Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Poultry sector hopes to raise its annual turnover to Tk10,000 crore from Tk4,000 crore through adoption of improved technology and increasing local consumption.
   As a three-day international poultry show is going on in the city, leaders and experts of the sector have sought more policy and fiscal supports from the government to give a further boost to the sector.
   The supports may come in the forms of policy guidelines for poultry sector, 30 per cent cash incentive like that given to agro products, extension of tax exemption up to 2015 and massive campaigns for raising domestic consumption.
   Sources linked to the World Poultry Science Association-Bangladesh Branch said the annual value of per capita consumption of broiler meat and eggs is $622 million in Bangladesh while the per capita meat consumption is 1.9 kilogram.
   However, the per capita meat consumption in Pakistan is 3.9 kg, Indonesia 3.8 kg, the Philippines 6.8 kg, China 5.4 kg, Thailand 14 kg, Malaysia 33.3 kg, Hong Kong 57.5 kg and Japan 13.8 kg.
   Experts attributed the low protein consumption in Bangladesh to general misconception among people about broiler chicken. Negative campaign against poultry birds cost the industry an estimated Tk500 crore in first six months of 2004 and led to closure of 1000 to 1500 farms, industry people claimed
   Leaders of the poultry association said now about 40 to 50 lakh people are involved with this sector which has an investment of Tk6,000-7,000 crore.
   The sector must achieve international standard through adoption of new technology, which will reduce cost of production and ensure quality of meat and eggs.
   The farmers, especially the smaller ones, need to be acquainted with the latest technology through exhibitions and seminars, they felt.
   They observed that there has been remarkable use of modern technology in the breeding sector that adopted environment controlled housing, automated feeding and drinking systems, computer controlled incubators and sophisticated diagnostics.
   About 100 per cent of grand parent stock and 60 per cent of parent stock are now being raised locally in environment-controlled housing, the association estimates.
   The international poultry show, forth of its kind in Dhaka, saw participants from 38 countries exhibiting poultry techs, accessories and logistics in 114 stalls.
   The theme of the 4th international Poultry Show and Seminar 2005 is Poultry Industry in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities where 36 papers had been selected from different authors from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, Ethiopia, India, Iran, New Zealand, Nigeria and Austria. \
   President of WPSA-BB Moshiur Rahman told New Age that Bangladesh needs to ensure quality of meat, feed and eggs if it wants to explore export opportunities.
   “We are exporting 150 tonnes of poultry feed monthly to Assam of India for the last two months and looking to ship 2-3 lakh hatching eggs a week to Europe and Middle East shortly,” he said.
   If quality can be ensured, the country has the potential to start exporting meat within next six to seven months, he said.

Prices of condensed milk, broiler and local chicken and some vegetables sharply increased while that of lentil, sugar and onion marked a decline on the city market last week.
   Price of per carton (48cans) condensed milk rose to Tk1680 from the previous week’s Tk1660.
   Some seasonal fruits like watermelon, pineapple, wood apple and jack fruit appeared in the market, but were selling at exorbitant prices.
   In different markets, bean sold at Tk20 per kg, up by Tk4-6 compared to the previous week’ price, aubergine at Tk16 per kg against Tk8-10, bitter gourd at Tk30 a kg, up by Tk15.
   Lentil (Nepalese) was selling at Tk42 per kg and local variety at Tk44 while their previous week’s prices were Tk44 and Tk48 respectively.
   A kg of pigeon-pea sold at Tk38 against previous week’s Tk40 and chick-pea at Tk34-35, down from previous week’s Tk36.
   Broiler and local chicken sold at Tk80 and Tk130-140
   respectively against their previous week’s price of Tk75 and Tk120.
   Sugar price, however, declined to Tk33 per kg from previous week’s price Tk34.
   Retail price of rice remained unchanged on the market despite some decline in the wholesale rate.
   The wholesale price of per maund (37.32 kgs) coarse variety China IRRI, BR-4 and BR-8 rice averaged Tk590-595 against previous week’s Tk600.
   Average variety Paijam sold at Tk630 a maund against previous week’s Tk635 and fine variety Nazirshail at Tk745 against previous week’s Tk750.
   Prices of all varieties of fish also were high. Fish traders said supply of fish in the market is poor and the price could increase further.
   Local and Indian onion sold at Tk18-20 and Tk12 respectively against previous week’s Tk22 and Tk16.
   Price of powder milk, tea, atta, ginger, red chilli, garlic and turmeric remained high while the price of beef, mutton and soybean oil also remained unchanged.
   A medium size watermelon sold at Tk80-120, while jackfruit selling at TK200-300, a piece of pineapple sold at Tk28-35, wood apple was sold at Tk40-50 and Indian variety of mango Tk100 per kg.

