Business news in briefs<\/p>\n
NZ business mission here<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Representatives from 25 New Zealand engineering
\ncompanies are currently in Jakarta to forge closer business ties
\nwith Indonesian companies in the field.<\/p>\n
The engineering companies cover a wide range of sectors.<\/p>\n
Chris Burrows from the Bank of New Zealand said one of the
\nmajor obstacles to acquiring projects in Indonesia is that local
\nclients prefer long-term funding packages, which many New Zealand
\ncompanies do not have.<\/p>\n
He further added that New Zealand companies are thus aiming to
\nattract smaller-scale contracts in the region of about US$10
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
Under the coordination of the New Zealand Trade Development
\nBoard, the mission coincides with today's arrival here of Prime
\nMinister Jim Bolger. (mds)<\/p>\n
WB approves aid for India<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AFP): The World Bank has approved loans for India
\ntotaling US$6.5 billion to $7 billion for the next three years,
\nofficials said.<\/p>\n
The loans are less than the $9 billion approved for the
\nprevious three-year period, but reflect the changing nature of
\nthe aid and improvements in India's economy, said Heinz Vergin,
\nthe bank official in charge of India.<\/p>\n
Bank officials noted that Indian economic growth reached 13
\npercent in 1992 and 1993. Inflation was 13 percent in 1993 and
\n5.3 percent in 1992.<\/p>\n
Both economic growth and inflation are expected to be 10
\npercent next year.<\/p>\n
The World Bank loans are no longer aimed at propping up
\nIndia's currency reserves, but financing specific economic
\nprojects, Vergin said.<\/p>\n
In a related matter, the bank said its International
\nDevelopment Association would provide a $117.8 million credit to
\nhelp fight blindness in India.<\/p>\n
The funds will allow some eight million Indians to undergo
\ncataract surgery between now and the year 2000, the bank said.<\/p>\n
China delays share issues<\/p>\n
SHANGHAI (Reuter): China, trying to prop up its ailing stock
\nmarkets, announced on Saturday a postponement until next year of
\nmost share issues due for this year.<\/p>\n
In its top story, the Shanghai Securities News carried an
\nannouncement from the State Council Securities Committee which
\nsaid China must develop its stock market cautiously and step by
\nstep, whilst improving its legal and regulatory systems.<\/p>\n
To ensure the quality of new stocks, firms must have a six-
\nmonth period of guidance from official departments to improve
\ntheir management and organization before they can be issued, the
\ncommittee announcement said.<\/p>\n
This means the vast majority of the stock due to be issued
\nthis year, on both the A and B lists, will only be issued next
\nyear, it said.<\/p>\n
In addition, issue prices must be strictly controlled and the
\ncost of issues must be reduced, it said.<\/p>\n
It said institutional investors and investment funds should be
\ndeveloped to increase long-term stable investment in the market.<\/p>\n
IBM to double recruitment<\/p>\n
TOKYO (AFP): IBM Japan Ltd. is to more than double its
\nrecruitment in 1995 because it is expecting a recovery following
\nbrisk sales of semiconductors and computers, news reports said
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
The Japanese subsidiary of International Business Machines
\nCorp. (IBM) is to hire about 300 university graduates next year,
\ncompared with 140 this year, the Yomiuri newspaper said.<\/p>\n
It is the first time in six years that the company is to boost
\nthe number of new employees.<\/p>\n
The company, facing severe business conditions in Japan, has
\nrestructured itself, and it cut about 3,000 employees last year.<\/p>\n
Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. also plans to boost recruitment next year
\nfrom 300 new graduates last year to 400 next year, the Yomiuri
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
AfDB's row unsolved<\/p>\n
NAIROBI (Reuter): The African Development Bank has ended its
\nannual meeting with a crucial reform of its lending policy left
\nup in the air and its soft loan fund bare.<\/p>\n
Western countries declined at the three-day meeting to top up
\nthe African Development Fund until the AfDB implements internal
\nreforms recommended by independent experts and adopts policies to
\ntackle mounting arrears on loans to member states.<\/p>\n
\"Certain steps have to be taken following the (independent
\nreport) and certain policies adopted on resource allocation
\nbefore we can commit new funds,\" Britain's senior representative
\nBarry Hudson told the meeting.<\/p>\n
Representatives of the African and non-African members agreed
\nto meet again, probably towards the end of June, according to
\nincoming AfDB chairman Kalu Idika Kalu, who is Nigeria's finance
\nminister.<\/p>\n
In talks that ended late on Thursday, the two sides came close
\nto agreement on a replenishment worth around US$2.6 billion to
\nthe Development Fund.<\/p>\n
S. Africa woos investment<\/p>\n
LONDON (AFP): South Africa offers many enticing opportunities
\nfor the foreign investor in the wake of the country's first
\nmulti-racial elections, despite warnings of a degree of political
\nuncertainty.<\/p>\n
\"South Africa presents a beguiling mixture of a sophisticated,
\nestablished market with the growth potential of an emerging
\nmarket,\" said Michael Spriggs, a leading specialist with S.G.
\nWarburg Securities.<\/p>\n
\"For those investors who can live with the uncertainty, the
\ninvestment case for South Africa is very appealing.\"<\/p>\n
He said the country offered a \"unique combination\" of cyclical
\neconomic recovery, growth prospects forecast at between three and
\nfour percent annually, improving liquidity, and stable inflation
\nat around eight percent.<\/p>\n
\"After years of sanctions, the global investor is
\nsignificantly underweight in this large and sophisticated
\nstockmarket.\"<\/p>\n
Compared with other markets of similar size and risk, such as
\nMexico -- where overseas investment totaled US$10 billion last
\nyear compared to South Africa's 650 million -- the country offers
\n\"unusual value.\"<\/p>\n
Trade-labor link opposed<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Southeast Asia's economically booming
\nnations will consider a common approach to fight efforts by the
\nWest to link trade and workers' rights, a senior Malaysian
\nofficial said Saturday.<\/p>\n
ASEAN labor ministers will discuss \"the adoption of a common
\napproach to thwart international pressure to comply with rigid
\nlabor standards,\" at a two-day meeting beginning Monday in
\nSingapore, Human Resources Minister Lim Ah Lek said here.<\/p>\n
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprises Brunei,
\nIndonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.<\/p>\n
\"Malaysia would emphasize the need for developing countries to
\noppose the rigid manner in which labor standards were likely to
\nbe imposed on them on the basis of equality,\" Lim said in a
\nstatement to the Bernama news agency.<\/p>\n
At a GATT ministerial conference in Marrakesh, Morocco last
\nmonth, developing countries voiced fears that a bid to include
\nlabor rights in the new World Trade Organization (WTO) could be
\nused by industrial nations as a pretext for new forms of
\nprotectionism.<\/p>",
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