BANGKOK: Indonesia said it still hoped to hammer out a counter

BANGKOK: Indonesia said it still hoped to hammer out a counter trade deal to buy rice from Thailand, despite failing to reach an agreement at a meeting in Bangkok on Tuesday.

"We are discussing counter trade. We are trying to finalize the products which... Thailand might be able to buy from Indonesia," Indonesian Trade and Industry Minister Rini Soewandi told Reuters.

"It is still under discussion, hopefully within the next few weeks we can finalize it," she added.

Thai Commerce Minister Adisai Bodharamik, who also held talks with his Indonesian counterpart on Tuesday, declined to comment.

The talks follow a recent request by Jakarta to set up a counter trade arrangement with Indonesia to buy up to 500,000 tons of Thai rice in exchange of products including train wagons and airplanes. -- Reuters

Iraq eyes OPEC secretary general post

BAGHDAD: Iraq will nominate a candidate for the post of OPEC secretary general to succeed Ali Rodriguez when he steps down in June, Oil Minister Amer Mohammed Rashid said in remarks published Tuesday.

"Iraq will look into the situation in light of the departure of the incumbent secretary general Ali Rodriguez and will nominate a candidate for the post," he told visiting Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro on Monday, quoted in newspapers.

Rodriguez has been nominated to head the state-owned PDVSA oil company in his native Venezuela, but he will stay on at least until the cartel's next ministerial meeting on June 26.

Rodriguez beat Iraqi and Saudi candidates to be named secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in November 2000, and assumed the post in January the following year. -- AFP

Japanese consumer confidence rebounds

TOKYO: Japanese consumer confidence rebounded in March, logging its biggest gain in three years after sliding steadily since September, suggesting a patchy export-driven economic recovery was finally reaching consumers.

The Cabinet Office said in a quarterly survey of 5,040 households that the consumer sentiment index rose 1.5 points to 38.4 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 36.9 in December.

"The index suggests that consumer sentiment is improving," Yoshihiko Senoh, director of the Cabinet Office's department of business statistics, told a news conference. "Therefore, we cannot deny that severe economic conditions are changing."

The sentiment figure is calculated by averaging five component indices which include views on living conditions, income, prices, jobs and willingness to spend on durable goods. -- Reuters

ADB mulls issue of local currency bonds

MANILA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday it may start issuing local currency bonds in the Philippines, Thailand and India to minimize currency risk when it provides project funding.

"We have been in discussion with the three countries on a framework in which we can issue local currency bonds and put the proceeds to use in private sector projects in need of local currency," ADB assistant treasurer Juanito Limandribata told Reuters in an interview.

The ADB traditionally extends U.S. dollar, yen and euro- denominated loans for project financing. Issuing local currency bonds could help cushion the effects of exchange rate volatility.

Limandribata said the ADB would not limit the proposal to the Philippines, Thailand and India, but these three had been chosen initially "because of the projects they have in the pipeline". -- Reuters