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A huge number of reconditioned vehicles remained stranded at the Chittagong Port causing congestion inside the port yards.
   On Friday, 2,257 units of reconditioned vehicles – mostly cars and pick-up vans – were seen stuck up in the F-shed and P-shed of the port yard and adjoining areas. The sheds have the capacity of accommodating 1,635 units, port sources said.
   The Chittagong Port Authority on Wednesday issued a notice to the importers for taking immediate delivery of their vehicles. Otherwise, it said, importers will face four times penal rent on the stranded vehicles after 10 days of the allowed time.
   Most of the vehicles remained stockpiled for the last three or four months though there was no provision for keeping vehicles in the sheds for more than 45 days, a top official of the Chittagong Port Authority said.
   ‘The importers keep their vehicles in the port longer than the allowed time by bribing customs officials,’ the official said.
   ‘If the situation remains unchanged and a ship arrives with 700 to 800 units, the port will face a total chaos.’
   If the importers fail to release their vehicles in 45 days, laws allow the authorities to put all the vehicles on auction, sources added.
   But the importers this time could avoid such action for reasons unknown despite occupying the two sheds for three to four months, port and customs sources said.
   Some importers admitted that despite having own show-rooms, they opted for keeping their vehicles in the port yard even at the cost of ‘extra charges’ to appease a section of buyers who prefer delivery right from the port.
   A senior customs official denied any underhand dealing behind overstaying of the vehicles in the port yard unless there is any legal complicacy.
   ‘We conduct regular auction twice a month. So there is no chance for importers to keep vehicles inside the port more than 45 days,” says a deputy commissioner the Chittagong Customs House. However, he added, they have nothing to do when some importers win court ruling against the regular auction.
   Meanwhile, leaders of the Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (BARVIDA) expressed their resentment over the notice issued by the CPA.
   Terming the decision of imposing extra penal rent as illogical, association executive Borhan Uddin Ahmed said that port authority took the decision without consulting the association.
   ‘The sudden hike of the dollar rate against Taka forced us to increase the price of reconditioned vehicles which put a negative impact on sales of old vehicles,’ Borhan Uddin said adding that poor sales discouraged importers to release vehicles from the port yard in time.
   CPA director (traffic) Ahsanul Kabir said that the port authority had to take the decision of realising extra penalty to clear the backlog and keep the port functional.
   ‘We warned the importers several times to clear the yard but they didn’t pay heed,’ he told New Age on Thursday.

The government has recently cleared the way for liquidation of 21 ailing public sector textile mills, most of which are being run on contractual basis for producing yarn only, said sources at the jute and textiles ministry.
   The ministry has been given the authority to dispose off the textile units under the Bangladesh textile mills corporation through paying off officials, employees and workers, as well as settlement of loan disputes with banks.
   The government may allocate and disburse money required for payoffs for voluntary retirement to help the mills slash down the size of manpower, according to a working paper prepared by the cabinet division for the Prime Minister.
   It also referred the issue of loan and accumulated interests of the already sold out mills to the cabinet committee on economic affairs for recommending necessary measures.
   ‘With the impending general elections back in mind, the government is hesitant in taking any harsh decision that could affect the industries and workers,’ a ministry official said.
   The working paper described as inadequate and “not informative” the recommendations on solving the problems of the sold out textile mills, which were made by the jute and textiles ministry and the privatisation commission. The paper, instead, stressed on consultation with the finance division and raising it at the cabinet committee on economic affairs.
   Based on the guidelines for resolution to the problems of the public-sector textile units, the working paper suggested that the spare lands of the textile units, which were already handed over to the private entrepreneurs, be sold through tender and be paid to the banks against loans and interests.
   The textiles ministry, merged with the jute ministry earlier last year, had also taken back those textile units from the commission following a cabinet committee decision to run or guillotine those.
   However, the move to sell about 16 acres of such land has not yet been possible due to lower participation in the tender process and the cabinet committee on economic affairs several times refused to accept the prices offered by the bidders. The offered prices of the plots were less than half of the market prices witnessed at the government’s sub-registry offices.
   After the cabinet committee directed a re-tender recently for selling the lands recently, the minister for jute and textile ministry, Shajahan Siraj, is learnt to have expressed frustration since hardly any buyers came up with offer to take the land for setting up forward or backward linkage industries for garments.
   The 21 units under the BTMC are Amin Textile Limited-2-, Shaloshahar, Chittagong, Bengal Textile Mills-1, Noapara, Jessore, Bengal Textile Mills-2, Noapara, Jessore, Dost Textile Mills, Ranihat, Feni, Darowani Textile Mills, Nilphamari, Dinajpur Textile Mills, Sadarpur, Dinajpur, Rangamati Textile Mills, Ghagra, Rangamati, Sundarban Textile Mills-1, Satkhira, Sundarban Textile Mills-2, Satkhira, Bhalika Textile Mills, Nasirabad, Chittagong, National Cotton Mills, Fouzdarhat, Chittagong, Amin Textiles Limited-1, Shaloshahar, Chittagong, RR Textiles Mills, Bashbaria, Shitakundo, Chittagong, Kurigram Textile Mills, Kurigram, Qaderia Textiles Mills, Tongi, Gazipur, Rajshahi Textiles Mills, Naodapara, Rajshahi, Tangail Cotton Mills-1 Gorai, Tangail, Chittaranjan Cotton Mills, Godnail, Narayanganj, Ahmed Bawani Textile Mills, Demra, Dhaka, Magura Textile Mills, Magura and Sylhet Textiles Mills, Islampur, Sylhet.