Four heirs to Wal-Mart Stores Inc founder Sam Walton dropped out of the Forbes Magazine’s top 10 list of the world’s billionaires in 2004, brought down by the retailer’s stagnating shares.
   They were largely replaced by businessmen from other regions of the world, who benefited in part from the impact of the weak dollar.
   Wal-Mart chairman S Robson Walton, with a personal wealth of $18.3 billion, was the only Walton to make the top 10 this year after several years in which all five Waltons made the cut.
   Slow growth and a bevy of legal problems at the retail behemoth has prompted a 10.8 per cent decline in Wal-Mart’s stock price since March 2004, cutting the personal wealth of Walton’s five heirs by almost $2 billion each.
   And the dollar’s steady slide in 2004 has fattened the coffers of billionaires abroad. Of the top 10 billionaires, half live outside of the United States, compared with two last year, and several saw their wealth increase by as little as $2.2 billion to as much as $18.8 billion.
   The Walton’s were replaced on the list by Indian steel magnate, Lakshmi Mittal, who took the no 3 spot, with a net worth of $25 billion, and Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim Helu, who took the fourth spot after his telecommunications fortune grew by $10 billion this year. Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Swedish home furnishings retailer Ikea, and German supermarket owner Karl Albrecht also made the top 10, at no 6 and no 8, respectively.
   Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates held onto his title as world’s richest man for the 11th year in a row, but no 2 billionaire, investor Warren Buffett, narrowed the gap between them to just $2.5 billion. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc shares outperformed those of Microsoft this year, prompting speculation the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ may overtake Gates soon.
   Saudi Prince Alwaleed, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Oracle Corp. chief executive Larry Ellison rounded out the top 10.
   The billionaires club is not as exclusive as it used to be, but the rich are richer.
   More than 130 new billionaires were added to the list this year, including gas pipeline tycoon Daniel Duncan, Red Bull energy drink creator Dietrich Mateschitz and lifestyle trendsetter Martha Stewart.
   The combined net worth of the billionaires rose to $2.2 trillion from $1.9 trillion a year earlier, while the overall number of billionaires grew to 691 from 587.
   Daniel Duncan, a Houston natural gas pipeline mogul who was raised by his grandmother, was the wealthiest new billionaire on the list, with a net worth of $5.1 billion.
   The United States had 69 new billionaires, while there were 38 in Europe and 13 in Asia.
   Martha Stewart also made her debut onto the list after shares of her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc, doubled during her five-month stint in prison.
   ‘Success does not always mean you have your freedom,’ said Steve Forbes, chief executive of the Forbes publishing company.
   Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was the biggest net loser after charges of fraud and theft landed him in a Moscow prison in October. Khodorkovsky, who just a year ago was ranked 16th among the world’s billionaires, lost $12.8 billion from his net worth, Forbes magazine said.
   Sixty-eight of the billionaires were women this year, including Russia’s first female billionaire, Elena Baturina, a former factory worker who started a plastics company. The majority of the billionaires were self-made and 18 were high school dropouts, Forbes magazine said.

