Aurelia Butler

The Manila-based lender now sees 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.0% for developing Asia, down from 7.1%, and 2022 growth of 5.3%, down from 5.4% in September. “COVID-19 has receded in developing Asia, but rising infections worldwide and the emergence of a fast-spreading variant suggest that the pandemic will take time to play out,” the ADB said in a supplement to its Asian Development Outlook report.Most of developing Asia’s subregions are forecast to grow slower than previously thought this year, due in part to a weak recovery in China. China’s economy, which staged an impressive rebound from last year’s pandemic slump, has lost momentum in recent months as it grapples with surging prices, a slowing manufacturing sector, debt problems in the property market and persistent COVID-19 outbreaks.The ADB projects China’s economy will grow 8.0% this year, slightly weaker than its 8.1% estimate in September, before it slows to 5.3% in 2022, down from its earlier projection of 5.5%.The recent emergence of Omicron, which the World Health Organization says has been reported by more than 60 countries since it was first detected last month in southern Africa and Hong Kong, “is a sobering reminder that further outbreaks remain a possibility,” the ADB said.The ADB trimmed its 2021 growth forecast for India to 9.7% from the 10.0% estimate it made in September, but left a 2022 growth forecast unchanged at 7.5%.To take into account Southeast Asia’s slower third quarter expansion, the ADB cut its growth forecast for the subregion to 3.0% for 2021 from 3.1%, but it raised its growth projection for the subregion next year to 5.1% from 5.0%.Inflation is expected to remain manageable in Asia, the ADB said, which would allow monetary policy to stay supportive of growth amid continued risks from the pandemic.GDP GROWTH 2020 2021 2021 2021 2022 2022 2022 JULY SEPT DEC JULY SEPT DEC Central Asia -1.9 3.6 4.1 4.7 4.0 4.2 4.4 East Asia 1.8 7.5 7.6 7.5 5.1 5.1 5.0 China 2.3 8.1 8.1 8.0 5.5 5.5 5.3 South Asia -5.6 8.9 8.8 8.6 7.0 7.0 7.0 India -7.3 10.0 10.0 9.7 7.5 7.5 7.5 SEast Asia -4.0 4.0 3.1 3.0 5.2 5.0 5.1 Indonesia -2.1 4.1 3.5 3.5 5.0 4.8 5.0 Malaysia -5.6 5.5 4.7 3.8 5.7 6.1 5.9 Myanmar 3.3 n/a -18.4 n/a n/a n/a n/a Philippines -9.6 4.5 4.5 5.1 5.5 5.5 6.0 Singapore -5.4 6.3 6.5 6.9 4.1 4.1 4.1 Thailand -6.1 2.0 0.8 1.0 4.9 3.9 4.0 Vietnam 2.9 5.8 3.8 2.0 7.0 6.5 6.5 The Pacific -5.3 0.3 -0.6 -0.6 4.0 4.8 4.7 Developing -0.1 7.2 7.1 7.0 5.4 5.4 5.3 Asia INFLATION 2020 2021 2021 2021 2022 2022 2022 JULY SEPT DEC JULY SEPT DEC Central Asia 7.5 7.0 7.7 8.6 6.3 6.7 7.3 East Asia 2.2 1.5 1.4 1.2 2.2 2.2 2.0 China 2.5 1.5 1.3 1.0 2.3 2.3 2.1 South Asia 6.5 5.8 5.8 5.9 5.1 5.1 5.3 India 6.2 5.5 5.5 5.6 4.8 4.8 4.8 SEast Asia 1.2 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.4 2.4 2.5 Indonesia 2.0 2.1 1.7 1.5 2.8 2.7 2.7 Malaysia -1.1 2.0 2.5 2.5 2.0 2.3 2.3 Myanmar 5.7 n/a 6.2 n/a n/a n/a n/a Philippines 2.6 4.1 4.1 4.4 3.5 3.5 3.7 Singapore -0.2 1.3 1.6 2.0 1.2 1.4 1.4 Thailand -0.8 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.4 Vietnam 3.2 3.0 2.8 2.2 4.0 3.5 3.8 The Pacific 3.4 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.9 4.1 4.1 Developing 2.8 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.7 2.7 2.7 Asia More