Prices of vegetables, milk powder and fish increased further while that of broiler chicken marked a decline on the city market last week that ended Friday.
   It was found in the city's New Market, Moulvi Bazaar and Kawran Bazaar that prices of all varieties of vegetables sharply shot up compared with the previous week's price level.
   There was no change found in the price of rice, which has been maintaining a static level for the last few weeks.
   Some brands of milk powder were selling at higher prices against their previous week's rates.
   Price of Dano brand weighing 400 grams rose to Tk125 from the previous week's Tk122 and 350 gram pack of Nido to Tk142 from Tk136 a week ago.
   However, prices of Diploma and Kwality brands marked some decline. A 500-gm pack of Diploma sold at Tk135 and the same quantity pack of Kwality at Tk128 against the previous week's rate of Tk138 and Tk130 respectively.
   Among vegetables, price of okra rose to Tk20 per kilogram from Tk 16, tomato to Tk24 from Tk20, bean to Tk20 from Tk16, aubergine to Tk20 from Tk16, dhundul to Tk24 and cucumber to Tk12-16 from Tk8-10, papaya to Tk10-12 from Tk 8-10, snake gourd to Tk20 from Tk 12-16 and patal to Tk20 from Tk16-18.
   Besides, prices of different varieties of spinach ranged from Tk10 to Tk16 showing a rise from previous week's level.
   Supply has fallen in the market due to heavy rainfall resulting in the price hike of vegetables, some traders said.
   Fish of different varieties was also selling at higher prices. Hilsha weighing 800 grms sold at Tk220, per kilogram, Telapia sold at Tk80, Burmese Ruhi and Katla at Tk120 and Tk200, Glass Carp at Tk90.
   Price of broiler chicken, however, declined last week. A one-kg broiler chicken (live) sold at Tk80, down by Tk5 against the previous week's price and four-pieces of farm eggs sold at Tk16 against the price of Tk14 two weeks back.
   Prices of all varieties of rice remained unchanged at previous level. Some traders hoped that rice price will come down by Tk1-Tk1-50 per kg within one month on arrival of rice from new harvest.
   Prices of some seasonal fruits is still beyond the reach of consumers. A large size watermelon was selling at Tk100-150, a wood apple sold at Tk30-60, Papaya per piece at Tk20-30 and custard apple at Tk50 per kilogram.
   Price of atta, onion, garlic, lentil, soybean oil, beef and mutton remained unchanged. And also prices of tea, condensed milk and ginger were selling at previous high rate.

Leaders of the Bangladesh Jatiya Sramik Jote on Friday demanded implementation of the minimum wages for the workers.
   They were speaking at the national council of the Jote at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh in Dhaka.
   Jote president Shirin Akhter inaugurated the council attended by several hundreds workers from different parts of the country.
   Shirin said the government has to ensure minimum wages for the workers who change the society with their hard work.
   Economist Abul Barakat said industrial units, which government closed down following the prescription of the World Bank and other multilateral lending agencies, should be opened immediately. He said the government remains quite indifferent to sufferings of thousands of retrenched workers and their families.
   President of the Jatiya Oikya Mancha, Dr Kamal Hossain, executive president of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Moinuddin Khan Badal, convenor of the Jatiya Jobu Jote, Nazmul Haque Pradhan, convenor of the Jatiya Krishak Jote, Iqbal Hossain Khan, organising secretaries of the JSD Habibur Rahman Shawkat, Muhammad Khaled, the president of JSD Dhaka city unit, Mir Hossain Akhter, spoke.

A southern Indian city’s decision to hire musicians to beat drums outside the homes of tax defaulters until they pay up has yielded rich dividends, an official said Friday.
   For a month tax defaulters in Andhra Pradesh states Rajmundary city, some 500 kilometres (312 miles) south of the state capital Hyderabad, were literally forced to face the music as tax collectors hired drummers to play non-stop outside their homes.
   By Thursday, when the unconventional tax collection drive ended, the majority of defaulters had cleared their dues, said T.S.R. Anjaneyulu, municipal commissioner of Rajahmundry.
   ‘It’s been a resounding success. We managed to collect 25 million of the 37.5 million rupees (570,000 of the 857,000 dollars) that was outstanding in terms of taxes owed to the city corporation,’ Anjaneyulu told AFP.
   The corporation hired 10 drummers and set up five teams which accompanied by tax inspectors visited tax defaulters.
   ‘We kept up the pressure by refusing to stop the drumming until they finally paid up. This innovative move is part of an ongoing reform drive to improve tax collections in the city,’ Anjaneyulu said.
   Local officials say this year the corporation’s tax collection had touched an all time high of 95.6 per cent.
   ‘The results have been so encouraging that we’ve decided to use the drum-beating drive twice a year,’ he said.
   In September, the drummers will be sent out to recover half-yearly taxes.

