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