those led by billionaires John Gokongwei and Lucio Tan, submitted a proposal to modernise and expand the capital’s 70-year-old airport in a plan that will potentially triple capacity and help ease congestion. Ventures of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Ayala Corp., LT Group Inc. along with Alliance Global Group Inc., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings …

Bloomberg Aegean Airlines, the former island-hopper that’s expanded to replace defunct Greek flag-carrier Olympic Air, plans to order at least 50 new single-aisle jetliners in the next three or four weeks. Aegean, which has already doubled its fleet since 2013, will choose between the latest Airbus SE A320neo and Boeing Co. 737 Max narrow-body models, Chief Executive Officer Dimitrios Gerogiannis …

Bloomberg Gucci surged past rival Hermes in sales as shoppers snapped up more of designer Alessandro Michele’s crystal- and sequin-coated creations over the holidays. The Italian fashion label closed out the year with another quarter of runaway growth, with comparable sales rising 43 percent, parent Kering SA said in a statement on Tuesday. Its revenue of 6.2 billion euros ($7.6 …

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co.’s cancellation of 250 flights at Midway Airport Feb 11 was the third time in two months that a shortage of de-icing fluid has complicated the carrier’s Chicago operations. Heavy snows forced Southwest to use much more than the normal amount of glycol to remove ice and snow from planes that parked at the airport overnight, eating …

Bloomberg PepsiCo Inc.’s snacks are having to pick up more of the slack for its ailing beverages. The company posted sales and earnings that topped analysts’ estimates last quarter, helped by an uptick in volume at its Frito Lay business in North America. The snack growth helped offset continued declines at the Purchase, New York-based company’s drinks business. Still, a …

LONDON / Reuters OPEC said on Monday world oil demand would grow faster than expected in 2018 because of a healthy world economy, adding a tailwind to the producer group’s effort to remove a supply glut by cutting output. But the global market will return to balance only towards the end of 2018, no earlier than previously thought, as higher …

Bloomberg Surging output of US shale oil won’t be a “huge distorter” of efforts by global crude producers to clear a glut, according to OPEC’s president. The market should re-balance this year, given robust demand and producers’ compliance with their pledges to curtail supply, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei, currently the president of OPEC, said on Monday …

Bloomberg Asia’s rapacious thirst for liquefied natural gas is sucking supplies from surprising places. China to Japan and South Korea are paying top dollar for the super-chilled fuel. The pull is so strong that Norway’s Statoil ASA, which usually exports most of its LNG to Europe, is shipping a rare cargo east. It plans to send more. Asia gets most …

SEOUL / Reuters South Korea’s Korea Gas Corp has entered court-administered arbitration with Australian joint venture North West Shelf Gas seeking to settle a dispute over a liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract that expired in 2016. A spokesman for the state-run Korean firm, known as KOGAS, confirmed an arbitration process was under way but declined to give details. Woodside Petroleum, …