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