December, 2022

• 28 December

  Hong Kong searches for flights to China soar as last curbs fall

  

    Bloomberg Residents of Hong Kong reacted swiftly to news China will no longer subject inbound travellers to quarantine as of early next year, flooding the internet to search for flights to key mainland cities. Outbound searches for flights from Hong Kong to the mainland on Trip.com and Ctrip, the two sub-brands of Trip.com Group Ltd, jumped around 521% on ...

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• 28 December

  US goods-trade deficit narrows in Nov

    Bloomberg The US merchandise-trade deficit narrowed in November to the smallest since December 2020 due to a plunge in imports. The shortfall decreased 15.6% — the most since 2009 — to $83.3 billion last month, Commerce Department data showed on Tuesday. The figures, which aren’t adjusted for inflation, compared with a median estimate for a gap of $96.3 billion ...

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• 28 December

  Europeans are looking for ways to counter soaring energy costs

  

  Bloomberg Soaring heating and electricity bills are pushing Europeans to find hacks that will cut their energy use and reduce costs. Mats Johansson installed 30 solar panels with a production capacity of 13.5 kilowatts on his house in Halmstad, southwest Sweden earlier this year. The nation has some of the highest rates of energy consumption per capita in Europe — ...

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• 28 December

  S Africa passes 200 days of power cuts

    Bloomberg South Africa passed 200 days of power cuts in 2022 on Tuesday, with more to come. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. said it will ramp up power cuts from so-called stage-1 load shedding, where it removes around 1,000 megawatts from the grid, to stage 3 from 4 pm local time until 5 am for the rest of the week. ...

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• 28 December

  Modi’s building boom setting up India as global steel savior

  

    Bloomberg With China’s massive construction sector still in a funk and the US and Europe likely heading into recessions, India has emerged as a savior for flagging global steel demand. Poised to overtake China as the world’s most populous country next year, India is in the midst of a building boom. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking to modernise ...

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• 27 December

  PLDT to cancel projects to cut $860m overspend

  

    Bloomberg PLDT Inc is in talks with suppliers and vendors to cancel some projects and seek discounts as the Philippines’ biggest phone company by revenue aims to cut its 48-billion peso ($860 million) spending overrun. “The discussion also includes the possible replacement of certain projects that will be cancelled, with new projects that will improve revenue growth and customer ...

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• 27 December

  India’s CBI arrests Videocon chief after ICICI bank ex-CEO

    Bloomberg India’s top investigating agency arrested the founder of Videocon Group Venugopal Dhoot, after it arrested Chanda Kochhar, a former chief executive officer at ICICI Bank Ltd, and her husband Deepak Kochhar on charges related to alleged improper lending. Dhoot was called in for questioning and arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), according to his lawyer Sandeep ...

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• 27 December

  China industrial profits drop as Covid outbreaks slow output

  

    Bloomberg Profits at industrial firms in China declined in the first 11 months of the year, as production slowed and factory-gate prices fell amid Covid disruptions. Industrial profits in the January-November period fell 3.6% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. That compared with a decline of 3% in the first 10 months of the ...

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• 27 December

  Apple Japan hit with $98m in back taxes

    Bloomberg Apple faces about $98 million in back taxes in Japan, a bill that appears to be tied to bulk sales of duty-free devices to foreign tourists, Nikkei reported. Japan’s tax-free shopping for visitors staying less than six months doesn’t apply to purchases for resale purposes, according to the report. At least one transaction at an Apple store involved ...

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• 27 December

  Japan to require tests for visitors coming from reopened China

  

  Bloomberg Japan will require negative Covid-19 test results for travellers coming from China, as the country of 1.4 billion throws open its borders from January 8 and abandons its Covid Zero policy at a rapid pace. The policy will take effect from December 30, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters in Tokyo. Those who have been in mainland China within ...

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