RI wants OPEC to maintain output

RI wants OPEC to maintain output

JAKARTA: Indonesia will ask the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), to maintain its current output
despite softer crude prices, Mines and Energy Minister Purnomo
Yusgiantoro said on Thursday.

OPEC's basket crude price is currently hovering between 25-
US$26 a barrel, which is still between OPEC's price band of
between 22-$28/bbl, he told reporters.

"Indonesia will propose OPEC to maintain output in a meeting
later this month," he said. "But we will urge OPEC to make sure
its members are more disciplined (in adhering to their respective
quotas)."

OPEC will meet Sept. 24 at its headquarters in Vienna.

Indonesia is OPEC's only Southeast Asian member.--Dow Jones

;;
ANPAf..r..
MoneyMatter-RP-deficit
RP deficit overshoots ceiling
JP/16/RP

RP deficit overshoots ceiling

MANILA: Increased spending to spur economic activity led to a
budget deficit of 18 billion pesos (US$327.27 million) for the
Philippines in August, more than double the limit set for the
period, the finance department said Thursday.

The fiscal deficit for the January to August period, however,
was 114.5 billion pesos, still within the target of 127.5 billion
pesos.

The finance department said the August deficit was a "result
of a calibrated response to slower economic activity during the
month by releasing more funds to the countryside for pump
priming."

Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho said "sustained
revenues" from January to August "allows us flexibility on our
expenditures without sacrificing our full-year target.

"Hence, the August results were expected," Camacho said.

Manila wants to limit the full-year deficit to 202 billion
pesos, equivalent to 4.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)
compared with 5.2 percent last year. -- AFP

;;
ANPAf..r..
MoneyMatter-India
Indian workers against privatization
JP/16/India

Indian workers against privatization

BOMBAY: Indian airport workers will disrupt flights next week
to protest New Delhi's plans to privatise airports in Bombay and
New Delhi, union officials said Thursday.

They said some 20,000 airport workers including air traffic
controllers and ground crew will take a day's protest leave on
Friday next week, in a move which could cause massive disruptions
to flights.

The warning came as employees of the Airport Authority of
India (AAI), the national agency which manages airports, Thursday
began a symbolic relay hunger strike, with a group of 10
protesters squatting at Bombay's domestic and international
terminals. Another group will take over on Friday.

"A similar course of action is on at New Delhi and other
Indian airports also," Sheikh Warsi, president of the Bombay
chapter of the Airport Authority Employees Union (AAEU) told AFP.

The strikers say they are furious that the Indian cabinet
approved a proposal last week to privatise the busiest
international airports in New Delhi and Bombay.

Warsi said the union was not against the government's plans to
upgrade airports, but opposed their sale. -- AFP