SBI rate falls to 13.78%

SBI rate falls to 13.78%

JAKARTA: The weighted average interest rate on the benchmark
one-month SBI promissory notes fell to 13.78 percent at an
auction Wednesday from 14.07 percent a week ago, the central bank
said.

The fall was in line with market expectations.

Bank Indonesia said it accepted Rp 18 trillion (US$2 billion),
or 56.76 percent of the bids received at the auction.

The central bank has been trying to drive domestic interest
rates lower to help reduce the cost of servicing bonds taken on
by the government to bail out local banks after the 1997 Asian
financial crisis.

Earlier Wednesday, the central bank asserted that it sees more
room to guide interest rates lower in coming months on easing
inflation pressure and rupiah stability against the dollar.

Bank Indonesia officials have said the central bank is trying
to push the SBI benchmark rate down to around 13.5 percent. by
the end of the year. -- Dow Jones

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MoneyMatter-Indonesian-grow
Indonesian to grow 3.86%: Minister
JP/16/Money

Indonesian to grow 3.86%: Minister

JAKARTA: Indonesia's finance minister said Wednesday that he
expects the economy to grow 3.86 percent in the third quarter
compared with the same period of last year.

Such growth would be slightly higher than 3.50 percent on-year
growth in gross domestic product in the second quarter due to a
pick up in economic activity, Finance Minister Boediono said.

"We expect economic activity to accelerate in the third and
fourth quarters," Boediono said. Private and public spending are
likely to lead this increase, he added.

Improving growth prospects mean the country is likely to meet
its 3.98 percent growth target this year, he added. Fourth-
quarter growth is likely to be 5.76 percent on year, he said.

Latest figures for Indonesian trade in July show exports were
recovering and imports picking up due to more investment.

Indonesia's economy has relied on government spending and
local demand for most of the year amid falling global demand for
its exports and a lack of investment. -- Dow Jones

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MoneyMatter-Argentina-banking
Argentina eases banking restrictions
JP/16/Money

Argentina eases banking restrictions

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina's government is to partially lift
banking restrictions on savings accounts that contain no more
than 7,000 pesos (US$1,949), Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna
announced Tuesday.

The measure will come into force from Oct. 1.

Lavagna also said the government intended to propose swapping
savings funds frozen by the banks since last December for state
guaranteed bonds, in order to bring some normality back to the
financial system.

Mired in its worst economic crisis in a century, Argentina is
looking for the IMF to reschedule interest payments worth US$14
billion on its debt until the end of 2003. -- AFP

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MoneyMatter-German-surplus
German trade surplus widens
JP/16/Money

German trade surplus widens

WIESBADEN, Germany: Germany's trade surplus widened in the
month of July, with both exports and imports declining year-on-
year in a reflection of the slagging economy, officials reported
Wednesday.

The Federal Statistics Office said exports fell 0.4 per cent
to 55.1 billion euros (US$53.7 billion). But imports dropped more
strongly, so that the month finished with a 12.1 billion euro
trade surplus, compared with 9.4 billion euros in July 2001.

For the first seven months, Germany's trade surplus reached
73.8 billion euros, up by about 40 per cent from the 53 billion
euros in the same period of 2001, the office said.

The balance on current account - the sum of visible trade,
services and transfers - Germany posted a surplus of 22.9 billion
euros in the seven-month period through July. A year earlier, the
current accounts showed a deficit of 8.0 billion euros. -- DPA

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MoneyMatter-IEA-oil
IEA holds oil forecasts steady
JP/16/Money

IEA holds oil forecasts steady

PARIS: The International Energy Agency held its 2002 and 2003
global oil demand growth forecasts steady in its monthly report
for August, published on Wednesday.

The Paris-based agency said it still estimated growth in
demand this year of 220,000 barrels per day after revising its
forecast 20 percent lower in its report for July. It also stood
by its 2003 estimate 1.1 million bpd for 2003 as it did in the
previous report.

It noted that global oil production had fallen by 580,000
barrels per day in August from the figure for July to 76.1
million barrels per day.

The oil production of the 10 countries of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries excluding Iraq reached 23.4 million
bpd in August, 1.7 million bpd more than the output quotas the
11-member grouping has fixed for itself, the IEA said.

Including Iraq, OPEC's production fell by 250,000 bpd in
August from July because a 20,000 bpd increase by the 10 OPEC
countries other than Iraq was not sufficient to make up for a
fall of 270,000 bpd in Iraqi exports, the IEA explained. -- AFP