As a three-day international optical fair began in Dhaka on Thursday, optical entrepreneurs sought government support to export in European Union markets and also expand local market.
   They also urged the government to appoint ophthalmologists in every upazila as only 3-5 percent, out of around 30 per cent population of the country who need spectacles, are now being covered due to lack of experts.
   Bangladesh earned around $ 100,000 in last fiscal through exporting frames and lenses to the Middle Eastern countries, especially in UAE and Kuwait, where Bangladeshi expatriates are doing business, according to official figure.
   Local industry is exporting quality optical lens, bi-focal glass, and frames of spectacles, industry sources claimed.
   ‘We want that the government should create export opportunity in EU where demand of spectacles is high,’ said Manjurul Huque Sikdar, President of Bangladesh Optical Industries and Traders Association (BOITA) while taking to BDNEWS Friday.
   He said every year spectacle fair is taking place in Italy and France where producers related to this industry throngs from all over the world but we can not take part because of our financial constraints.
   At present, China is the only dominating country from Asia in the field of spectacles export, said Manjurl, owner of the Skylarc, the largest optical industry in country.
   Like other small-scale exporters Fazlul Hoque Jewel, senior-vice president of BOITA, criticised EPB for not disbursing incentives on the spectacle export. ‘In China they are giving 35% incentive, we got nothing,’ Jewel added.
   The commerce minister, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, dismissed exporters allegation. He said, ‘the government took programmes, including export diversification, simplification of export procedure and providing incentives to increase export earnings to the optical industries.’
   The vice-president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abul Quasem Haider said, ‘most of the business men in the spectacles industry are doing business rather then manufacturing.’

India’s annual economic growth slowed to its weakest pace in more than a year in the October-December quarter, as a decline in farm output offset strong performances in manufacturing and services.
   The 6.2 per cent rise in gross domestic product for the year through India’s fiscal third-quarter was a shade higher than a median forecast of 6.1 per cent in a Reuters poll.
   But it marked the slowest rate of expansion since a
   5.3 per cent rise in the year through the April-June quarter of 2003.
   Analysts said growth was broadly in line with their expectations, although weakness in farming was more pronounced than some had anticipated.
   ‘The last quarter of the fiscal, growth should be around 7.0 per cent. Growth is very much intact but the decline in the farm sector is above our estimate of 0.8 per cent.’

GrammenPhone Ltd and land phone company Bayphones signed an interconnectivity agreement in Dhaka on Thursday, says a press release.
   Under the agreement, GrameenPhone and Bayphones will provide access to their respective networks for their customers.
   Eric Aas, chief executive officer of GrameenPhone and MA Hashem, chairman of Bayphones, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.
   Khalid Hassan, director (corporate affairs), Badrul Haq, advisor (external affairs), Kazi Saiful Alam, manager (external affairs) of GrameenPhone and Rabiul Hossain, director, Milu Chowdhury, manager (corporate affairs) of Bayphones were present in the signing ceremony.

The six-day training on 'Flexcube Software: Retail Module' for the branch users of Dhaka Bank Limited concluded recently, says a press release.
   Mohammad Abu Musa, deputy managing director of the bank attended the concluding ceremony as chief guest and distributed certificates among the participants.
   Twenty-one officers of the bank participated in the course organised by the Dhaka Bank Training Institute.
   ASM Ashrafuzzaman and Asifur Rahman, core team members of IT division of the bank conducted the training programme.
   Shamshad Begum, executive vice-president and principal of the bank's training institute, Muhammad H Kafi, senior vice-president and head of IT division and Salahuddin Ahmed, senior assistant vice-president and faculty member were also present.

ICICI Bank, India's second largest Bank and the SouthAsia Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF) signed a memorandum of understanding to provide technical assistance to financial institutions in Bangladesh for financing small and medium enterprises, says a press release.
   Under the MoU, the ICICI Bank and SEDF will provide training to local financial institutions to enable them to develop requisite knowledge to build SME portfolios.
   The technical assistance programme will also include coverage of microfinance and tradesegments. Yusuf S Saadat, chief representative, Bangladesh, ICICI Bank said this collaboration gives an opportunity to ICICI Bank and SEDF to share the best practices and experience with the financiaL institutions in Bangladesh in providing assistance to the SME sector.

