SBI rate slides slightly

SBI rate slides slightly

JAKARTA: The weighted average interest rate on one-month SBI promissory notes slid slightly at the central bank's weekly auction Wednesday.

The one-month SBI notes stood at 15.16 percent, down from 15.17 percent last week's auction, Bank Indonesia said. It was, however, higher than market expectations of around 15.07 percent.

Bank Indonesia also said it accepted Rp 20.50 trillion (US$2.3 billion) in bids at the auction, or 93.02 percent of total bids.

Bank Indonesia has been guiding domestic interest rates lower slowly amid receding inflationary pressures and the rupiah's appreciation against the dollar.

Lower interest rates should accelerate economic growth and help reduce the costs shouldered by the government to bail out local banks. -- Dow Jones

;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. Moneymatter BoJ leaves monetary policy unchanged JP/16/Money

BoJ leaves monetary policy unchanged

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan said Wednesday it would keep monetary policy unchanged following a two-day policy board meeting.

The central bank decided unanimously to maintain the level of liquidity in the financial system by leaving unchanged the level of targeted reserves in its current account around 10 to 15 trillion yen (US$79.7 billion to $119.5 billion).

"Should there be a risk of financial market instability, such as a surge in liquidity demand, the bank will provide more liquidity irrespective of the guideline above," the central bank said in a statement identical to that released after its previous board meetings.

The announcement had almost no impact on the foreign exchange market, as it was expected, said Naoya Murata, a dealer at UFJ Holdings.

"No one was paying any attention to the meeting," he said. -- AFP

;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. Moneymatter HK bankruptcy cases triple JP/16/Money

HK bankruptcy cases triple

HONG KONG: Bankruptcies in Hong Kong have tripled with 8,104 bankruptcy orders issued in the first five months of this year alone, government figures showed Wednesday.

Last year over the same period there were 2,735 cases of bankruptcy.

Just in May, 2,294 personal and corporate bankruptcies were recorded, 2.78 times the 823 cases registered in May 2001, the figures from the Official Receiver's Office showed.

There are fears the number of bankruptcies will continue to rise amid the economic slump and record unemployment in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's economy shrank 0.9 percent in the first quarter this year from a year earlier.

Hong Kong's economy grew only 0.1 percent last year amid the global slowdown after jumping 10.5 percent in 2000. -- AFP

;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. Moneymatter KL palm oil output up 7% JP/16/Money

KL palm oil output up 7%

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's crude palm oil (CPO) output rose seven percent month-on-month in May while palm oil exports increased by nine percent, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said Wednesday.

CPO output increased 60,330 tons to 924,797 while palm oil exports were up 76.098 tons to 939,971, it said in a statement.

But palm oil stocks dropped 12.2 percent to 929,472 tons, against 1.1 million tons in April. Of this total, CPO stocks dropped 6.8 percent to 506,780 tons.

Output of crude palm kernel oil remained constant at 108,849 tons in May compared to 108,852 tons the previous month.

But palm kernel oil exports dropped 12.2 percent to 52,542 tons while stocks declined 8.6 percent to 216,687 tons.

Dealers said CPO prices had surged in May on strong buying interest from India, China and Pakistan.

The strengthening Indonesian rupiah, which made Malaysian palm oil increasingly cheaper and more sought after, also boosted CPO prices, they added. -- AFP

;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. Moneymatter FDI in Vietnam down 26% JP/16/Money

FDI in Vietnam down 26%

HANOI: Vietnam attracted just US$394 million' of foreign investment in the first five months of 2002, marking a year-on- year decline of 26 percent, the General Office of Statistic (GOS) said Wednesday.

"With 209 projects licensed, the number of projects was up but the capital inflow fell down," a GOS official said.

Eighty-two percent or about $322 million the total flowed into the industrial and construction sectors and nearly 80 percent of the projects located in the commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh city and southern satellite provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai, the official said.

South Korea was ranked first among the investors with 52 projects capitalized at $108 million, and Taiwan was the second with $80 million, followed by Japan and Malaysia.

"It shows that Vietnam is still only attractive to Asian investors while the United States, ranked 10 in the list and European investors are still onlookers," he added. -- AFP