IBRA's OC launches website
IBRA's OC launches website
JAKARTA (JP): The Oversight Committee (OC) for the Indonesian
Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) has launched a website to
provide the public with instant access to its activities.
With address at www.oc.bppn.co.id, the portal started
operation last Thursday.
"The main purpose of the website is to keep the people
informed about everything we've done and are trying to do
regarding our main duty of supervising the agency (IBRA)," Hari
Wiyadi, the committee's secretary, told The Jakarta Post on
Monday.
As revealed in the latest edition of the website, the
committee has finalized its review of 32 major corporate
restructuring schemes hammered out by IBRA,
However, the Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC), which
groups several senior economics ministers and is in charge of
overseeing major corporate debt restructuring by IBRA, has only
announced 14 of them.
There was no confirmation yet as to when the remaining 18
deals would be announced.
Established in July last year at the request of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the OC is charged with
overseeing IBRA's operations, including reviewing the agency's
deals, but its reviews are non-binding. (10)
;AP;
ANPAf..r..
Bizbrief-SKorea-Daewoo
GM close to take over Daewoo
JP/11/Colbox 2
GM close to take over Daewoo
SEOUL (AP): General Motors Corp. said Monday it was close to a
deal to buy bankrupt Daewoo Motor Co. of South Korea.
"Significant progress has been made and we're very optimistic
that the memorandum of understanding can be signed in the near
future," said Rob Leggat, director of GM's corporate
communications in Asia.
The comment was one of the most positive made by the American
firm regarding its negotiations to take over Daewoo Motor.
The comment followed a report by South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo
newspaper that GM and Daewoo's creditors planned to announce
their deal as soon as Friday.
Without elaborating, Leggat said the timetable given by
JoongAng was "speculative."
Under the deal, GM would take over Daewoo's two newest plants
in Kunsan and Changwon, JoongAng said. The agreement excludes
Daewoo's main plant in Bupyong, which experts say is inefficient.
;AP;
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Bizbrief-Thailand-Seagate
Seagate to shift production
JP/11/Colbox 3
Seagate to shift production
BANGKOK (AP): U.S. computer disk-drive maker Seagate
Technology plans to shift part of its production from Singapore
to Thailand over the next three years, Thai newspapers reported
Monday.
The company plans to spend US$60 million to upgrade its two
manufacturing plants in Thailand this year to assemble disk
drives, The Nation newspaper said quoting Seagate's chief
financial officer Charles Pope.
But the Bangkok Post newspaper suggested that Seagate will
build a new factory in Thailand, saying construction is expected
to begin once its factory in Singapore reaches full capacity.
It said the Singapore plant is now operating at 80 percent
capacity.
Pope, who had made the comments to the two newspapers during a
recent visit to Thailand, was not immediately available to
confirm the two reports.
Seagate, the world's largest maker of hard disk drive, phased
out disk assembly in Thailand in 1997, reducing its work force to
15,000 from 44,000 before 1997.
;AP;
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Bizbrief-Pakistan-Stock
Pakistan shuts down bourses
JP/11/Colbox4
Pakistan shuts down bourses
KARACHI (AP): With stocks plunging because of a possible U.S.
attack in neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistan decided Sunday to
shut down all its stock exchanges for three days starting Monday.
The premier exchange is in Karachi. There are two other
exchanges in Lahore and Islamabad.
The closure comes after the key Karachi Stock Exchange 100-
share index dived more than 9 percent in three days last week
following the deadly terror attacks on New York and Washington.
The fall is the result of fears that the U.S. may launch
retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan to target prime suspect Osama
bin Laden.
The decision to shut down for three days followed a meeting of
officials of the stock exchanges, said a joint statement.
"It was unanimously decided that the trading in all the three
stock exchanges will remain suspended for a period of three days
from Sept. 17 to Sept. 19," the statement said.
;AFP;
ANPAf..r..
Bizbrief-forex-reserves
SKorea reserves hit US$100b
JP/11/box5
SKorea reserves hit US$100b
SEOUL (AFP): South Korea's foreign exchange reserves have
broken the US$100-billion mark for the first time, the central
bank reported Monday.
The Bank of Korea (BoK) said there was $100.39 billion in
reserve as of Saturday, up $1.014 billion from the end of August
figure.
BoK governor Chon Chol-Hwan said the huge fund "will
contribute to the stability of the domestic financial market."
"As a nation's foreign exchange reserves lift its credit in
the global market, the BoK plans to raise the holdings as much as
possible for a while," Chon added.
The reserves include $87.12 billion in securities, $12.57
billion in deposits and $68 million in gold, said the BoK.
According to the central bank, South Korea ranked fifth in
Asia in terms of foreign exchange holdings after Japan with
$372.2 billion, China ($180.8 billion), Hong Kong ($113.7
billion) and Taiwan ($113.1 billion).
;AP;
ANPAf..r..
Bizbrief-S'pore-Microsoft
Microsoft launching delayed
JP/11/Colbox 6
Microsoft launching delayed
SINGAPORE (AP): Microsoft Corp. plans to delay the launch of a
new version of its Flight Simulator because of speculation that
terrorists used the game before attacking the World Trade Center
in New York, company officials said Monday.
Microsoft has delayed the rollout of the 2002 version of the
game because it "did not seem to be an appropriate time to launch
such a product," a company statement seen by The Associated Press
said.
The computer games allow players to fly airplanes over New
York City and other places in the United States.
There has been speculation, but no proof, that terrorists used
the popular programs prior to hijacking four passenger jets and
crashing two of them into the World Trade Center, one into the
Pentagon and another into a grassy filed near Pittsburgh.
Microsoft Singapore spokeswoman Charlene Chien confirmed the
statement and said the company was delaying the launch just "to
be very safe." On Friday, Microsoft said it will remove pictures
of the World Trade Center towers from future versions of the
simulator.
;AFP;
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~Bizbrief-HongKong-jobs
HK jobless rises to 4.9%
JP/11/Colbox
HONG KONG (AFP): Hong Kong's unemployment rate rose to 4.9
percent in the three months to August from 4.7 percent in the
three months to July amid the economic slowdown, government
figures showed Monday.
A government spokesman said the unemployment rate was likely
to rise even higher in the near term because labor demand had
eased and fresh graduates and school leavers continued to enter
the market.
The Census and Statistics Department said the jobless rise was
seen mainly in the restaurant, real estate, manufacturing,
communications and business services sectors.
This had more than offset unemployment falls in the
construction, retail and foreign trade sectors.
The underemployment rate -- which measures those with jobs who
are not adequately compensated -- remained stable at 2.2 percent,
the department said.
;AFP;
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~Bizbrief-attacks-G7
G-7 switches meeting place
JP/11/Colbox
PARIS (AFP): Finance ministers from Group of Seven (G-7)
industrialized countries have decided to switch a meeting to be
held in Washington on Sept. 28 to somewhere in Italy on the same
date, a European source said on Monday.
According to the source, the finance ministers of Britain,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States
intended to meet to coordinate policy as recession threatens the
US economy and the rest of the world after the attacks in the
United States on September 11.
Originally, G-7 finance ministers were to meet in Washington
on Sept. 28 before meetings between the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
However, in Berlin German government sources said that the IMF
and World Bank meeting, originally scheduled for Sept. 29 and 30,
had been postponed indefinitely in the wake of the terrorist
attacks in the United States.
A German finance ministry spokeswoman said that no decision
had been made about the G-7 meeting.
Italy holds the presidency of the G-7 until Dec.31.