The White House is scrambling to salvage its plans to pass Joe Biden’s $1.75tn Build Back Better bill by the end of the year, with time running out to win over Democratic holdouts worried about excessive spending and persistent inflation.On Monday afternoon, the US president spoke with Joe Manchin, the moderate Democratic senator from West Virginia who has proved a frequent obstacle to the passage of Biden’s domestic agenda.“The president and Senator Manchin had a good, constructive phone call and agreed to follow up with one another in the coming days,” Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, told the FT.Manchin told reporters on Monday that he had a “good conversation” with the president and remained “engaged” in negotiations.“We are still talking about different iterations, that’s all,” the senator said. When asked whether a deal could still be done by Christmas, Manchin replied: “Anything is possible.”Monday’s call marked the president’s latest attempt to reach a deal on his flagship economic proposal, which directs large-scale government investment into safety-net programmes and measures to fight climate change.But the fate of the legislation — which would be paid for largely with a range of tax hikes on the wealthy and big businesses — is still uncertain with less than two weeks to go until Democrats’ self-imposed deadline to pass it before Christmas.Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s senior Democrat, had initially suggested the upper chamber of Congress would begin poring over the bill this week, after the package passed the House of Representatives last month.But many in Washington remain sceptical the bill will arrive on the president’s desk before the end of the year, given Manchin’s resistance. “I know people have been in a hurry for a long time to do something, but I think basically we are seeing things unfold,” Manchin told reporters on Capitol Hill earlier on Monday.White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration remained “fully supportive” of Schumer’s effort to pass the legislation by the end of the month, and said speculation that the negotiations might stretch into next year was premature.Psaki was upbeat about Biden’s relationship with Manchin, saying their “conversations have always operated in good faith”.Manchin told reporters: “I basically go and have conversation whenever the president calls me or wants to visit . . . we talk genuinely, as person to person, as two people who have had the experience of being in the Senate.”Democrats are looking to pass Build Back Better without Republican support using a Senate procedure called reconciliation, which would allow them to bypass the 60-vote filibuster threshold. But because Democrats control the chamber by the narrowest of margins — 50-50, with vice-president Kamala Harris able to cast the tiebreaking vote — they need the support of all 50 Democratic senators.No Republicans have indicated they would back the bill, which the opposition party says amounts to wasteful public spending at a time of soaring consumer prices.Manchin, the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, has for months raised concerns about the size and scope of Build Back Better, and has recently tied his objections to rising inflation. The latest official figures, out last week, showed US consumer prices increased at the fastest pace in nearly 40 years in November.The independent, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office produced an analysis of the Build Back Better package last month, saying the bill would “result in a net increase in the deficit totalling $367bn over the 2022-31 period”. The CBO projected separate White House proposals to beef up tax enforcement would reduce the deficit by $127bn over the same period.The White House, however, has pushed back on the CBO’s projections, insisting the bill would be “more than fully paid for” and producing its own more aggressive projections suggesting that Build Back Better would actually reduce the federal deficit by $112.5bn. More

The Mirage opened in 1989 and was acquired by MGM Resorts (NYSE:MGM) in 2000. The property is known for its entertainment options and 90-foot Strip-side volcano.The sale is expected to close in the second half of 2022 and is likely to deliver to MGM Resorts net cash proceeds of about $815 million after taxes and fees.The company will retain the Mirage name and brand, licensing them to Hard Rock royalty-free for up to three years while it finalizes its plans to re-brand the property. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic Senator Joe Manchin was noncommittal on Monday after discussions with President Joe Biden about a key $1.75 trillion social spending bill, but said “anything is possible” when asked if the bill could pass before Christmas.Manchin, a moderate who has stood as a stumbling block to some major Biden initiatives, told reporters “the conversations are positive” about the bill, which is a key part of the White House agenda.The pair spoke on Monday as Biden attempted to ease passage of the “Build Back Better” bill, which aims to bolster the social safety net and fight climate change.Months of disagreement among Democrats have held up the social spending legislation, leading the chair of Congress’ large progressive Democratic caucus to voice exasperation on Monday at what she said were deliberate misrepresentations of the bill.U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal criticized an analysis of the bill released on Friday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office at the request of Senate Republicans, which found that the bill would add $3 trillion to the federal budget deficit over the next decade if all its programs ran that long.That conflicted with an earlier CBO analysis, based on provisions in the bill that would phase out some programs, that it would increase the deficit by $367 billion. Democrats argue that all of that would be offset by increased tax revenue.”We made tough choices to only fund certain programs for fewer years (because the) top line number had to come down,” Jayapal wrote in a series of tweets. “It is completely illogical to impute a score on a non-existent bill & shows GOP is just trying to kill it,” she said, referring to Republicans.The bill has already been scaled back in scope from $3.5 trillion.Top Senate Democrat Charles Schumer has said he hopes to pass the bill by Christmas.Jayapal agreed to corral most of the 95-member Congressional Progressive Caucus into voting for Biden’s major infrastructure bill in November on Democratic leadership’s promise that Build Back Better would pass.Progressive Democrats are decrying the lack of movement on the bill’s passage.”Forcing millions to start paying student loans again and cutting off the Child Tax Credit at the start of an election year is not a winning strategy,” Representative Cori Bush, a first-term progressive Democrat, said on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR).Meanwhile, Democrats continued trying to resolve differences within the party on several components of Build Back Better. Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto succeeded in having a provision removed from the bill that would have set a new federal tax on certain nicotine products mainly used in vaping.Cortez Masto, who is up for re-election next year in the swing state of Nevada, objected to the tax, which she said would violate Biden’s pledge to not raise taxes on anyone with an annual income below $400,000. More

