JP\/13\/moneymatter<\/p>\n
Toyota using Thailand as Asian base<\/p>\n
BANGKOK : Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. is to join other major
\nautomakers in using Thailand as a production base for exports
\nwithin Asia, Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit reportedly
\nsaid Thursday.<\/p>\n
Suriya said he had received written confirmation from Toyota
\nchairman Fujio Cho that the firm will establish an export
\nproduction base for one-ton pickup trucks in the kingdom, reports
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Toyota will invest 10 billion baht (US$230 million) in its
\nexisting plant to produce an extra 150,000 pickups per year from
\n2004, the minister was quoted as saying in the Business Day and
\nother dailies.<\/p>\n
\"The Toyota president will meet Prime Minister Thaksin
\nShinawatra and visit the Toyota factory in Samut Prakan on March
\n14 and 15,\" he was quoted as saying.--AFP<\/p>\n
S.Korea says firm on power privatization<\/p>\n
SEOUL : South Korea's labor minister said on Thursday the
\ngovernment would stick firmly to plans to privates the
\nelectricity sector despite a strike by power workers who oppose
\nthe scheme.<\/p>\n
The government's National Labor Relations Commission will hold
\nmediation talks later on Thursday with representatives of 5,000
\nunion workers at power plants of state-run Korea Electric Power
\nCorp. (KEPCO).<\/p>\n
\"The privatization policy has already been set and passed by
\nthe National Assembly (parliament),\" Labor Minister Bang Yong-
\nseok told Reuters in an interview on day 11 of the strike.<\/p>\n
\"I see zero possibility to change this policy. I can assure
\nyou the government policy will not change and it will not accept
\nthe union demand that privatization should be repealed.\"<\/p>\n
Parliament approved the privatization plan in Dec. 2000. As a
\nfirst step, KEPCO last April broke up its power generation
\noperations into six units.<\/p>\n
Five thermal power units are to be sold off beginning this
\nyear, while the nuclear unit will stay in state hands. Unions
\nfear privatization will cost jobs.--Reuters<\/p>\n
Turkey needs to attract more FDI<\/p>\n
ISTANBUL, Turkey: Turkey needs to attract five or six times
\nits current level of foreign investment to achieve a lasting
\nrecovery from an economic crisis that has seen living standards
\nslump, a World Bank official said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"The success of (the government's) economic program and its
\nability to deliver benefits to its population depends vitally on
\nits ability\" to lure more foreign investors, Ajay Chhibber, the
\nWorld Bank's Turkey desk chief, told a conference in Istanbul.<\/p>\n
He said Turkey, the International Monetary Fund's biggest
\ndebtor, could no longer fund growth by borrowing abroad, and
\nneeded at least US$5 billion to $6 billion in direct foreign
\ninvestment (FDI) every year.<\/p>\n
Currently, Turkey attracts an average $1 billion annually
\n-just a third of neighboring Bulgaria, which has a far smaller
\npopulation and economy. --AP<\/p>\n
U.S. economy showed improvement: Fed<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON : Boosted by gains in retail sales, the U.S.
\neconomy showed hints in the first two months of the year that it
\nwas recovering from recession, the Federal Reserve said on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
\"A majority of Federal Reserve districts report some signs of
\nimprovement in economic conditions in January and early
\nFebruary,\" the Fed said in its \"beige book,\" an anecdotal report
\ncard on economic conditions across the country.<\/p>\n
The survey is based on reports from the Fed's 12 district
\nbanks and their regional business contacts.<\/p>\n
\"Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Richmond,
\nKansas City and San Francisco report modest improvements in
\nretail sales recently compared with the end of last year. Retail
\nresults were more mixed in the other districts,\" the Fed said.<\/p>\n
Fed policymakers will mull the report at the March 19 meeting
\nof the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank's
\ninterest-rate setting panel.--Reuters<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp13moneymatter-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}