In an effort to maintain steady economic growth, the government aims to steer investment into five key areas including agriculture, energy saving and emissions reduction, economic restructuring, independent innovation, and social undertakings. Furthermore, high-energy consuming sectors will be regulated in how much they can expand. The government will focus on these five areas to help competitive enterprises out of difficulty.

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. group, Mazda Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. all increased both domestic sales and exports to foreign countries in July. Global economic slowdown had automakers worried that exports would fall in the month of July, but the three major automakers reported no such decrease in exports. Toyota group increased exports by 10.2% and domestic output by 4.7% as compared to one year earlier.

Though planning to lower corporate taxes for business this year, the government and the Grand National Party (GNP) have decided to postpone any lowering of corporate taxes until next year. Fiscal revenues are needed to relieve the economic strain on Korean households. Because of the postponement, W8.4 trillion is expected to be generated.

The budget proposal by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics was approved by the Cabinet. The expense budget for the 2009 fiscal year will be NT$1.83 trillion, a 6.9% increase from the 2008 fiscal year. Expenditure in education, science and culture will use the largest portion of the budget at 18.7%.

Economists from the Ministry Finance and National Development and Reform Commission questioned JPMorgan's report on China's economic stimulus package. JPMorgan reported that China's stimulus package would be worth somewhere between $33 billion and $67 billion. Economists speculate that these estimates are too high.

Japan is well-known for having developed some of the most sophisticated cell phone technology in the world. However, the country has not been able to successfully market its products to the rest of the world. Japan will now pursue aggressive marketing of its cell phones, especially the Japanese hit, the "wallet phone."

First Shanghai Securities strategist Linus Yip Sheung-chi said The Hang Seng Index may fall below 20,000 in the short term after dropping 446.3 points to end the day at 20,484.37. "There is no buying interest in the market," said Tung Tai Securities associate director Kenny Tang Sing-hing, adding that the market may not see a revival until after the Olympics.

Toyota plans to increase prices for the Prius hybrid passenger car and the hybrid model of the Harrier sport utility vehicle by tens of thousands of yen per unit, the sources said. The move by Toyota is likely to affect other automakers, including Nissan Motor Co., which are also exploring the possibility of increasing prices. Toyota is also considering increasing the prices of its commercial vehicles, including trucks. Other domestic makers have already announced that they will raise truck prices.

President Cho has pledged to develop KOTRA into the “hub” of Korea’s trade promotion effort in accordance with the ever-changing global trade environment. His goal is to provide a comprehensive consulting service in diverse areas ranging from products to finance, culture, and technology. He also expressed the importance of the need to expand recruitment of experts on resource-abundant regions and emerging economies in the developing world and diversity functions of KOTRA’s overseas trade centers.

The COA Taiwan Livestock Research Institute based in the southern county of Tainan has distilled the animal waste into fuel oil using a thermal chemical conversion technology and facility that it developed recently. The technology was researched and developed mainly because the procedures that have been used in the treatment of livestock waste are usually high energy consuming, particularly during the third stage of aerobic treatment, according to Kuo Meng-teh, a researcher and project manager at the institute. However Kuo says that it is still too early to tell whether it would be economically viable to use the technology in commercial applications, as it is still in the developmental stages in the lab.