SBI rate unchanged at 13.06%

SBI rate unchanged at 13.06%

JAKARTA: The weighted average interest rate on one-month SBI promissory notes was unchanged at 13.06 percent at the weekly auction Wednesday.

Bank Indonesia said it accepted Rp 11 trillion (US$1.2 billion) in bids, or 89 percent of the total.

The result signals that the central bank has turned cautious in reducing the rate from the current level in order not to fuel inflation.

Inflationary pressure is expected to rise in December due to extra spending related to the religious festivities.

Bank Indonesia has been guiding the SBI rate lower from over 17 percent at the beginning of the year to help reduce the cost of bailing out local banks. -- Dow Jones

U.S. economy grows 4.0%

WASHINGTON: The U.S. economy, shaking off Iraqi war fears and a plunging Wall Street, grew at an annualized 4.0 percent pace in the third quarter, much faster than first thought, the government said Tuesday.

Growth was much speedier than the first estimate of 3.1 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the period, the government said, recovering from a second-quarter expansion of just 1.3 percent.

The growth was achieved despite fears of a war in Iraq and a plummeting Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrials average of 30 top stocks tumbled 17.87 percent in the third quarter.

But the figures failed to inspire investors, who sold stocks on concerns that the economy was already slowing and that consumers were still dogged by jobs fears.

The Dow Jones industrials average dropped 172.98 points, or 1.95 percent, to close at 8,676.42 in nervous trade, with many investors reluctant to take risks ahead of Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday. -- AFP

RP considers ban on Aussie beef

MANILA: The Philippines is considering a ban on Australian beef and live cattle imports due to an anthrax scare in Victoria state, an agriculture department spokesman said Wednesday.

"An official ban may be issued today or tomorrow," department spokesman Renato Faustino told AFP.

Australia is the Philippines' number-one source of beef as well as live cattle imports.

Faustino said the government is taking precautions amid a suspected outbreak of anthrax in Victoria.

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor has ordered Australian live cattle imports be placed on quarantine to determine if they have the deadly bacteria, Faustino said.

"If they have anthrax the cattle would die within 48 hours," he added. -- AFP

Aussie cuts growth forecast

CANBERRA: The Australian government on Wednesday slashed its 2002-2003 economic growth forecast by 0.75 percentage points to 3.0 percent due to severe drought but insisted the move would not hurt its budget surplus.

In a mid-year budget review, Treasurer Peter Costello said drought, weak international markets and increased defense spending after last month's Bali bombing had skewed budget forecasts delivered last May.

But he remained upbeat about the wider economy and left the budget's forecast cash surplus at A$2.1 billion (US$1.18 billion), despite market expectations it would be halved to about one billion dollars.

"This is nearly all related to the drought which is gripping most of the country... other parts of the economy are expected to continue to grow strongly," Costello told reporters. -- AFP

India to get $320m from ADB

MANILA: India is to get a US$320-million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to upgrade its national highway system, the Philippines-based lender said Wednesday.

The project would primarily rehabilitate and widen 504 kilometers (312.5 miles) of national highways between the northern states of Gujarat and Assam, an ADB statement said.

The total project cost is $576 million, with the government providing the balance of $211 million and $45 million from the private sector.

"An improved road network will increase economic opportunities of rural communities," said Shunso Tsukada, the bank's senior transport specialist.

"It will provide better access to services such as health and education, greater job mobility, and enable villagers to shift from subsistence farming to more commercial agricultural production."

The loan, from the bank's LIBOR-based window, is payable over 25 years including a five-year grace.