Garuda spreads its wings

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.