RI eyes countertrade with Vietnam

RI eyes countertrade with Vietnam

JAKARTA: Indonesia hopes to strike a countertrade deal with Vietnam for investments in Vietnam's fertilizer industry in return for rice and sugar imports, a senior government official told reporters Wednesday.

Widjanarko Puspoyo, director of Indonesian state-owned company Perum Bulog, said the government is looking to sign a US$75 million to $100 million deal under which Indonesia will invest in fertilizer projects in Vietnam due to the lower costs of liquefied natural gas in the country. LNG is a raw material used in the manufacture of fertilizers. Indonesia will in turn import rice and sugar of equal value.

Quantities of rice and sugar imports aren't available pending talks between heads of the two countries. Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to visit Hanoi next week.

However, Widjanarko hopes the delivery of rice and sugar will commence at the end of this year or early 2004. -- Dow Jones

;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatter-Singapore-immune-SARS S'pore immune from SARS: Moody's JP/16/MONEY

S'pore immune from SARS: Moody's

SINGAPORE: Singapore's financial position remains strong despite the impact of SARS and a more difficult economic situation, thanks to solid fundamentals and high savings, Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday.

The global credit rating agency, which gave Singapore top- notch credit ratings, said that despite a tougher economic environment in the past few years, "the financial position of the government remains strong."

Moody's said in a statement that the regional Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic has been "largely overcome as a significant factor for Singapore" despite the island's lowered growth estimates for 2003.

Moody's vice president Steven Hess, author of an annual report on Singapore, said the government has no external debt, while most external liabilities of the private sector "appear to be either inter-company debt or transactions related to the country's role as a regional financial center." -- AFP

;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatter-SKorea-action-against-US S. Korea to take action against U.S. JP/16/MONEY

S. Korea to take action against U.S.

SEOUL: South Korea said on Wednesday it would take action at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against a U.S. ruling imposing punitive tariffs on its exports of memory chips.

The U.S. Department of Commerce ruled Tuesday that imports of DRAMs (Dynamic Random Access Memory semiconductors) from South Korea during the period of investigation -- Jan.1, 2001 through June 30, 2002 -- were unfairly subsidized.

The ruling opens the way to countervailing duties of 44.71 percent against Hynix Semiconductor, 0.04 percent against Samsung Electronics and 44.71 percent against all other South Korean DRAM exporters.

These duties will be imposed on South Korean DRAM manufacturers if the quasi-judicial U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) decides the imports do harm or threaten U.S. industry. An ITC decision is expected July 31, leading to a possible order for duties on Aug. 7.

Officials of South Korea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said the government would bring the case to the WTO before the ITC decision. -- AFP

;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatter-Germany-tax-amnesty Germany cabinet agrees tax amnesty JP/16/MONEY

Germany cabinet agrees tax amnesty

BERLIN: The German cabinet Wednesday approved a draft law encouraging tax dodgers to repatriate undeclared foreign holdings in exchange for an amnesty.

Under the scheme, people who return untaxed capital to Germany during 2004 will not be prosecuted provided they pay 25 percent of its value to official tax authorities within 10 days of returning the funds.

Those who do so between Jan. 1, 2005 and the deadline of March 31, 2005 would have to pay 35 percent, according to a finance ministry statement.

The scheme is intended to coincide with an EU-wide measure due to take effect from 2005 under which countries would be able to share information about the income of non-residents, with a view to integrating taxing policies.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in December when he first put the idea forward that he hoped it would lead to the reinvestment of at least 100 billion euros (US$117.5 billion). -- AFP