Garuda spreads its wings

JAKARTA (JP): The national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has set new schedules for domestic flights which will be effective beginning June 1.

The new schedules, including additional services, comprise the Jakarta-Ujungpandang, Jakarta-Medan, Jakarta-Yogyakarta and Yogyakarta-Denpasar routes.

A spokesman for Garuda said here yesterday that some of the new schedules offer early morning flights.

The carrier, which operates 52 aircraft, has also upped its Jakarta-Ujungpandang-Jayapura service from two to three times a week by operating Boeing 737-300 aircraft every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. (icn)

Meeting on power financing

JAKARTA (JP): A two-day seminar on financing power projects in the 1990s will be held here next week. The seminar will also be to discuss funding techniques and successful planning and implementation of power projects.

The seminar, to be held at the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel on Monday and Tuesday, will also discuss the details of having the private sector participate in the provision of electricity funding.

The speakers at the seminar will include Peter Jezek, a power advisor at the Directorate General of Electricity and Energy Development and representatives of the World Bank, State Electricity Company (PLN), Booz Allen & Hamilton and Salomon Brothers HK Ltd. of Hong Kong. (01)

Japan top asset holder

TOKYO (AFP): Japan maintained the world's top position in overseas net assets for the third consecutive year in fiscal 1993, posting US$611 billion, up 18.9 percent from the preceding year, the government said yesterday.

Net assets are the balance after liabilities are subtracted from assets held in foreign countries.

Japan's assets overseas in fiscal 1994 ending in March totaled $2.181 trillion, up 7.2 percent from the preceding year, while liabilities rose 3.2 percent to $1.570 trillion, the finance ministry said.

It said that a record high current account surplus of $131.4 billion contributed to the jump in the overseas net assets.

Japan's short and long-term capital accounts suffered deficits with a rise in its securities investment overseas, the ministry said.

The latest available statistics show that Germany held overseas net assets worth $257.6 billion at the end of last June, ministry officials said.

In sharp contrast to Japan and Germany, the United States had net liabilities worth $521.3 billion at the end of 1992, the officials said.

N. Korea woos investors

TOKYO (AFP): Cash-strapped North Korea unveiled yesterday regulations that will give foreigners fairly wide latitude in setting up enterprises and ports in its projected free trade zone.

The hardline communist state's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), monitored here, said the North Korean administrative council had endorsed the regulations in the past two months.

Foreigners will be allowed to set up a wide range of wholly owned enterprises but will not be allowed in sensitive media sectors, the KCNA said.

Wholly foreign-owned enterprises will be allowed in "electronics, automation, machine building, power industries, food processing, garments, everyday consumer goods manufacturing industries, building materials, pharmaceuticals, chemical industries, construction, transportation, services and other necessary sectors," according to the implementing regulations of the law on wholly foreign-owned enterprises.

But foreigners will not be allowed to set up wholly owned enterprises in publishing, the press and broadcasting, or telecommunications, KCNA said.

WB loan for W. Bank, Gaza

WASHINGTON (Reuter): The World Bank has approved a credit as part of a US$128 million project to improve the water supply and sanitation conditions in the West Bank and Gaza.

The bank said on Thursday that road networks and schools also would be upgraded under the project that is being financed by a group that includes the Saudi Fund, the Arab Fund and the Kuwait Fund as well as Denmark and Switzerland.

Of the total, some $30 million is being made available from the World Bank's Trust Fund for Gaza.

The Bank said the project will aim to deliver widespread "and tangible benefits to broad sections of the Palestinian population as quickly, equitably, and effectively as possible."

Vanuatu to restrict logging

PORT VILA (AFP): The Vanuatu government said yesterday it had decided to restrict logging and ban timber exports to protect the environment of this island nation.

The council of ministers made its decision Thursday following a recent environmental study, acting on a recommendation by Prime Minister Maxime Carlot, government spokeswoman Yvette Sam said.

Sam said the decision mainly affected four companies logging on the southern island of Erromango with licenses issued last year that allowed them to exceed the quotas recommended in the study.

The government decided to halve the number of logging companies in Erromango to two within a month and to restrict the volume of wood cut in Vanuatu to an annual 25,000 cubic metres (32,500 cubic yards), as recommended by the Australian-funded study.

It would also ban all wood exports from June 15 to encourage processing within Vanuatu.

RP rice, corn output up

MANILA (AFP): The production of rice and corn in the Philippines is expected to increase by more than 15 percent in the first half of 1994, President Fidel Ramos said here yesterday.

Citing reports from the agriculture department, Ramos said the rice harvest would be 4.58 million tons, about 18 percent or 700,000 metric tons more than last year's output, for the first half of the year.

"The country can therefore look forward to some 1.47 million tons of rice stock by July 1, 1994, which is 6.6 percent higher than last year's rice stock. This is equivalent to 81 days' supply for the entire country based on the national rice requirement of 18,100 tons per day," he added.

He said corn production is expected to reach 1.58 million tons in the first half of 1994, 16 percent more than the corn yield of 1.34 million tons in the first half of 1993.

Rubber prices rise

SINGAPORE (AFP): Active Japanese markets created buying interest in rubber futures here yesterday with prices moving up slightly, dealers said.

"The price of July RSS 1 moved up an average two yen in the Tokyo and Kobe markets and this saw some buyers moving in strongly here," a dealer said.

"Activity was much better with volume seeing the highest mark for the week at about 2,700 tons," he said, adding that it was a steady market from start to finish.

July RSS 3 also found good support at 99 U.S. cents while TSR 20 was completely neglected on lack of consumer demand, the dealer said.

At 09:45 GMT, Basis July RSS 1 was quoted at 150.00 Singapore cents while RSS 3 was steady at 99 U.S. cents.