ANKARA : The head of the Turkish treasury, Faik Oztrak, resigned

ANKARA : The head of the Turkish treasury, Faik Oztrak, resigned on Friday in a move that had been anticipated after the government hinted it wanted to make changes to key economy posts, Anatolia news agency reported.

Oztrak was appointed in March 2001 amid efforts to overhaul the economy following two financial crises which sent Turkey running for loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

His resignation came after the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) indicated it wanted to replace him.

It was not immediately clear who would take over as treasury chief.

Markets expect the institution to stick to an economic austerity program agreed to with the IMF in exchange for a 16- billion-dollar stand-by loan. --AFP

Malaysian hotel workers face lay-offs

KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysian hotel workers are facing lay-offs as room occupancy rates plunge because of the SARS outbreak, a news report said Sunday.

Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn said occupancy rates at hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's largest city, have tumbled from 65 percent to about 33 percent since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) began.

Meanwhile, hotel bookings in Langkawi, a popular resort island in northern Malaysia, have fallen to 20 percent, Fong was quoted by the national news agency Bernama as saying.

"This of course has an immediate impact on the welfare of hotel workers like chambermaids, food catering workers and tour guides," Fong said. "The worst thing that can happen is (for hotels) to retrench them, but we're trying to stop that from happening."

Fong did not elaborate on what measures the government might take to curb retrenchments.

Malaysia's tourism industry is the country's second-largest foreign exchange earner, providing about 7 per cent of the country's gross domestic product.

Deputy Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen has said that Malaysia could lose about 200 million ringgit (US$53 million) a month in tourism revenues from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan alone if the SARS outbreak problem is not resolved. --DPA Many firms ban business trips

SINGAPORE : Nearly half of the firms surveyed internationally have banned non-essential business travel to SARS-hit areas with the virus possibly costing Asian economies at least 11 billion U.S. dollars this year, a study said on Saturday.

The survey polled 325 companies in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The report, compiled by a New York-based human resources consultancy and published in The Straits Times, said Guangdong, Hong Kong and Singapore were places most affected by the travel curbs.

The Organization Resources Counselors found 45.2 percent of respondents ruling out business travel to and from Singapore unless absolutely necessary.

Some 53.2 percent said non-essential business travel to and from Hong Kong had been banned, while 48 percent placed Guangdong, where the outbreak is believed to have originated, on their blacklist.

Other areas hit with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) such as Hanoi, Toronto, Taiwan and the rest of China were also affected.

The firms surveyed were drawn from a wide range of industries and included such names as Coca-Cola, Dell, Nike, Shell and Unilever.

Companies have adopted a "wait and see" approach to overseas postings, the survey said. --DPA

Italian govt sees growth at 1.1%

ROME : The Italian government said on Friday it is expecting the Italian economy to grow 1.1 percent this year.

The government officially forecast growth of 2.3 percent this year in November and had not revised the figure.

Junior economy minister Mario Baldassarri said on Thursday growth was likely to be between "1.1 percent and 1.3 percent".

The public deficit was expected to reach 2.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year and public debt was forecast at 105.9 percent of GDP, according to government estimates. --AFP

Taiwan to consider direct cargo flights to China

TAIPEI, Taiwan : Taiwan's government will consider letting airlines run long-banned direct cargo flights to China to help boost their slumping revenues amid the SARS outbreak, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Taiwan's two largest carriers, China Airlines and EVA Airways, have proposed that they be allowed to operate direct charter services to Shanghai during the peak cargo traffic season in September and October.

Taiwan has banned direct air and shipping links with China since the two split amid civil war in 1949. The self-governing island views China as its biggest security threat.

The booming trade between the two sides goes through a third port, mostly Hong Kong, at extra cost to businesses.

Revenues from the direct cargo services could help offset slumping passenger traffic due to travel fears caused by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which shows no signs of abating, they said.

The China Times newspaper quoted Transportation Minister Lin Ling-san as saying authorities would study the airlines' request and make a decision as soon as possible. --AFP

IMF gives Turkey access to 701 million line of credit

WASHINGTON : The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday announced that Turkey was given access to a US$701 million line of credit.

The credit line is included within a stand-by agreement with Turkey, concluded in February 2002, allocated a total of $18 billion in funding to support Ankara's attempts to pull the country out of recession in the wake of two serious financial crises.

The IMF's executive board on Friday "completed the fourth review of Turkey's economic performance under the stand-by arrangement. This will enable Turkey to draw SDR 510.6 million ($701 million) immediately from the IMF," the Fund said in a statement.

So far, Turkey has drawn about $14 billion on an $18 billion line of credit, the IMF said.

On April 6 Turkish economy minister Ali Babacan said that Ankara is expecting to receive credit lines totaling $5.2 billion (4.85 billion euros) from the IMF and the World Bank between now and 2004.

Babacan said the government has signed a letter of intent addressed to the IMF which should end a six-month delay for handing Turkey a new tranche of credit from the $16 billion stand-by-deal package signed with the institution last year. --AFP