Asians cut investments in U.S.
Asians cut investments in U.S.
SINGAPORE: Singaporeans along with other Asians have scaled back huge investments pumped into industries in the United States, U.S. Department of Commerce figures showed on Monday.
The economic slump in the city-state and in the United States last year prompted a cut in cumulative investments to US$6.5 billion in book value terms, $1.3 billion less than the amount the previous year.
Singapore, the third largest Asian investor in the U.S., reduced its flows into the manufacturing sector, retail, wholesale trade and banks, the report said.
The data, published in The Business Times, showed Japan continued to be the biggest Asian investor in the U.S. in 2001, but cumulative investments slipped 2.8 percent to $158.9 billion.
Malaysia's investments plunged 77.1 percent to $21 million while Filipino investments plunged 96 percent to $2 million, according to the department's latest Survey of Current Business.
Only Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong were among the region's economies still upping their stakes. -- DPA
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatter-Bangkok-Air-Force Air force to deliver Thai fruits JP/16/Money
Air force to deliver Thai fruits
BANGKOK: Thailand's Royal Air Force intends to buy six troop- carrier planes to carry out Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's plan for military aircraft to deliver Thai fruit exports, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported on Monday.
The daily quoted incoming air force chief Kongsak Wantana as saying the force currently had 12 of the C-130 aircraft, which were too few for its own needs, so the extra planes were necessary to promote the government's fruit export policy.
Air force planes recently delivered about 20 tons of longan and mangosteens to Bangladesh at the request of Thaksin, who wants to introduce tropical Thai fruit to new markets as an effort to boost the country's export earnings, the daily said.
Kongsak did not say how much the proposed new planes would cost but the air force needs final approval from the cabinet. -- Reuters
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatter-London-wholesale-prices British wholesale prices flat in July JP/16/Money
British wholesale prices flat in July
LONDON: British wholesale prices, or the cost of goods at the factory gate, were unchanged in July from the previous month and up 0.3 percent from July 2001, official figures showed on Monday.
Input prices, or the cost of raw materials to industry, climbed by 0.6 percent in July from June and were down 3.6 percent over 12 months, the National Statistics office said.
Analysts had been expecting wholesale prices to show a monthly rise of 0.1 percent and an annual increase of 0.5 percent.
Input prices had been seen firming 0.3 percent on the month and falling 4.5 percent year-on-year. -- AFP
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatter-PNG-asset PNG halts state asset sales JP/16/Money
PNG halts state asset sales
PORT MORESBY: Papua New Guinea's new prime minister on Sunday halted the impoverished country's IMF-backed privatization program, saying his government needed more time to review state asset sales.
Less than a week in office after a long and violent election, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare said his predecessor Sir Mekere Morauta pushed through the sell-offs in a rush to make a "quick buck".
He had instructed officials to "order a halt to the privatizations," Somare told reporters.
Backed by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and big aid donors like neighboring Australia, ousted prime minister Morauta tried to push through a broad privatization program but met stiff opposition from unions and the public.
The halt on all sell-offs, including the recently agreed partial sale of state phone monopoly PNG Telikom but excluding the concluded privatization of PNG Banking Corporation, is likely to alarm the multilateral agencies and donors alike. -- Reuters