RI coal output increases

JAKARTA (JP) Indonesia's coal production increased by 300 percent in the last four years to 27 million tons in 1993.

Ambyo Mangunwijaya, the president of PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam, the state coal mining company, said Thursday that the country's coal production is projected to reach around 70 million tons in 2000.

He said 80 percent of the projected 70 million tons of coal will be produced by 11 major privately-owned coal companies.

Ambyo said Indonesia is the fourth largest coal exporting country at present after Australia, South Africa and Columbia.(hen)

Metrodata maintenance deal

JAKARTA (JP): PT Metrodata Electronics, a distributor of computer products, and the U.S. Bell Atlantic Business Systems Services Inc. have signed an agreement on maintenance service for International Business Machines AS/400 computers in Indonesia.

The agreement, signed here this week by Kusnadi Sukarja, Metrodata's director of operation, and Richard Siville, Bell Atlantic's program manager, will allow Metrodata to provide maintenance services for IBM AS/400 computer users in the country.

"It will give advantages to local engineers for mastering IBM's technology by dealing in such services, besides guaranteeing maintenance for IBM computer users, who are usually worried about after-sales services," Kusnadi said.

He said his company has also provided such services for users of computer products made by various firms, including Wang, Hitachi Data Systems, Tandem, Convex, Sun Microsystems and Acer.(fhp)

Russian industrial output

MOSCOW (AFP): Industrial production fell 75 percent in the first quarter of 1994 compared to last year but inflation dropped to an average of 13 to 14 percent, First Deputy Premier Oleg Soskovets told a government meeting Thursday.

In a report presented to cabinet, Soskovets said that despite the dramatic drop in industrial production, there was no need to declare an "economic state of emergency" as advocated by parliament, Interfax reported.

The deputy premier, who is responsible for industry, energy and transport, said that capital investments were also cut by 75 to 80 percent during the first quarter.

Inflation however fell from its highest rate of 22 percent in January to 9 percent in February and less than 8 percent in March, Soskovets said, adding that the average inflation rate for the first quarter reached 13 or 14 percent.

Gabon gets IMF credit

WASHINGTON (AFP): Gabon has received US$85 million in credits from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF 60.1 million special drawing rights credits are to support Gabon's political and economic policy for this year.

Gabon is the ninth country to receive IMF loans for the African franc zone following the Jan. 12 devaluation of the CFA franc.

Gabon suffers from poor budget control and a lack of progress in diversifying from its oil industry, the IMF said. Gabon has also been hit by falling oil prices and debt.

Qantas raises Taiwan flights

CANBERRA (AFP): Australia's flagship Qantas Airways is to increase its capacity on the fast-growing Taiwan route by one third following the signing of a bilateral agreement between the two countries.

Qantas said it would replace its 242-seat Boeing 767-300 aircraft with 321-seat Boeing 747-SP planes on the four flights a week it now operates through its Australia Asia Airlines subsidiary.

Australian carriers will be allowed another four 747 flights a week by the end of the year and Qantas said it would also consider applying for extra flights if demand continued to increase.

However, rival airline Ansett said it would concentrate on routes it was due to open to other Asian cities later this year and would not apply for capacity to Taiwan.

Japan's housing starts up

TOKYO (Kyodo): Japan's housing starts in February rose 6.3 percent to 112,372, for the 21st straight month of growth over year-earlier levels, the Construction Ministry said Thursday. Compared with the 20.7 percent increase in January, however, the growth slowed in February.

Starts on owner-occupied homes increased 3.7 percent to 36,885, marking a rise for the ninth consecutive month.

Among such starts, those on houses with loans from private financial institutions dropped 9.4 percent, but those on public loan- funded houses increased 14.8 percent from a year earlier. Starts on housing units for sale jumped by 65.2 percent to 29,072, marking the 10th consecutive month of gains from a year earlier.

Of these, starts funded by private financial institutions increased 88.9 percent, while public loan-funded starts rose 38.0 percent from a year earlier.

U.S. sanctions on Fuji

WASHINGTON (AFP): The United States slapped higher than expected sanctions on Fuji Photo Film on Wednesday for allegedly dumping its products at unfairly low prices.

The Commerce Department said in its preliminary ruling that it would impose anti-dumping tariffs of 321.23 percent to 360.95 percent on color negative photographic paper sold in the United States by the Japanese company.

The tariffs go into effect immediately and must be paid either in cash or bonds.

The amount of sanctions could be changed when a final ruling is given Aug. 18. The ruling will be reviewed by the U.S. International Trade Commission which must confirm that U.S. manufacturers are being hurt by Fuji's practices, something the commission found in a preliminary ruling in October.

Canada office in China

HONG KONG (Reuter): Canada will open a trade office in the southern China boom town of Guangzhou, Canadian International Trade Minister Roy MacLaren said in a statement on Thursday.

MacLaren issued the statement in Beijing, which he is visiting as part of a tour through north Asia.

He said China was Canada's fifth largest trading partner.

Turkish GNP grows 7.3%

ANKARA (Reuter): Turkey's Gross National Product (GNP), based on fixed prices, grew by 7.3 percent last year, compared to 6.4 percent in 1992, the State Institute of Statistics (SIS) said on Thursday.

It said Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was 7.2 percent in 1993 in Turkey, compared to six percent in 1992.

The agriculture industry shrank by 3.6 percent in 1993, when Turkey suffered a drought in the last quarter.

The SIS said total industrial output grew by 8.3 percent in 1993, compared to five percent the previous year.

It said the machinery industry registered the biggest output growth with 20.2 percent last year, followed by the metals industry with 11.1 percent and the energy sector 10 percent. Textiles, Turkey's core industry, grew by 4.4 percent.

Mining industry output shrank by 8.7 percent last year, and forestry products by 0.3 percent.

Turkey has targeted growth of 4.5 percent in its GNP in the 1994 budget.

Hard substance discovered

PARIS (AFP): A team of French scientists have discovered a "type" of diamond harder than diamond itself, according to the CNRS research institute newsletter.

The chemical compound -- called diamite -- is a highly resistant substance making it ideal as a coating material for aerospace equipment and machine-tools.

It is also easy to produce by breaking down methane or carbon monoxide while it is in a vaporous state or subject these gazes to cathodic pulverization.

The head of the team of researchers responsible for the find, Pham V. Huong, said the chemical compound "is undoubtedly going to revolutionize micro-manufacturing."

A joint Russian-French team managed to manufacture diamite back in February 1993 by compressing carbon-60 (fullerene). They were able to show that diamite was harder than diamond but had not succeeded in identifying its chemical structure.

Rumania without budget

BUCHAREST (AFP): Rumania was set to function without a budget from Friday because the government has not yet presented a finance bill for the current year as required by March 31.

"Rumania is the only civilized country to function without a budget being approved by parliament and this will worsen the chaos of the economy," the opposition liberal party said.

The party has said that Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu should resign.

The government has said that there was no bill because on three occasions parliament had not approved three bills which were vital to the drafting of the budget. These concerned taxes on income from farms and local taxation.

Under an agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in December for a loan of US$700 million, the government