Investors are anticipating the U.S. central bank will say later this week it plans to wrap up its bond purchases sooner than expected. They are looking for clues on the timing of possible interest rate rises next year.”We are heading to a rising interest-rate environment,” Gorman said. “If I were the Fed I would start moving a little quicker rather than later, store away some ammunition and accept the reality.”Gorman, 63, has been chief executive of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) since 2010 and steered the business back to health after the 2007-09 financial crisis. Earlier in the year, he said he anticipated staying at the helm for another three to five years.Asked about succession plans, Gorman highlighted the strength of potential candidates within the bank to succeed him. “We’ve got terrific executives who could replace me and we need to get a few of those ready for the board. That will take a couple of years but I believe in succession and I believe in planning. We’ve got some fantastic executives and I’m confident the place will thrive under them,” he saidDespite having spent more than $20 billion on the purchases of E*Trade and Eaton Vance (NYSE:EV) last year, Gorman said the bank would still look at “sensible deal opportunities” if they arise in the coming year.”We are not compulsively acquisitive,” he said. “We are using our capital to support the business. We are not out there with a ‘We must do a deal’ attitude.” More

(Reuters) -California on Monday proposed reducing the rate at which homeowners can sell excess electricity from their rooftop solar panels into the grid, weakening a policy that has underpinned dramatic growth in the renewable energy industry for years.The announcement by the California Public Utilities Commission triggered an outcry from the solar panel installation industry, whose backers have warned such proposals could darken the outlook for new projects and undermine the state’s efforts to combat climate change.The PUC justified the proposal, however, saying it would encourage the solar industry to accelerate battery storage technology so excess power can be held in reserve instead of sold, while undoing a policy it said amounted to a multi-billion dollar subsidy for wealthy homeowners at the expense of other utility ratepayers. Under the proposed reforms, Californians with new solar installations would see a discounted rate for power they sell into the grid and a monthly utility charge of $8 per kilowatt to cover the cost of maintaining the grid. Existing solar owners would be moved to the new structure once their installations have been connected for 15 years, the PUC said. But, they would be offered an incentive to pair a battery with their solar installations before then, which would push them on the new rates sooner.If adopted, the changes would represent the state’s most significant reform of the so-called net metering policy since it was adopted in the 1990s, allowing homeowners to sell excess electricity into the grid at or near the retail rate.The changes could impact the outlook for utilities and solar providers – including big panel installers like Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) Inc, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc and SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) Corp – and could also provide a cue to other states that tend to take California’s lead on clean energy policies.California is home to about 40% of the nation’s residential solar energy capacity. The PUC said its review of the policy found it was not cost-effective and harmed homeowners without solar panels by shouldering them with the price of maintaining the grid. Those ratepayers are disproportionately lower income, the regulator’s review found.It said California ratepayers spent about $3 billion a year to support net metering. Those funds would be better directed elsewhere, Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves said in an interview. “If you use that money to purchase the large-scale clean energy projects, we would be able to meet our 2045 goals” of producing all the state’s electricity from clean sources, she said. The nation’s top solar trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, slammed the announcement, saying the changes would “create the highest solar tax in the country and tarnish the state’s clean energy legacy.”Affordable Clean Energy for All, a utility-backed group, said the decision “recognizes we can grow rooftop solar in California while taking steps to reduce inflated subsidies.”The PUC could vote on the proposal as soon as next month, after receiving stakeholder feedback. The new policy would take effect four months after a final decision is issued. More

