Japanese investors eye IBRA assets
Japanese investors eye IBRA assets
JAKARTA: The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) said a number of Japanese investors had shown interest in the agency's next asset sale program.
The agency said in a statement that some 20 Japanese investors had shown a strong response to the asset sale plan during a roadshow in Tokyo on June 23 and June 24.
Among the most popular assets in the eyes of the investors included: GT Tire, Nikko Hotel, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), Tirtamas Majutama, Dipasena Citra Darmadja and PT Dirgantara Indonesia.
The statement also said that as of June, it had contributed to the state coffers some Rp 7.1 trillion in cash and Rp 3.2 trillion-worth of bonds. The state budget targets IBRA to rake in Rp 18 trillion in cash proceeds and Rp 8 trillion bonds for this year. -- JP
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatters-SKorea-industrial-output S. Korea's industrial output falls JP/16/MONEY
S. Korea's industrial output falls
SEOUL: South Korea's industrial output in May fell 1.9 percent from last year, the first drop in 15 months, amid contracting consumption and investment, the National Statistical Office said Friday.
The decline, following a 1.9 percent rise in April, was the largest drop since August 2001 when output fell 2.0 percent, the office said.
"Production, consumption and investment all declined in May due to fewer working days, SARS and a truck workers' strike," the office said.
The output growth in semiconductors, South Korea's key export item, slowed to 12.2 percent year-on-year in May from 14.9 percent in April.
Automobile production at domestic plants dropped 6.3 percent year-on-year in May after growing 8.5 percent a month earlier. -- AFP
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatters-Singapore-visitor-arrivals S'pore visitor arrivals down 56% JP/16/MONEY
S'pore visitor arrivals down 56%
SINGAPORE: Singapore continued to feel the effect of the SARS outbreak with 56 percent fewer visitors coming to the island from June 1-15 than a year ago, figures released Friday show.
While the on-year figure still looks dismal, monthly data suggests in-bound travel is rebounding since the World Health Organization declared Singapore SARS-free May 31.
Some 123,800 people visited Singapore in the first two weeks of June, compared with just 48,600 in May 27-June 2 period, the Singapore Tourism Board said Friday.
Neighboring Indonesians were the single largest nationality to visit Singapore in the two weeks of June with 37,000 arriving here. -- Dow Jones
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatters-British-economy British economy barely grows JP/16/MONEY
British economy barely grows
LONDON: The British economy barely grew in the first quarter of this year, when gross domestic product (GDP) increased by just 0.1 percent from the previous quarter, a third and final official estimate showed Friday.
This is the slowest pace of growth since the second quarter of 1992, and compares with an earlier estimate from the National Statistics office of a 0.2-percent rise.
In the fourth quarter of 2002, GDP had grown by 0.5 percent from the previous quarter.
The revision to the figure was unexpected. Consensus analyst forecasts had been for the estimate to be left unchanged at 0.2 percent.
GDP also increased by a revised 2.1 percent in the first quarter from the same period of the previous year, against a previous estimate of 2.2 percent growth. -- AFP