BEIJING: China's central bank may provide Indonesia credit to

BEIJING: China's central bank may provide Indonesia credit to
the tune of US$1 billion if necessary to help the country solve
difficulties in international balance of payment and maintain
financial stability.

This is in line with the Bilateral Swap Agreement between the
People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Bank of Indonesia, signed
here Tuesday by governors of the two central banks.

PBOC authorities note that the move was to implement the
Chiang Mai Initiative that aims to strengthen cooperative
financing arrangements among the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) countries and China, Japan and the Republic
of Korea.

And it reflects China's latest efforts to advance the
sustained development of monetary financial cooperation in east
Asia, enhance the region's financial stability and promote the
friendly ties between China and Indonesia.

The PBOC has already signed bilateral swap agreements with
central banks of Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia
and the Philippines. -- Bloomberg

;AFP;
ANPAf..r..
Money-economy-unemployment
New U.S. jobless drop to lowest level
JP/16/money
New U.S. jobless drop to lowest level

WASHINGTON: The number of people filing new claims for U.S.
unemployment benefits hit a three-year low late in the month,
dropping 15,000 to 339,000 in the week to Dec. 27, the Labor
Department said on Wednesday.

It was the lowest level since Jan. 20, 2001, and was much
lower than the 350,000 new claims analysts had anticipated.

New claims hit 354,000 in the week ended Dec. 20, according to
revised Labor Department figures, up slightly from an initial
estimate of 353,000.

A four-week moving average of new claims eased 6,500 to
355,750.

The number of people already making claims for two weeks or
more reached 3.315 million in the week ended Dec. 20 -- the
latest date for which those figures are available -- up 81,000
from the previous week's revised count of 3.234 million. -- AFP

;DJ;
ANPAf..r..
Money-Equity-issuance
Asia Pacific equity issuance up 46%
JP/16/money

Asia Pacific equity issuance up 46%

SINGAPORE: New Asia Pacific straight equity issuance,
excluding Japan, jumped 46 percent to US$51.4 billion in 2003
with initial public offerings accounting for $25.2 billion of the
total, according to Thomson Financial.

China was the most active equity-issuing country in the
region, selling $12.3 billion worth of shares. That was up 40
percent on year. Taiwan was the second busiest market with a
total $9.9 billion in equity issues, doubling issues in the
previous year.

The $3.0 billion offering from Beijing-based China Life
Insurance (LFC) was the largest equity deal in the region.

UBS AG (UBS) topped the league table for global common stock
deals, leading 35 global equity deals worth $6.1 billion while
Goldman Sachs headed the international equity league table,
completing 22 issues worth $4.0 billion.

Equity-linked issuance also rose on the year, up 43 percent to
$17.4 billion. Taiwan was the most prolific issuer, with 41 deals
valued at $6.6 billion, followed by Australia and then South
Korea.

Around 43 percent of the total proceeds came from the
financial industry, Thomson Financial said. -- Dow Jones

;AP;
ANPAf..r..
Money-cigar-paper
Self-extinguishing cigarettes required
JP/16/money
Self-extinguishing cigarettes required

ALBANY, New York: New York will be the first state to require
that all cigarettes be manufactured with paper that extinguishes
itself if smokers don't do the job, state officials said on
Wednesday.

Advocates say the regulations, which go into effect in June,
will prevent many of the fires started by careless smoking.

"This could be the beginning of a global standard for
cigarettes," said Blair Horner, legislative director for the New
York Public Interest Research Group.

The self-extinguishing cigarettes are wrapped in banded paper,
with the bands serving as speed bumps to inhibit burning when no
one is puffing on the cigarette.

State officials said they will allow retailers to sell off
inventories of the old cigarettes after the June deadline.

The lower-ignition paper does nothing to reduce the dangers of
smoking.

Every year approximately 900 Americans die, 2,500 are injured
and US$400 million in damage is caused by fires started by
cigarettes, according to the American Burn Association and the
federal government.

In many cases, smokers fall asleep and their cigarettes drop
onto something flammable, such as clothing, furniture or paper.
-- AP