US chip material maker Entegris plans to more than double its investment in Taiwan and build its largest manufacturing site on the island, in a major win for the key Asian chip economy as it races to secure its position in the semiconductor supply chain.Entegris will invest $500m in Taiwan over the next three years, up from previous plans of $200m, Bertrand Loy, company chief executive and president, told Nikkei Asia in an interview. The company is building a manufacturing facility in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung to supply Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and others. Operations are set to begin by the end of next year, with mass production to start by mid-2023.Loy said the facility would make filtration and deposition materials for use in 3-nanometre and 2-nanometre chip production processes, the industry’s most advanced chipmaking technologies. The smaller the nanometre, the more advanced the chips.The investment comes amid growing calls from the US and other major economies to bring more of the chip supply chain on to their shores due to worries over national security.“Everyone [in the industry] is actually now realising that shorter supply chains, closer to customers, may be a better model [of operation],” Loy told Nikkei Asia. “We intend to have shorter supply chains, more local manufacturing close to clusters of customers that we have in Taiwan, clusters of customers that we have in [South] Korea, or in Japan and in the US.”Loy said the company’s major production presence was still in the US, which accounts for about 60 per cent, but the industry veteran is looking to create a more balanced manufacturing footprint.“If you fast forward to 2024 or 2025, I think production in the US versus production elsewhere will likely be 50 per cent and 50 per cent,” Loy said. “The reason it will not be more than that is that we are continuing to invest in the US as well.” Entegris already has production sites in Japan and South Korea.Major chipmakers are in the midst of their most aggressive expansion ever to help alleviate the global chip supply crunch that has hit a swath of industries from automobiles to consumer electronics. The world’s top three chipmakers alone — TSMC, Intel and Samsung — have earmarked more than $350bn for capital spending in the coming years. Capacity for cutting-edge production — defined as anything below 10-nanometer — will more than double from its current level between now and 2025, Counterpoint Research estimates.While some analysts and industry players have voiced concern about a potential supply glut once all these expansion plans are realised, Loy said his company was not concerned about short-term fluctuations in the market.“Growth is never linear,” he said. “I think that the semiconductor industry for the next 10 years will be growing at twice the rate of GDP, and will get to that $1tn [market size by 2030]. We need to get ready for that, and that means we need to add capacity. Could there be a year where things slow down a bit? Maybe. But we are not managing for the short term. We are managing for the long term.”Based in Massachusetts, Entegris is the world’s top supplier of high-end filters, which are essential to ensure the purity of chemicals and liquids used in making chips and displays. Such materials are increasingly important as semiconductor manufacturing becomes more complex, with less tolerance for impurities and defects.The company’s new Taiwan site will first supply its top customer, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, and later support other chipmakers. Entegris supplies all the world’s chip leaders, including Intel, Samsung, Kioxia, Micron and SK Hynix. The company will also spend $11m expanding its technology centre in Taiwan, Loy said.

Bertrand Loy, Entegris chief executive and president, predicts healthy growth for the global chip industry over the coming decade © Entegris

The chief executive also spoke of US moves to roll out incentives for the domestic semiconductor industry, including the $52bn Chips Act. Loy, who is also the chair of the board at SEMI, a global industry association, said such support should be made available to chipmaking material and equipment suppliers as well, and that foreign companies investing in the US should also be eligible.“This is a very global industry relying on a very extensive global ecosystem. I think that opportunity should be given to everyone and should not be discriminatory,” said Loy. “Go back in time, we benefited from incentives in Korea when we invested in Korea . . . I understand that, politically, it may be a hard decision to make, but from an economic standpoint, I think that is the right decision to make.”Taiwan, meanwhile, is receiving fresh investment from numerous chip material makers. Formosa Sumco Technology, a joint venture between Taiwan’s leading petrochemical group Formosa Plastics and Sumco, the world’s second-largest wafer material maker, is building a NT$28.26bn ($1bn) plant in the Taiwanese city of Yunlin that will begin production in 2024. Mitsubishi Chemical, Mitsui Chemicals and Hitachi Chemicals are also expanding their manufacturing presence in Taiwan.Capital expenditure in the semiconductor industry is estimated to hit a record of more than $148bn for 2021, a 30 per cent increase from a year ago and nearly six times higher than in 2009 amid the global financial crisis, according to IC Insights. That number is on track to increase even further in 2022.A version of this article was first published by Nikkei Asia on December 8 2021. ©2021 Nikkei Inc. All rights reservedRelated storiesSamsung replaces CEOs as vice-chair Lee seeks new directionTSMC urges US to include foreign firms in chip industry supportUS priority should be American chipmakers, not TSMC: Intel chiefChip shortage helps hidden gems in supply chain to shine More