Business confidence among Japanese companies deteriorated sharply in March, a quarterly Bank of Japan survey showed on Friday, dashing hopes the economy would quickly rebound after a mild recession last year.
   The BOJ tankan report, which followed a run of weak economic data, showed that big manufacturers were especially downbeat following a slowdown in exports, which have driven Japan’s economic recovery over the past three years.
   The survey’s headline diffusion index (DI) for big manufacturers fell to plus 14 from plus 22 in December, falling well short of a consensus market forecast for a rise to plus 23.
   ‘It’s very bad, I was shocked,’ said Azusa Kato, economist at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. “We had thought that the inventory adjustment in the electronics sector was nearly finished but perhaps conditions are worse than we expected.’
   The yen weakened about a quarter of a per cent against the dollar to about 107.50 after the data.
   Tokyo share prices also initially fell on the weak reading but recouped losses as other data in the report reassured the market that a recovery would still take hold this year.
   ‘It’s likely that a fall in exports and production was reflected in the worsening DI for big manufacturers,’ said Takashi Miyazaki, strategist at UFJ Partners Asset Management. ‘But the figure for non-manufacturers came in line with expectations, and this should underpin the (stock) market here.’
   The DI in the tankan—Japanese short-hand for ‘short-term economic outlook survey of enterprises in Japan’—is derived by subtracting the per centage of firms reporting unfavourable conditions from those reporting favourable conditions.

A Malaysia company has won a contract to install a ventilation system for big shopping mall in Dhaka.
   The shopping mall owned by Jamuna Builders ltd. awarded Dunham-Bush Industries of Malaysia the 62.7 million Malaysian Ringit contract.
   A source here said that the Jamuna Complex, a shopping and commercial centre with a total floor area of about 4.2 million square feet and has three levels of basement car parks, which will provide 2,800 parking bays.
   A statement of the
   Dunham-Bush said 'the contract will progressively to the earnings of the Dunham-Bush group.'

Coca-Cola has recently introduced 500ml PET bottles for their consumers, says a press release.
   The new Coca-Cola bottles are now available at all shops throughout the country.
   A TV advertisement has been customised for marketing the Coca-Cola 500ml PET bottle, which is being telecast since March 28 in different TV
   channels.
   Actor Lutfur Rahman George, model Iqbal Ahmed and model Kanij performed in the advertisement.

An eight-member Thai official delegation visited Bangladesh Association of Construction Industry (BACI) on March 29, says a press release.
   The BACI president, Engr. Md Atiqur Rahman, welcomed the delegation led by Kanayarat Vongskul, director of Thai Trade Centre, Export Promotion Department (EPD) under the ministry of commerce.
   The BACI president held discussion with the Thai trade team on various construction-related aspects.
   Engr. Syed Mosharraf Hossain, Engr. Mir Zahir Hossain, Engr. Aminul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Engr. SC Ghose and Engr. Md Azizur Rahman of BACI assisted him in the discussion.
   They discussed possible cooperation with Thai construction firms in respect of joint ventures, supply and training of skilled manpower, consultancy and manufacturing of construction materials.
   Transfer of technology and construction-related information also came up for discussion.
   Kanayarat Vongskul thanked the BACI president and his colleagues for informing them about various matters which are important for possible cooperation.
   The deputy director of Thai Trade Centre, Paniti, participated in the discussion.

The United States took to task China, India and Japan yesterday for excessively protecting their telecom markets, warning that it would ‘vigorously’ enforce its trade rights in these countries.
   ‘We are deeply concerned by the tepid commitment some of our trade partners have shown to competition in the telecommunications sector,’ said acting US Trade Representative (USTR) Peter Allgeier.
   ‘This is especially true in countries such as China, India and Japan where national operators are already competing on a global level, but remain protected at home by relatively closed markets,’ he said.
   Allgeier made the comments in connection with the release of a 2005 annual review by the USTR office of foreign compliance with telecommunications trade agreements.
   The report both identified barriers facing US telecommunications services and equipment providers, and laid out specific telecommunications-related issues on which the office of the USTR will focus its efforts this year.
   Among main issues identified: excessive interconnection rates for mobile networks in
   Germany, Japan, Mexico, Peru and Switzerland; restrictions on access to and use of leased lines in Germany and submarine cable capacity in India; excessive regulatory requirements in China, Colombia and India; burdensome testing and certification requirements in Mexico and South Korea; and, limitations on suppliers’ choice of technology in China and Korea.
   But China, India and Japan as well as Peru were cited as countries ‘requiring particular attention.’
   China was accused of imposing a number of ‘severe’ regulatory requirements, notably related to capitalization levels and joint venture partners, while Japan imposed ‘limited entry to its wireless markets by failing to make new spectrum available.’
   Spectrums are accessibility to specific radio frequencies.
   The United States also said India failed to remove restrictions on access to submarine cable capacity and ‘undermined’ positive, liberalizing steps in its market by imposing excessive licensing requirements on new entrants.’
   Peru has consistently delayed addressing some of the world’s highest mobile termination rates, the report said.
   The World Trade Organization (WTO) provides pro-competitive guidelines for regulators to follow in ensuring reasonable access to networks and impartiality of regulatory processes.
   All recent free trade agreements concluded by the United States, including with Singapore, Chile, Australia, Bahrain, Morocco and several Central American countries, contain specific prohibitions against the use of exclusionary standards in the telecommunications sector.
   They also ensure non-discriminatory access to public networks, and interconnection among public network operators.

