06/06/2025

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | JUNE 6, 2025

17

S. Korean president moves to tackle economic ‘crisis’ o PM nominee says

Indonesia rolls out stimulus package after growth slows JAKARTA: Indonesia began rolling out a US$1.5 billion (RM6.3 billion) stimulus package yesterday to boost consumer activity after Southeast Asia’s biggest economy posted its slowest growth in more than three years in the first quarter. The archipelago nation’s economy grew 4.87% from a year earlier in the first three months of 2025 – a sluggish rate for the developing country last seen during the Covid-19 pandemic in mid-2021. President Prabowo Subianto has drawn criticism for his economic policies, including slashing US$19 billion from the government budget to fund a new sovereign wealth fund. The new stimulus measures include discounts for train, plane and ferry tickets as well as toll subsidies to boost tourism. The government will also disburse additional social aid, while giving cash transfers to low-income workers and discounts on unemployment insurance premiums. A Finance Ministry spokesperson told AFP the programme came into force yesterday, after the measures were announced earlier in the week. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Monday the package would spur economic activity, with the incentives in force during the school holidays. “With this stimulus and various acceleration of the government programmes ... we hope that in the second quarter, economic growth can still be maintained at close to 5%,” she told a press conference. The Indonesian economy has been roiled by US President Donald Trump’s threatened 32% tariffs, among Asia’s highest. Jakarta remains in talks with Washington over the tariffs before a 90-day pause concludes in July. It has promised to buy more US products to narrow its trade surplus with Washington, including wheat, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas. – AFP TOKYO: Suzuki Motor had suspended production of its Swift car due to China’s rare earth restrictions, two sources familiar with the matter said, becoming the first Japanese automaker to be affected by the export curbs. It had announced the planned production stoppage of the Swift subcompact, excluding the Swift Sport model, from May 26 through June 6, citing a shortage of components. It did not elaborate beyond that and a spokesman said the firm had no comment on the reason for the suspension, which was first reported by the Nikkei business daily. Suzuki would partially restart production of the Swift cars at its Sagara plant on June 13, resuming fully after June 16, as the“prospect of parts supply is clearer” now, it said in a later statement yesterday. China’s decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. Some European auto parts plants have also suspended output and Mercedes-Benz is considering ways to protect against shortages of rare earths. – Reuters Suzuki halts Swift production due to China’s rare earth curbs: Sources

The previous government had made little progress in trying to assuage crushing US tariffs that would hit some of the country’s major export-reliant industries, including autos, electronics and steel. Lee faces what could be the most daunting set of challenges for a South Korean leader in decades, analysts said, ranging from healing a country deeply scarred by the martial law attempt to tackling unpredictable protectionist moves by the United States. Lee yesterday withdrew the nomination of two judges to the Constitutional Court, made by acting president Han Duck-soo before the election, his office said. Lee previously said Han had no power to nominate judges as an unelected acting leader. The ruling Democratic Party-controlled parliament also passed yesterday special counsel acts to investigate former president Yoon on insurrection charges and his wife Kim Keon Hee over corruption allegations. The party had previously passed the special counsel acts on multiple occasions, but they were repeatedly vetoed by Yoon and then the acting president. Yoon is currently facing a separate trial on insurrection charges. – Reuters

ally and legislative veteran as prime minister and is racing to form a Cabinet and staff his office to maintain continuity in administration. The new leader expressed bewilderment on Wednesday after walking into the presidential office to find it stripped of computers, printers and even pens and was quiet like “a graveyard” with government officials who had been assigned there sent back to their posts. Most of the officials have been ordered back, Lee’s spokesperson said yesterday. Lee has made economic recovery one of his top priorities and vowed to immediately unleash fiscal spending of at least 30 trillion won (RM93 billion) to boost growth, which was projected by the central bank in May to be almost half of its earlier estimate this year at 0.8%, down from 1.5% in February. Kim Min-seok, whose appointment as prime minister requires parliamentary approval, said on Wednesday the country was facing even more economic turmoil than during the Asian financial crisis of 1997, complicated by unfavourable external factors. “Today, the economy is heading downward and stagnating, which is why I believe it’s much more difficult,” he told reporters.

SEOUL: South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung held his first Cabinet meeting yesterday focused on devising an emergency package to address stagnating economic growth and aid households, moving swiftly to start tackling a top campaign pledge. Lee took office on Wednesday just hours after riding a wave of anger over a brief martial law imposed by Yoon Suk Yeol to win the snap election. The attempt at military rule led to Yoon’s ouster and sent shockwaves through Asia’s fourth-largest economy. In brief remarks open to the media, Lee told the Cabinet carried over from the caretaker government put in place following Yoon’s impeachment in December that there was no time to waste in getting to work as the people were facing hardship. Lee has so far only nominated a close political country in worse state than during Asian financial crisis

A customer holding his Nintendo Switch 2 game consoles at an electronics store in Tokyo yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Gamers line up for Nintendo Switch 2 with global shortfall expected TOKYO: Gaming fans queued up for the launch of Nintendo’s Switch 2 yesterday, which is widely expected to be in short supply globally amid pent-up demand for the more powerful next-generation gaming device. had come from Saitama prefecture, adjacent to Tokyo, to receive her Switch 2.

Nintendo last month forecast sales of 15 million Switch 2 units during the current financial year, as well as 4.5 million Switch units. President Shuntaro Furukawa said Nintendo will strengthen production capacity to respond to strong demand and focus on sales promotion in an effort to exceed the forecast. Nintendo said it received 2.2 million applications for its Switch 2 sales lottery on its My Nintendo Store in Japan. Pre-orders at Target sold out in less than two hours. “You are looking at weeks or months until you can walk into a store and buy a Switch 2,” said Toto of Kantan Games. – Reuters

Nintendo has sold 152 million Switch home-portable devices since launching in 2017. It became a games juggernaut with titles including two The Legend of Zelda titles and Covid-19 pandemic breakout hit Animal Crossing: New Horizons . The Switch 2 bears many similarities with its predecessor but offers a larger screen and improved graphics and debuts with titles including Mario Kart World . The launch of the US$499.99 Switch 2 is a test of Nintendo’s supply chain management during US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

“The level of demand seems to be sky-high,” said Serkan Toto, founder of the Kantan Games consultancy. In the Ikebukuro shopping district of Tokyo, dozens of successful applicants to a sales lottery by electronics retailer Bic Camera lined up before the store opened to collect their devices. “I feel like I’m going to cry,” Yumi Ohi, a 30-year-old delivery contractor, told Reuters. Ohi had missed out in other lotteries and