After dismal trades seen in the past couple of months, investors cheered a buoyant week as the DSE general index hit a fresh nine-week high of 1964.5 on Thursday.
   The bank-heavy Dhaka Stock Exchange benchmark gained 83 points or 4.3 per cent in the week boosted by the good corporate results.
   There was a higher turnout of general investors in the brokerage houses during the week as positive corporate results helped to bring newcomers in the market.
   All Share Price Index of the Chittagong Stock Exchange gained 172 points or 5.02 per cent to 3598.5 points.
   Turnover at DSE rose significantly to Tk332.5 crore while at CSE it was over Tk60 crore.
   The week’s early sessions saw a buying spree when some of the financial institutions declared better-than-expected dividends. But in the later part of the week investors turned cautious opting for profit-taking sell off and turning their eyes to low-priced manufacturing sector.
   Brokers foresee that the buoyancy will continue as more than 50 per cent of the listed companies, including the banking and other financial institutions, are in the queue to disclose corporate performance during March-April.
   Investors remained glued to banking stocks on the expectation that most of the companies will declare stock dividend and/or right shares this year as they have to comply with Bangladesh Bank’s guideline to increase the paid up capital to Tk100 crore by June 2005.
   In the banking sector, Pubali Bank, United Commercial Bank, Rupali Bank, NCC Bank, National Bank, Prime Bank, Uttara Bank, City Bank, One Bank and Standard Bank were the major gainers at DSE.
   Pubali Bank share price gained Tk561.5 to reach Tk2361 last week on speculation that the bank would come out from the problem bank list of the central bank and would declare a good dividend.
   Speculation also triggered the price of UCBL by Tk297 to Tk1729. However, both the banks said that they do not have any price sensitive information.
   Ruplai Bank share rose by Tk92 to Tk651 on the news that the government is contemplating issuance of right shares to raise the bank’s capital to meet up the cost of privatisation.
   After the corporate declaration, Prime Bank and One Bank shares gained by Tk62 and Tk19 last week to reach Tk948 and Tk438 respectively.
   In the lower priced manufacturing sector, Keya Detergent, Miracle Industries and Keya Cosmetics, all listed in category A, rose significantly.
   Usmania Glass increased by Tk263 to Tk1980, Apex Foods by Tk58 to Tk639, Square Textile by Tk8 to Tk108, Renata by Tk239 to Tk3276 and Lafarge Surma Cement by Tk33 to Tk483.
   Among the insurance companies, major gainers were Green Delta and Delta Life Insurance which saw gains of Tk121 and Tk290 per share.

China’s exports of textile and clothing soared, especially to its biggest market the United States, in January, the first month since decades-long quotas were lifted, figures indicated.
   Customs statistics showed exports of such products to the United States jumped 65.26 per cent in January, compared to the same month last year, according to the China Textile Economy Information Website, run by the China Textile Industry Association.
   Exports to the European Union, another major market for China, were not immediately available but figures for Germany showed Chinese exports to that country also rising sharply by 46.39 per cent in January, the website said.
   Germany was China’s fourth largest market in January.
   China is the EU’s leading textile supplier, accounting for 17.5 per cent of all its textile imports in 2003.
   In terms of the value of the exports, products sold to the US market amounted to 1.4 billion US dollars in January — 17 per cent of China’s total textile and clothing exports that month—while those to Germany reached 1.5 billion US dollars, four per cent of China’s total.
   The quotas which governed the apparel trade were lifted on January 1, according to the 1995 Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.
   As such, trade in textile and clothing products cannot be subject to any quantitative restrictions.
   China and India are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries of the move as their competitiveness was predicted to cause large scale factory shutdowns and joblosses for other exporting countries, such as Bangladesh.
   China, the world’s largest exporter of clothing with a 28 per cent share of the market, is expected to be the main winner from the disappearance of quotas.
   Total Chinese exports of textiles and apparels in January rose 28.77 per cent year-on-year to 8.41 billion US dollars—a less dramatic rise compared to country-specific figures, but still significant, the website said.
   The United States overtook Hong Kong and Japan to become the biggest buyer of Chinese textiles and apparels in January, it said.
   Besides the United States, other countries that saw major increases in Chinese textile and apparel included EU countries, Turkey and Canada, the website said.
   Exports to Turkey increased 78.9 per cent; those to Japan increased 11.9 per cent; and products to Hong Kong increased 18.26 per cent.
   Figures for other countries were not available on the website.
   The top 10 markets for such Chinese exports in January include the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, South Korea, Russia, Italy, Australia, Britain and the United Arab Emirates.
   These countries comprised 65 per cent of China’s total exports in textiles and apparels in January.

