Bangladesh to push for investment
Bangladesh to push for investment
DHAKA: Bangladesh is to push for investment and the reduction of its trade deficit during Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri's three-day visit starting on Wednesday, officials here said.
Her visit to Bangladesh comes as Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government pursues its "Look East Policy" to boost economic ties with neighboring Myanmar and Thailand.
A business delegation will travel with the president. There is currently no Indonesian investment in Bangladesh.
Several agreements are likely to be signed, including one on double taxation and renewing a 1978 trade accord between the two countries, they said.
The trade balance between the two countries is more than US$162 million in Indonesia's favor, according to official figures.
Exports from Bangladesh includes jute products and garments, while imports include mineral products, plastics and machinery. -- AFP
;AFP; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatters-KL-manufacturing-sales-rice KL manufacturing sales rise JP/16/MONEY
KL manufacturing sales rise
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian manufacturing sales rose 4.9 percent in April from a year earlier to 25.8 billion ringgit (US$6.79 billion) but were down 11 percent from March, official data showed on Tuesday.
According to earlier data, March manufacturing sales rose 10 percent year-on-year to 28.6 billion ringgit and 10.4 percent month-on-month.
In a statement, the Statistics Department said a total of 987,862 persons were employed in the manufacturing sector in April, up 2.3 percent year-on-year and 0.1 percent month-on- month.
Total salaries and wages in April rose 7.6 percent year-on- year and 0.6 percent month-on-month to 1.56 billion ringgit.
In the four months to April, total manufacturing sales rose 11.4 percent year-on-year to 107.5 billion ringgit, with total salaries and wages up 6.9 percent at 6.2 billion ringgit. -- AFP
;AFP; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatters-German-business-confidence-down German business confidence down JP/16/MONEY
German business confidence down
BERLIN: While investor confidence in Germany appears to be on the rise again, company bosses are not so sure and business confidence in the euro zone's biggest economy is at a 10-year low point, the DIHK Federation of German Chambers of Commerce said on Tuesday.
DIHK published the results of its latest survey which showed that companies' business expectations were at their lowest levels since the 1993 recession.
"With a minus of 25 percentage points, companies' business expectations are currently worse than they have been in 10 years," DIHK wrote.
Only 17 percent of companies polled expected business to improve this year, the lowest proportion seen since the start of the 1993 recession.
By contrast 42 percent of companies were predicting a deterioration in business, the highest proportion since 1993.
"The German economy is stuck in a stubborn economic lull," DIHK said. -- AFP
;AFP; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatters-SKorea-maintain-call-rate S. Korea maintains call rate at 4.0% JP/16/MONEY
S. Korea maintains call rate at 4.0%
SEOUL: South Korea's central Bank of Korea (BoK) on Tuesday maintained its call rate target at 4.0 percent for June, citing an improved economic outlook for the second half of this year.
The ongoing economic slump had been deepening because of slackening domestic consumption, which cancels out increasing exports, the bank's Monetary Policy Committee said.
However the economy will start benefiting from stimulus measures taken in May, including a 25 basis point cut in the call rate target and a four trillion-won (US$3.4 billion) supplementary budget, it said.
"Investment is slow and consumer confidence is at a bottom as the economy is going through a slump. But we will begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel in the second half of this year," BoK governor Park Seung said.
Park said that when these stimulating measures produce results, South Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) growth for this year could reach four percent. -- AFP
;AFP; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatters-Singapore-key-exports Singapore's key exports rise 8.0% JP/16/MONEY
Singapore's key exports rise 8.0%
SINGAPORE : Singapore's key non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose eight percent in May from a year ago, improving on the previous month's performance, but electronics remained weak, officials said on Tuesday.
The rise in May's NODX to 8.63 billion Singapore dollars (US$5 billion) resulted from a strong showing by the chemicals sector, said International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), the government trade body.
The May performance was in line with analysts' forecasts. -- AFP