Merpati serves Jayapura

Merpati serves Jayapura

JAKARTA (JP): PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines, a subsidiary of
the national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, has opened new direct
flights from Jakarta to Jayapura in Irian Jaya and resumed daily
flights between Jakarta and Malang in East Java.

Merpati's spokesman Benny Achmad said the airline will fly the
Jakarta-Jayapura route five times a week with en route stopovers
in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, and Biak in Irian Jaya.

Merpati will also offer new twice weekly flights from Jakarta
to Jayapura through Ujungpandang and Timika and vice versa, he
said, adding that Merpati uses DC-9 aircraft for all the flights
to Jayapura.

Merpati currently operates 14 flights a week on the
Ujungpandang-Jayapura route.

Meanwhile, Merpati's president, Ridwan Fatarudin told the
Antara news agency over the weekend that on Friday his airline
also began flying to Malang daily, thus re-opening the service
which was suspended in 1987.

"The Jakarta-Malang flights will use Fokker-28/4000 aircraft,
which has 75 seats," he said.(fhp)

Asian economies discussed

JAKARTA (JP): Representatives from 63 centers for economic
studies, located in 23 Asian countries, will take part in a four-
day seminar beginning here on Wednesday to discuss Asian economic
growth, policies and problems.

Inter-Asian cooperation will also be one of the subjects to be
discussed at the seminar, to be held at Sahid Jaya Hotel here
from April 6 to April 9.

The seminar, jointly organized by the International Center for
Economic Growth (ICEG) of the United States and Indonesia's
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Speakers at the seminar, which will be officially opened by
Trade Minister Satrio Budiardjo Joedono, will include Mohammad
Sadli, a senior Indonesian economist, Malcolm Purvis, the
director of the Economic Policy Support Office of the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID), and a number
of other economists of other noted international
institutions.(hen)

KL acquires timber firm

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Lien Hoe, a Malaysian property group, has
signed a pact to buy a 70 percent stake in North Sumatra Timber,
a local company that has ventured aggressively into the
Indonesian timber market.

Lien Hoe is to pay 30 million ringgit (US$12 million) in cash
and invest a 30 million ringgit in North Sumatra Timber for
working capital, Lien Hoe managing director Chan Wah Long said,
after signing the purchase pact with Mega Heights, owner of North
Sumatra on Friday.

"We expect North Sumatra to churn a turnover of between 150
million ringgit and 200 million ringgit (between $60 million and
$80 million) a year, which will be a great boost for the (Lien
Hoe's) group's profitability," Chan said.

North Sumatra Timber officials said the timber firm planned to
venture further into timber processing following Indonesia's ban
on the export of raw logs.

North Sumatra Timber had recently acquired a 70 percent stake
in PT Budi Trisakti, which operates a moulding factory in Banda
Aceh in Sumatra that produces some 10,000 cubic metres of
finished products a month.

PT Budi reportedly has long-term timber supply contracts with
concession holders involving a total area of 180,000 hectares
(450,000 acres).

U.S. jobless rate steady

WASHINGTON (Reuter): A whopping 456,000 U.S. jobs were created
in March while the unemployment rate was steady, the Labor
Department said in a report that provided good news for the
jobless but shocked inflation-wary financial markets.

The department said the growth in new jobs outside the farm
sector last month was the most in 6-1/2 years and in part
reflected a rebound from losses caused by frigid weather in
January and February.

Construction, retail and services -- such as hospitals,
temporary agencies and hotels -- were among the many areas
posting gains, the department's survey of businesses showed.

The report provided fresh evidence Friday that the economy is
moving ahead with vigor in the first quarter of 1994. It grew at
a seven percent annual rate in the last three months of 1993, but
that rate is not expected to be sustained in the first quarter.

The unexpectedly sharp jobs rise followed a revised increase
of 198,000 in February. It fueled speculation the Federal Reserve
may boost interest rates again to curb inflation pressures.

A separate Labor Department survey of households showed the
unemployment rate was unchanged in March at 6.5 percent, although
economists expect it will fall in coming months as companies hire
workers to meet demand for goods and services.

JAL begins Bali service

TOKYO (AFP): Japan Airlines has launched a new regular
passenger service between Tokyo's Narita International Airport
and Bali, Indonesia, company officials said.

Japan's leading airline said the Bali leg would be added to
its existing five flights a week -- Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday,
Friday and Saturday -- to Jakarta and the airline hoped to make
this a daily flight in September.

India's private bank opens

NEW DELHI (AFP): India's first private bank opened on Saturday
with Finance Minister Manmohan Singh saying he hoped the
competition would help make state banks more efficient.

Singh, after throwing open the doors of the first branch of
UTI Bank Ltd. in the western industrial city of Ahmedabad, said
private banks were necessary to inject "greater efficiency and
productivity in the banking system."

UTI Bank Ltd. is a venture of the Unit Trust of India, the
country's largest mutual fund. It has promised modern,
computerized, friendly and efficient service to Indians used
mainly to slow-moving state banks.

UTI Bank will have an initial capital of one billion rupees
(US$33 million), expected to triple within a year, when the bank
will be listed on the stock exchange.

UTI Bank general manager Basudeb Sen said the bank will have
near-complete flexibility in utilizing information technology and
introduction of new products and services.

UTI Bank intends to open branches within the year in
Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Madras and New Delhi.

EU earns much from oil tax

ABU DHABI (AFP): Energy taxes earn the European Union three
times more than OPEC's income from oil exports and the gap could
widen if the EU goes ahead with plans to impose new taxes, an
official Arab report said.

Japan is also earning nearly twice OPEC's revenues but the
increase in the oil taxes over the past five years has been
slower than that in the EU, according to a study published by the
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC).

The Cairo-based group said oil taxes in the EU had surged from
US$39.33 a barrel in 1988 to $49.43 in 1990 and $57.75 in 1992.

This boosted the price of an oil barrel to the end user in the
EU from $71.01 to $92.23 and $96.80 in the same period, it said.

"The increase in the EU taxes on oil imports was far higher
than the increase in OPEC's oil prices," the report said.

The price of OPEC's basket of seven crudes rose from $14.24 in
1988 to $18.42 in 1992 but it remained nearly one third of the EU
energy tax and one fifth of the barrel's price to the end users.

Japan-Vietnam air deal

TOKYO (AFP): Japan and Vietnam have agreed to resume regular
flights between the two countries suspended since 1975, officials
said Saturday.

The agreement was reached at a meeting held here late Friday
by officials from the two countries, they said.

The agreement calls for regular flights between southern
Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City -- formerly Saigon -- and the Kansai
international airport which is to open in September in western
Japan, the officials said.

Flight schedules and other details will be decided later, they
said.

Regular flight service between Japan and Vietnam was suspended
after the fall of Saigon in the closing days of the Vietnam War.

Malaysia's 2nd carrier

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A top Malaysian official said the
government has licensed a four-member local consortium to run the
country's second national carrier, to fly charter services
initially to "exotic" tourist destinations in Asia.

The new company, approved by the cabinet Wednesday, has yet to
decide on its official name, but was likely to call itself Air
Asia Sdn Bhd, Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik said.

"With this (license), the company is now allowed to operate,"
Ling said, adding that officials of the consortium were
finalizing route schedules with the economic planning unit of the
prime minister's department.

State-owned heavy industries firm Hicom Bhd is the controlling
shareholder in the airline consortium, with a 45-percent stake,
while private carrier Pelangi Air and the eastern Sarawak state
government jointly hold a 40-percent stake.