Democrats urged President George W. Bush yesterday to cut the record US trade deficit by taking stronger action against China, the European Union, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Thailand and Russia for violations of trading rules.
   ‘The United States cannot afford to continue down this path. Last year, the US trade deficit rose to yet another historic high of more than $617 billion, more than five per cent of the US economy,’ senior Democrats in the US House of Representatives said in a letter to Bush.
   The US Trade Representative’s office issued its annual inventory of foreign trade barriers on Wednesday.
   The 672-page report covering 61 trading partners identified trade violations affecting US companies around the world without pinpointing any new cases for action at the World Trade Organization.
   ‘... it is time to stop taking inventory and time to start producing results for American workers, farmers and bus-
   inesses.
   In the four years that the Bush administration has been in office, USTR has brought only a dozen cases in the WTO. By contrast, the Clinton Administration brought more than ten cases per year in the WTO,’ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats said in their letter.

China faces more trade and investment barriers in the United States than anywhere else, a government report said Friday, claiming unfair treatment from its second biggest trading partner.
   It claimed that unfair treatment including technical standards, quarantine and quality inspections, as well as intellectual property rights have been used against Chinese exports and investment by 22 major trading partners.
   Other tactics included customs requirements, environmental protection and labour standards, it said.
   The Foreign Market Access Report 2005, released by the Ministry of Commerce, focused on China’s main trading partners such as the United States, the European Union and Japan.
   It said 16 countries initiated 57 anti-dumping and safeguard investigations against Chinese exports worth 1.26 billion dollars last year.
   It devoted 22 pages of the 182-page report to obstacles faced by Chinese firms in the United States.
   ‘There are many discriminatory provisions against Chinese products in relevant US anti-dumping legislations,’ the report said.
   A report released by the office of the US Trade Representative this week said there was a ‘significant increase in bilateral trade friction’ with China, highlighting the major problem in Chinese fake goods.
   It said the US government was conducting a review of China’s protection of intellectual property rights which may result in action at the World Trade Organisation.
   China’s foreign ministry played down the frictions Thursday, insisting trade relations with the United States were ‘smooth’ while telling Washington not to ‘politicize’ disputes.

Nearly 30 chainstores in northeast China’s Shenyang city have pulled Japanese products off their shelves following Chinese media reports saying some of the companies supported revisionist history textbooks.
   About 10 brands of Japanese products, including Asahi beer and the Shisheido and Sofina brands of facial products and makeup, were among those targetted by the stores, which are part of the Xinmeng chain of supermarkets, the Xinhua news agency said on its website.
   Other Japanese products boycotted include beverages, shampoo, chopsticks, noodles and snacks.
   All in all, about 20 different types of Japanese products are no longer sold in the stores, the report said.
   It quoted a store clerk saying the store received notification Thursday to remove all items made by Japanese companies, joint ventures, or which have Japanese words on the packaging.
   The chain said it was willing to bear the financial losses from the boycott.
   Traders said most customers supported the decision.
   The report cited officials in the chain saying they wanted to ‘defend Chinese people’s dignity’.
   Recent Chinese reports have accused Japanese beer maker Asahi of funding the publication of Japanese history books that distort Japan’s role during World War II.

Oil prices stayed above 55 dollars a barrel in Asian trade Friday on concerns over US gasoline stocks ahead of the summer driving season and a threatened strike in Nigeria, dealers said.
   At 1:00 pm (0500 GMT), New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, was up 18 cents at 55.58 dollars from 55.40 dollars in New York, where it had jumped 1.41 dollars on Thursday.
   The US Department of Energy said Wednesday crude oil inventories rose 5.4 million barrels to 314.7 million in the week to March 25.
   However, the drawdown in US gasoline supplies was twice as big as expected by financial markets, with the DoE reporting a drop of 2.9 million barrels to 214.4 million.
   Other analysts said the market was also cautious due to a threatened strike by oil workers in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil exporter.
   Meanwhile, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said in a report received here that tight global supplies should continue to put upward pressure on oil prices.
   
