January, 2019

• 21 January

  Baht adds to Thai trade challenges

  

  Bloomberg A surge in the baht is adding to the challenges facing Thailand’s trade-dependent economy this year as exports decline. The baht’s climb of about 5 percent against the dollar in the past six months is the strongest in the world, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Exports are already suffering from the US-China trade war and fell in December ...

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• 21 January

  India mulls $9.8bn plan to pay cash to farmers

  

  Bloomberg India is considering a plan to transfer cash to farmers to ease their financial burden instead of offering subsidies, people with knowledge of the matter said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is planning to combine all farm subsidies, including fertiliser costs, and instead pay farmers cash, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions aren’t public. ...

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• 21 January

  Takeda mulls sale of $3 billion assets

  

  Bloomberg Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. is considering a sale of some emerging-market drugs, as the Japanese drugmaker expands a push to cut debt after its $62 billion takeover of Shire Plc, people familiar with the matter said. The company is working with Bank of America Corp to gauge potential buyer interest in emerging-market assets it acquired through its 2011 purchase of ...

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• 21 January

  China drone giant unearths $150mn losses

  

  Bloomberg DJI has unearthed cases of fraud involving its own employees that may trigger losses of about 1 billion yuan ($150 million) for the world’s largest drone maker, marking one of the largest recent cases of graft among China’s technology giants. SZ DJI Technology Co, which discovered the corruption in an internal probe, said it’s fired multiple workers who inflated ...

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• 21 January

  Taiwan’s Dec export plunges to 3-year low

  Bloomberg Taiwan’s December export orders plunged the most in almost three years in the latest warning sign for global trade. Export orders fell 10.5 percent in December versus the same period a year ago, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, the biggest decline since April 2016. The US was a rare bright spot, with orders gaining 5.6 percent, while ...

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• 21 January

  Carlos Ghosn makes yet another bid for bail in Tokyo

  

  Bloomberg At this time of year, Carlos Ghosn would normally be hobnobbing with the global elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Instead, he’s languishing in a Tokyo prison. Now the ousted Nissan Motor Co chairman is making a last-ditch effort to win release on bail by pledging to remain in Japan before his trial for alleged financial misconduct. ...

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• 21 January

  Gears of WTO could come to a halt amid US concerns: Canada

  

  Bloomberg The operation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) may soon stall because of US delays in appointing new judges, Canada’s trade minister said as he prepares to convene another round of reform talks in Davos. Jim Carr, in an interview with Bloomberg’s Kathleen Hays in Tokyo, said the US refusal to appoint judges to the appellate body of the ...

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• 21 January

  Facebook endows AI ethics institute at German varsity

  

  Bloomberg Facebook Inc is endowing a new institute devoted to the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) at the Technical University of Munich, in Germany. The new center, which Facebook is funding with an initial grant of $7.5 million over five years, will investigate issues around AI safety, fairness, privacy and transparency, Joaquin Quinonero Candela, Facebook’s director of applied machine learning, ...

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• 21 January

  US shutdown pain yet to infect economic-growth forecasts

  

  Bloomberg For all the hand-wringing and headlines over the fallout of the US government shutdown, most forecasters still don’t expect it to cause too much pain to the economy so long as it doesn’t endure. Analysts project the government will reopen by mid-February, though if the closure lasts through March, the disruption will cause economic growth to dip below 2 ...

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• 21 January

  Just Eat CEO exits with threat from rivals rising

  

  Bloomberg Just Eat Plc’s CEO is leaving after a surge in competition from rival apps and pressure from an activist shareholder to speed up decision-making and consider the sale of assets. Peter Plumb is stepping down with immediate effect, with Peter Duffy, chief customer officer, appointed as interim CEO. In December, shareholder Cat Rock Capital Management LP recommended Just Eat’s ...

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