OPEC okays $250m loans

OPEC okays $250m loans

ABU DHABI: The OPEC Fund agreed to lend a fresh US$250 million
to the private sector in poor and developing countries at a
meeting in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, the fund's director general
told AFP.

This will take to $500 million the total of loans extended to
the private sector in these countries, Y. Seyid Abdulai said.

Finance ministers from the member states of the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) held the annual meeting
of the OPEC Fund in the absence of member Iraq, and Abdulai said
they had not discussed extending reconstruction assistance to the
war-torn country.

He had told reporters on Tuesday that aid to Iraq might come
up during the meeting.

Although the OPEC Fund does not provide assistance to its
member countries, "Iraq is a special case. The ministers can
discuss whatever they want and whom to fund," Abdulai said. --AFP

FDI growth in China rose

BEIJING: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China for the
first five months of the year rose a better-than-expected 48.15
percent from 2002 despite the SARS virus, official data showed
Thursday.

The country's FDI in May jumped 39.47 percent from the year
before to 5.44 billion dollars, the Ministry of Commerce said on
its website.

Contracted FDI -- a measure of future business -- rose 42.22
percent year-on-year to US$38.22 billion in January-May, and was
up 17.62 percent to $7.69 billion in May.

Analysts said the growth rates were much better than expected
despite the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak.

"I was really surprised at the strong growth in FDI despite
empty hotels and vacant seats on planes last month," said Dong
Tao, Credit Suisse First Boston chief economist for Asia.

"China shows its competitiveness in attracting foreign
investment even during the SARS epidemic, and this
competitiveness results from vast market potential and cheap
costs," Dong said. -- AFP

German economy in recession

BERLIN: The German economy is now technically in recession
after another downturn expected to be shown for the second
quarter of 2003, a leading think tank said Thursday.

The German Economic Research Institute DIW in Berlin said it
foresees a 0.1 percent drop in the gross domestic product in the
quarter ending June 30.

"Technically speaking we can therefore speak of a recession,"
DIW expert Andreas Cors said.

Economists define a recession as two quarterly downturns in
succession. In the first quarter, Germany's GDP shrank by 0.3 per
cent.

The DIW became the first of Germany's six major independent
economic institutes to issue a projection for the second quarter,
with the think tank saying its estimate is based on such factors
as production and sales in key industrial sectors.

Last week the German Economics Ministry said it was still
expecting 0.75 percent growth for Europe's largest economy this
year. -- DPA

Aussie jobless rate edges down

SYDNEY: Australia's unemployment rate dropped 0.1 points to
6.0 percent in May, showing pessimism about an economic slowdown
had been overstated, Employment Minister Tony Abbott said
Thursday.

Abbott said the jobless rate could still dip below six percent
in coming months, although signs for the job market were mixed.

Official figures showed the unemployment rate dropped to six
per cent in May for only the fourth time since the 1990
recession, following a surprise 29,000 jump in jobs.

The figure was at the top end of market expectations.

Abbott said the Australian economy had proven to be remarkably
resilient over the last few years.

"It's quite possible that we'll get lower in the next few
months but then again we might not; there are mixed signals at
the moment," he told public radio.

"Some of the private sector forecasts are a bit less gloomy
than they were and certainly the department of employment's
leading indicator has been nudging up for the last three months.
-- AFP