   Goldman Sachs says oil could
   spike to $105 per barrel
   Oil markets have entered a ‘super-spike’ period that could see 1970’s-style price surges as high as $105 a barrel, investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a research report.
   Goldman’s Global Investment Research note also raised the bank’s 2005 and 2006 New York Mercantile Exchange crude price forecasts to $50 and $55 respectively, from $41 and $40.
   These forecasts sit at the top of a table of predictions from 25 analysts, consultants and government bodies surveyed by Reuters.
   ‘We believe oil markets may have entered the early stages of what we have referred to as a ‘super spike’ period—a multi-year trading band of oil prices high enough to meaningfully reduce energy consumption and recreate a spare capacity cushion only after which will lower energy prices return,’ Goldman’s analysts wrote.
   The analysts said resilient demand had led them to revise their super-spike range to $50-$105 per barrel from $50-$80 previously, noting strength in oil demand and economic growth in the United States and China especially.
   US oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange have averaged $50.03 per barrel so far in 2005 .
   Goldman Sachs is the biggest trader of energy derivatives, and its Goldman Sachs Commodities Index is a widely-watched barometer of energy and commodities prices.
   Goldman pointed out thin spare capacity in the energy supply chain, and long response times for bringing on supply additions, as well as robust demand in the United States and in developing heavyweights China and India, despite the recent rapid increase in energy costs.
   Goldman said the current oil market environment looked more like that seen in the 1970s—when oil prices spiked dramatically following the Arab oil embargoes on supply to the West and Iran’s revolution.
   High energy prices threw the world into recession, and triggered several years of declining oil demand. Supply growth continued unabated and bolstered spare capacity, which in turn stabilised oil markets at lower prices—a phase of the market cycle that Goldman’s researchers said had only just ended.
   The bank also said its super-spike forecast range was conservative, noting declining US gasoline spending as a proportion of GDP and consumer spending.
   During 1980-1981, gasoline spending in the United States corresponded to an average 4.5 per cent of GDP, 7.2 per cent of consumer expenditures, and 6.2 per cent of personal disposable income, Goldman said.

The Palestinian parliament passed a 2005 budget yesterday meant to encourage economic reforms and accountability after the corruption tainted rule of late President Yasser Arafat.
   For the first time, the budget carried a provision for accounts to be examined by international auditors. President Mahmoud Abbas has pledged to clean up Palestinian finances to satisfy foreign donors and local calls for change.
   The Palestinian Legislative Council approved the $2.2 billion budget, with several amendments, by 35 votes to 10.
   ‘The amendments, as well as the debate, have shown great support for the reform process incorporated in the budget,’ Finance Minister Salam Fayyad told Reuters.
   Abbas succeeded Arafat as president in January and along with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a ceasefire a month later. Since then, economic prospects have brightened alongside those for peace.
   Fayyad, a former International Monetary Fund official, is credited with initiating a major financial reform process that has won praise from the international community.
   He said that the Palestinians would soon hire a foreign accounting firm to audit the books.
   The long-delayed budget was presented after the Palestinians won pledges of $1.2 billion in aid from international donors at a meeting in London on March 1.
   Fayyad has said the Palestinian Authority would require an annual $1.5 billion in foreign aid for the next two years to help rebuild an economy shattered by more than four years of fighting with Israel.
   The World Bank said in a recent report that reviving the Palestinian economy was critical to peacemaking in the region.
   Abbas also faces local demands for reform. Hamas Islamic militants stand to benefit in upcoming parliamentary elections at the expense of Abbas’s Fatah dominant movement, which is widely accused of corruption and incompetence.

Headline Japanese business confidence suffered its sharpest fall in three-and-a-half years in the March quarter as a spike in raw material costs, mainly oil, hit profits, adding Friday to concerns over recent disappointing figures.
   The Bank of Japan said that in its key Tankan survey, the headline reading for large manufacturers came in a 14, well short of forecasts for 22 and unchanged from the December figure.
   It was the second consecutive quarterly decline in the large manufacturers index and the lowest reading since 12 in the March 2004 report. Worse still, the margin of decline was the sharpest since a fall of 17 points in the September 2001 survey.
   ‘Manufacturers see their profits becoming narrower and narrower due to rising prices of crude oil, iron ore and other raw materials on tight international markets,’ said Shinichiro Kobayashi, economist at UFJ Institute. ‘Chemicals and steel firms are able to pass on higher costs to (customers) to some extent ... but companies in such industries as electrical machinery cannot do so as consumer demand is not that strong,’ he said.

The Singapore government Friday began requiring all newly-arrived foreign maids to take a written English-language test for basic literacy and housekeeping skills.
   The maids—mostly from Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India—must return home if they fail to pass the test within three working days of their arrival, the manpower ministry said.
   The ministry said the latest requirement was part of efforts to improve the quality of foreign maids working for Singapore households. With effect from January, the ministry required new maids to be at least 23 years old and have at least eight years of formal education.
   And from April 1, maids have to take and pass a test comprising 40 multiple-choice questions on subjects like safety and housekeeping and basic numeracy and comprehension skills within three days after their arrival.
   Results are released on the same day, with the pass mark set at 50 per cent.

