MANILA: The Philippines' unemployment rate rose to 10.2

MANILA: The Philippines' unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in October, the National Statistics Office said Monday.

Of the 33.675 million-strong work force, 10.2 percent are without jobs and a further 15.3 percent are only partially employed, or working less than 40 hours a week, it said in a statement.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said last week she would shift the government's focus from macroeconomic stability to microeconomic reforms of industries intended to jumpstart growth and provide more jobs.

The shift follows a cabinet shuffle by Arroyo, who installed Romulo Neri, a management specialist and advocate of accelerated growth, as socioeconomic planning secretary, replacing Dante Canlas.

The National Statistics Office said Monday that employment in agriculture rose by 0.5 percent to 11.313 million, but employment in industry fell by 0.3 percent to 4.666 million. Services sector employment rose 0.8 percent to 14.3 million.

The October unemployment number is above the year-ago figure of 9.8 percent. -- AFP

S'pore opens up banking sector

SINGAPORE: Singapore on Monday reopened applications for wholesale bank licenses, further opening up the industry to foreign competition.

Seven wholesale bank (WB) licenses are available, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement.

"Applications for WB licensees are open to offshore banks wishing to do more business in the Singapore dollar banking market, or new banks that meet MAS' licensing criteria," the central bank statement said.

"Applicants will be assessed on their financial strength and the commitment to Singapore's financial sector."

The licenses are part of a bank liberalization program announced in mid-2001, when MAS said it would grant 20 wholesale bank licenses over the following two years.

"The remaining seven WB licenses are now available for application," the MAS statement said, adding applications close next March 15.

Singapore is shifting from a three-tier banking system -- full, restricted and offshore -- towards a more streamlined two- tier regime of full and wholesale banks. -- AFP

Asia-Pacific fuels rise in chip sales

SINGAPORE: The semiconductor sector has returned to positive growth this year, but only because of a strong Asia-Pacific performance which pushed global sales up 1.4 percent to US$155.4 billion, a report said Monday.

Sales in 2001 declined by 32 percent worldwide.

However, despite the slight industry upturn this year, the industry remained depressed because of weak consumer demand, offering little opportunity for growth, U.S.-based research Gartner Inc. said in a report on the semiconductor sector.

The growth was solely in the Asia-Pacific area where sales are projected to rise 24 percent by year-end, it said.

"Asia-Pacific, which includes China, is the largest regional semiconductor market, accounting for about one-third of global sales," said Dorothy Lai, Gartner's senior regional semiconductor analyst.

U.S. computer chip giant Intel Corp. retained its position as the world's leading semiconductor vendor despite a 3.1 percent drop in revenue from last year, the report said. -- AFP

Bangladesh to boost exports

DHAKA: Bangladesh will boost production of light engineering goods which have proved their competitiveness in the global market to expand its export market, a report said Monday.

"As some light engineering products, including bicycles, have proved their strength by competing in the global market, the government has decided to back entrepreneurs in this prospective sector in a bigger way," Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury told the Daily Star newspaper.

He said a 13-member task force had been set up to identify problems in the sector and recommend ways to overcome them.

Chowdhury said the task force would visit Japan soon to learn from the light engineering sector there and also to invite entrepreneurs to set up such industries in Bangladesh to cut their production costs.

"We want to develop at least 50 household and automobile items from the light engineering sector within a short span of time," he said. -- AFP

German GDP to grow 0.5%: Bundesbank

FRANKFURT: The German economy, the largest in the euro zone, will grow by between zero and 0.5 percent next year, Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke said on Monday.

Nevertheless, Welteke, who as head of the German central bank also sits on the policy-setting governing council of the European Central Bank, said the danger of deflation in Germany was still "very remote".

Last year, German gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by a meager 0.6 percent, making Germany one of the worst performing economies in the entire single currency area. -- AFP