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