Malaysia will place armed and uniformed police officers on board tugboats and barges plying the piracy-prone Malacca Strait in the wake of recent attacks, an official said.
   ‘We have received several complaints from worried shippers and we have to assure them that the safety of their goods and the crew on the boats is being taken care of,’ said Internal Security and Public Order director Othman Talib.
   ‘Those assigned will be in uniform and armed. We will station them on randomly chosen ships, the minute the vessels enter our waters,’ he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times Friday.
   The measures are in addition to an escort service launched last month for tugboats and barges carrying valuable cargo, the paper said.
   The 960-kilometre (600 mile) waterway bordered by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia is used by some 50,000 ships a year carrying a third of world trade and half its oil supplies.
   The three nations last year began coordinated patrols in the strait, which is one of the world’s top piracy blackspots.

Speculators and more cautious investors alike are feeding a boom in gold, oil and other commodities, leading some analysts to talk of an extended bull run in raw material prices.
   Fundamental demand for metals and soft commodities like grains, especially in Asia, has spurred speculative hedge funds to chase higher returns than they earn from traditional assets like equities and bonds.
   ‘There are some pretty powerful structural forces in terms of China and currency and investment that should allow quite a durable rally,’ Michael Lewis, head of commodity research at Deutsche Bank, said.
   Goldman Sachs said in a research note on Thursday that oil markets have entered a ‘super-spike’ period that could see prices rising as high as $105 a barrel.
   But while a weaker US currency has also helped by making dollar- denominated products cheaper for overseas investors, other analysts caution that no bull run can last forever.
   Hype surrounding price spikes has seen the term ‘supercycle’ crop up in some quarters, as the current run higher has outlasted classical commodity bull markets of around two years.
   An influx of fund cash has fanned several resources to multi- year peaks this month, copper hitting a record $3,305 a tonne and oil reaching an all- time high of $57.60 a barrel.
   The Reuters CRB index of 17 commodities futures earlier this month hit its highest since the commodities boom of the early 1980s.
   At the end of 2001, worldwide manufacturing demand started to tick higher, and China’s industrial revolution began. Analysts expect its voracious appetite for raw materials in the urbanisation process to continue.
   David J O’Reilly, chairman and CEO of ChevronTexaco, the world’s biggest company, said last month that new Asian demand was reshaping the global energy marketplace.
   ‘Many expect global primary energy demand to jump 40 per cent over the next two decades,’ he said. Years of underinves-tment in supply infrastructure has meant many commodity markets are struggling to keep up with demand. But doubts have emerged on the sustainability of current hefty raw material consumption rates from China in particular as markets ponder a soft or hard landing for the fast emerging economic giant.
   Exxon Mobil Corp chief executive Lee Raymond took a sceptical view earlier this month.
   ‘I don’t necessarily think that there is a new paradigm,’ Raymond said. ‘The last time I heard a speech about the new paradigm was in 1996 ... And 18 months later the price of oil was $10 a barrel.’
   GFMS analyst Neil Buxton noted the current commodity cycle did differ from previous ones because the bull trend had arrived at a fairly early stage in the broader economic cycle.
   ‘Typically in previous (base metal) cycles we only had these sort of prices when all the economies had been moving for a number of years,’ he said.
   ‘But I don’t think we can say that because China is developing with India, the consumption growth rates we’re seeing at the moment are totally sustainable going forward,’ he added.
   UBS Investment Bank analyst John Reade said metal prices would be in an uptrend over the next decade or two—mostly due to urbanisation rates and intensive use in China and potentially other emerging market countries.

Citigroup Inc. was Wall Street’s busiest stock and bond underwriter in the first quarter of 2005, as overall activity fell from last year’s unusually strong level while reported fees tumbled.
   ‘It was an upbeat quarter, if you look at the environment we were in,’ said Richard Peterson, chief market strategist at Thomson Financial. ‘Interest rates were edging higher, oil prices soared, and major stock market averages were in the red. The market was impressive in being able to accommodate the levels of deals it did.’
   Worldwide stock and bond underwriting totaled $1.61 trillion, down 5 per cent from a year earlier, while reported fees totaled $2.92 billion, down 40 per cent, Thomson data show. The number of offerings declined 23 per cent to 4,754.
   Citigroup handled $148.2 billion of transactions, but its market share fell to 9.2 per cent from 10.1 per cent. Morgan Stanley arranged $110.9 billion of offerings, and Deutsche Bank AG’s handled $108.3 billion. The latter’s ranking rose to third place from sixth a year earlier.
   In fees, Citigroup reported $308.7 million, a 10.6 per cent share, displacing Morgan Stanley, which reported $300.2 million. Merrill Lynch & Co. was third, with $228.9 million.
   Despite sluggish equity markets, ‘deals are still working,’ said Quinten Stevens, co-head of equity capital markets in the Americas for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which ranked fourth in underwriting and fees.
   ‘There was pretty broad industry participation in the new issue calendar in the quarter, and that should continue,’ he added. ‘Relative market levels are still fairly attractive for issuers.’
   Wall Street uses Thomson’s widely followed underwriting ‘league tables’ as a marketing tool to win business. Morgan Stanley arranged the most mergers, according to preliminary data from Dealogic, handling $163.3 billion of deals. Goldman Sachs & Co. and Merrill closely followed.
   Total merger volume rose 7 per cent to $598.9 billion, highlighted by Procter & Gamble Co.’s $57 billion purchase of Gillette Co. Merrill advised P&G, while UBS AG and Goldman advised Gillette.

