SBI rate down to 16.61 percent
SBI rate down to 16.61 percent
JP/16/Money
JAKARTA: The weighted average interest rate on one-month SBI
promissory notes fell, the central bank said Wednesday.
The one-month SBI notes stood at 16.61 percent at the weekly
auction Wednesday, compared with 16.64 percent at last week's
auction, Bank Indonesia said.
Bank Indonesia also said it accepted Rp 24.00 trillion (US$2.5
billion) in bids at the auction, or 73.1 percent of total bids.
Indonesia has been cutting rates to help reduce the cost on
the government of funding its budget deficit.
But lowering rates much more isn't an option for Indonesia
while Indonesian inflation remains high. Inflation in March grew
14.08 percent on year. -- Dow Jones
EU expects 2.9% growth in 2003
BRUSSELS: The European Commission, in its spring economic
forecasts, said Wednesday it expected the 12-nation euro zone to
grow by an average of 1.4 percent this year, and 2.9 percent in
2003.
It also looked forward to 1.8 million new jobs being created
in the euro zone over the next two years, while inflation would
remain close to 2.0 percent both this year and next.
"A gradual recovery is shaping up as confidence returns,
depleted inventories are rebuilt and international trade picks
up," the commission said in a statement.
The recovery will build momentum in the first half of this
year, thanks to private consumption, and accelerate further in
the second half, it said.
"An average growth of close to 3.0 percent is forecast for
next year," it added. An accompanying table put the growth rate
more precisely at 1.4 percent for this year, and 2.9 percent for
2003. -- AFP
Korea sees Japan free trade talks soon
NEW YORK: Japan and South Korea could begin governmental talks
in a little over a year for the most ambitious bilateral free
trade agreement in Asia, a top South Korean financial diplomat
said on Tuesday
Taking their first step toward a free trade agreement, Japan
and South Korea signed an accord on March 22 to boost mutual
direct investment for the two countries whose economies comprise
make up about two-thirds of Asia's economy.
Under the agreement, they will form a bilateral panel
comprising officials, business leaders and academics to study the
idea of the free trade agreement.
"The dialogue will take more than a year. On the basis of the
result ... we may take the appropriate government initiative for
launching the negotiations for a free trade agreement," Kim Yong-
duk, South Korea's Finance Ministry's deputy minister for
international affairs, said at an Asian development conference in
New York. -- Reuters
China to open up US$1.5t trade market
REUTERS: China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO)
would open up trade opportunities worth at least US$1.5 trillion
in the next five years, Vice President Hu Jintao said Wednesday.
Hu, who arrived here Tuesday for the first leg of a three-
nation tour that will also take him to the United States, allayed
concerns that China's rising economic might was a threat to Asia.
"Now that China is in the WTO, it will surely provide a much
broader market and many more abundant business opportunities to
the rest of Asia," he said in a special address at a public forum
here.
"In the next five years, a more open China will provide its
trading partners with opportunities of at least $1.5 trillion
worth of goods."
China's service industry would also be opened gradually to
foreign investors, he said. -- Reuters