Thai delays privatization program
Thai delays privatization program
BANGKOK: Thailand's state-owned Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) has delayed its plans for an initial public offering until some time next year, a report said Thursday.
Information and Communications Technology Minister Surapong Suebwonglee was quoted by the Nation newspaper as saying the offering would be delayed until the Excise Department completes a new telecoms tax scheme.
Surapong reportedly said he had already discussed the matter with TOT's financial advisors.
The TOT had earlier said it would list on the bourse by April this year but was forced to postpone due to uncertainty over the status of tie-ups with private operators. It then planned to list by this quarter.
An ambitious state enterprises privatization program has been slowed by numerous delays.
The TOT's privatization plans have been hampered by slow progress in liberalizing the sector and establishing an independent regulator. -- AFP
Vietnam builds $208m cement unit
HANOI: Construction work on a US$208 million cement factory has begun with the laying of the foundation stone in the northeastern city of Haiphong, the official Vietnam News Agency said Thursday.
Vietnamese firms will be undertaking all the work, with equipment provided by the Danish company, F.L. Smith, it said.
The unit of the Vietnam national cement corporation (VNCC), will begin production in 2005 and have an annual capacity of 1.4 million tons.
Vietnam, which has been rapidly expanding infrastructure projects, produced 16 million tons of cement this year and plans to produce 50 million tons a year by 2010, the news agency said. -- AFP
China's unemployment to grow
BEIJING: China's unemployment rate is set to rise from four percent to 4.5 percent in the coming year as employees from state-owned firms continue to be laid off, the official Xinhua news agency said Thursday.
Labor and Social Security Minister Zhang Zuoyi said the 2002 jobless rate should come in at a lower-than-expected four percent, and forecast 4.5 percent for the year ahead.
Statistics released by China's Ministry of Labor and Social Security show that over the past five years 27 million people have been laid off from state-owned enterprises as a result of industrial restructuring or economic reforms.
Nine-and-a-half million have been unable to find another job.
In September President Jiang Zemin called job creation a "crucial and pressing" task for the government, but admitted finding jobs for China's work force would be an "onerous" issue for some time to come.
Recent figures showed China boasts a work force of 730 million people, of which 490 million live in rural areas and 240 million live in urban areas. -- AFP
Japan's retail sales up
TOKYO: Sales at large Japanese retail stores in November rose 0.2 percent from a year ago, the government said Thursday.
The November figure followed a 2.0 percent decrease in October, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.
Department store sales fell 0.4 percent in the month, while supermarket sales rose 0.7 percent, the ministry said.
Food and drink sales increased 2.7 percent and clothing sales also rose 0.1 percent, the ministry said. -- AFP
Investments down in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH: The flow of foreign investments into Saudi Arabia has dropped sharply since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the governor of the kingdom's investment authority said in remarks published Wednesday.
Investments approved by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) since the terror attacks and now reached only US$3.5 billion, Prince Abdullah bin Faisal told Al-Jazirah newspaper.
The value of investments between April 2000, when SAGIA was established, and early September 2001 was $9.2 billion, he said, adding that the drop was a direct result of the attacks on the United States.
SAGIA was set up to promote foreign investment in the kingdom, which gets more than 80 percent of its income from oil.
Sectors like telecommunications, insurance, oil exploration, security, retail and wholesale, education, and land and sea transport are among 19 activities still barred to foreign investors. -- AFP
Putin signs Russia's 2003 budget
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed into law a federal budget for 2003 which keeps a tight rein on spending to meet the country's foreign debt repayments next year.
The bill, which projects a slight surplus, was approved by the State Duma (lower house) on Dec. 11 and by the Federation Council (senate) a week later.
The budget envisages revenues of 2.345 trillion rubles (US$69.6 billion according to a mean projected exchange rate) and expenditure of 2.417 trillion rubles.
Among Putin's stated priorities are a reduction in public debt and a strict adherence to the foreign debt repayment schedule, which peaks next year with an outlay of more than $17 billion.
The draft budget is posited on economic growth of 4.4 percent, slightly higher than the rate of growth forecast this year of around four percent. -- AFP