Hong Kong gold closes higher
Hong Kong gold prices closed higher Friday at 428.30-429.80 US dollars an ounce, compared to Thursday’s close of 427.30-427.80 dollars. The market opened at 427.60-428.10 dollars.
— AFP

Russia revises 2005 growth forecast
Russia predicted faster growth in the country’s gross national product in 2005, revising its estimate higher to 6.5 per cent from the previous 5.8 per cent, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development said Friday, according the news agency Interfax. The Russian economy grew at a pace of 7.1 per cent in 2004.
— AFP

Air France presents new uniforms
Air France on Friday unveiled a new range of uniforms for its 36,000 staff members designed by couturier Christian Lacroix. Representing the first makeover in 17 years, the new livery consists of more than 100 items—all in trademark dark blue—which can be mixed and matched in different ways ‘like a woman’s wardrobe,’ in the words of Lacroix. ‘In a way Air France and haute couture inhabit the same universe—a world where tradition and technology intermingle, and where the aim is to diffuse and perpetuate a certain French style of living,’ said Air France president Jean-Cyril Spinetta. The cost of the refit was 20 million euros (26 million dollars) and some 650,000 pieces have been manufactured, the company said. Pilots, hostesses and counter-staff will begin wearing the uniform from Tuesday.
— AFP

Cathay Pacific to pay cabin crew back-pay
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific said Friday it will pay 3,300 cabin crew back-pay after a court ruled that the airline was in breach of their contracts by stopping their automatic pay rises. A Cathay Pacific spokeswoman said the company decided not to appeal the High Court ruling in March and will make ‘appropriate’ salary adjustments accordingly. Although she declined to comment on how much this will cost the airline, union representatives have reportedly estimated the unpaid wages could reach 2.8 billion Hong Kong dollars (360 million US dollars). The High Court earlier ruled in favour of the three cabin crew who said Cathay Pacific had violated their contracts from 1999 by not giving them an annual pay increase of 3.5
per cent.
— AFP

Ford will produce environ
impact report
Ford Motor Company will conduct an environmental impact assessment that will detail the impact of its products and manufacturing facilities on greenhouse gas emissions, the automobile maker said Thursday. The decision follows years of negotiations with activist shareholders who have been encouraging Ford to develop more environmentally friendly products and policies. ‘We have long identified climate change as a serious environmental issue, and shareholders are increasingly asking about the risks as well as the opportunities associated with it,’ chairman and chief executive Bill Ford said in a statement. ‘It’s time for a broader, more inclusive public dialogue on the complex and important challenge of climate change.’
— AFP

Isuzu admits illegally testing vehicles
Isuzu Motors Ltd, a truckmaker allied with General Motors Corp., said Friday it had illegally tested its vehicles on public roads for years, and said vehicles being tested were involved in accidents that caused one death and 27 injuries. Izuzu President Yoshinori Ida and 14 other top executives had accepted responsibility for the emerging scandal by taking pay cuts of up to 30 per cent for two months, company spokesman Naruhito Furuta said. Meanwhile, police said they had launched an investigation into Isuzu for possible breaches of Japanese laws requiring automakers to get permission from the government to test their trucks on public roads. Violators face fine of up to 300,000 yen ($2,800).
— AP

Fujitsu teams up with Alcatel
Major Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu will join forces with French telecoms equipment maker Alcatel SA to build mobile networks for third-generation (3G) services in China, an official said Friday. ‘We are seeking sales cooperation in China as there are areas where Alcatel is strong and areas where Fujitsu is strong,’ a Fujitsu spokesman said, adding the pair aimed to win a combined 15 per cent share. Fujitsu has allied with Alcatel in the mobile business through Evolium SAS, a joint venture in Velizy, near Paris, offering mobile network infrastructure on the GSM standard for second-generation services and W-CDMA for 3G services. Companies are competing to gain a foothold in China, the world’s biggest mobile phone market, with 3G services expected to start as early as next year.
— AFP

British army orders $1.95b of German trucks
German manufacturer MAN announced it had won a tender to build 5,200 trucks for the British Ministry of Defence in a deal worth around 1.5 billion euros (1.95 billion dollars). The vehicles are due to be delivered between 2007 and 2013. The terms of the deal allow for the construction of a further 2,100 vehicles, said MAN, which beat off three rival bids to win the contract. The trucks ordered by the British army are all-terrain models from the SX and HX range, which are specially designed for use in military campaigns. The chassis for the trucks will be built by MAN’s Austrian subsidiary and the vehicles will be assembled in Britain.
— AFP