Despite having legal obligation, the Privatisation Commission does not have any data or information about the performances of the 66 privatised enterprises.
   ‘We have no monitoring and evaluation support to observe these enterprises because of limited manpower. But those are doing well’, said Inam Ahmed Chowdhury, chairman of the Privatisation Commission.
   Under the clause 10 (2) (K) of the Privatisation Law-2000 and clause 20 of chapter eight of privatisation policy 2001, the commission is supposed to monitor the performances of privatised enterprises and inform the government about the evaluation report on a regular basis.
   According to the commission, some 66 state-run enterprises under different ministries have been privatised from 1993 to October 2004. Of them, some 39 enterprises were completely privatised, shares of some 15 were sold, some four were privatised through off-loading of shares and eight are yet to be handed over to the buyers.
   However, the actual number of the privatised enterprises is not available with the privatisation commission.

When India first allowed commercial use of genetically modified seeds three years ago, farmers hoped the new technology would quickly take root.
   But mired in field trials and political debate, farm- dependent India has made little headway in launching gene-altered seeds. So far, cotton is the only crop to be introduced to transgenic technology.
   The government is cautious. Critics and non-governmental agencies warning of environmental dangers to the farm sector, which employs about 60 per cent of its more than 1 billion people.
   ‘The government’s strategy has been public safety first,’ said S.R. Rao, director in the biotechnology department. “Our policy is of precaution and at the same time promotional.’
   Environmental activists Green-peace say farmers of the few genetically modified organisms (GMO) crops to have been grown in India have not benefited from the technology.
   ‘The yields have not gone up in some areas and there have been cases of secondary pest attacks,’ said Divya Raghunandan, a Greenpeace campaigner.
   Indian state-run institutes, seed firms and agriculture universities have been conducting trials on GMO seeds such as mustard, rice, potatoes, brinjals and tobacco.
   They are in various stages of development, but it will be up to 4 more years before many can be planted.
   India is also cautious on GMO imports. ‘All GMO imports have to be declared by importers and clearance has to be taken from environment and health ministries,’ said a government official.
   Analysts and officials say India, where farm yields are among the lowest in the world, needs to speed up GMO crop research to feed its people.
   ‘We need to more than double our grain output to 420 million tonnes in the next two decades to feed our growing population,’ a farm scientist said. ‘The only way out is technology.’
   The opposition to GMO food crops across the globe is much stronger than for crops such as cotton. Last year, US biotech giant Monsanto Co. dropped plans to introduce the world’s first GMO wheat.
   India, the world’s largest buyer of edible oils, is struggling to boost oilseeds output, which has been stagnant for the past 10 years. India grows 1,000 kg of soybeans per hectare, compared with the world average of about 2,400 kg.
   Indian cotton farmers have embraced the new technology with enthusiasm.
   Genetically modified cotton, known as Bt cotton, is widely grown worldwide. It contains a bacterial gene that kills the common bollworm pest.
   Traders and officials said the area under genetically modified cotton in India had surged to 1.34 million hectares this crop year, from 44,500 hectares when it was launched in 2001.
   Last week, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, the regulatory body comprising scientists, officials, activists and seed developers, approved new cotton varieties to be produced in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
   ‘It is a good step. Punjab farmers should have got it two years ago,’ said Balbir Singh Rajewal, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, a leading association of farmers.
   ‘Cotton crop had been very badly hit by bollworm and there was no solution to it. We should get the latest GMO technology so that we can get rid of pests and save our crops. The government should encourage GMO seeds in other crops also,’ he said.
   Seed firms such as the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co., 26 per cent owned by Monsanto and the first to be allowed to sell Bt cotton, are expecting the decision to boost the area under Bt cotton cultivation.
   ‘We expect a three-fold increase in the number of farmers using our seeds,’ said R. Rajendran, executive director of Rasi Seeds Pvt Ltd, a firm allowed to sell GMO seeds in the northern states.
   India’s cotton production in 2004/05 (Oct-Sept) is estimated to rise to more than 21 million bales from 17.7 million a year ago, which government officials and traders say is mainly because of the use of transgenic cotton in large areas.
   ‘The offtake of seeds is increasing everywhere. It’s a clear endorsement of our technology,’ a spokesman for Monsanto said.

Further World Bank financial support for Nepal will depend on if a new government imposed by King Gyanendra in a power grab last month commits to unfinished reforms, the institution said on Thursday.
   The impoverished country has been wracked by protests since the king sacked the government on Feb. 1, declaring a state of emergency and suspending civil rights, confining political leaders to house arrest and detaining hundreds of activists.
   The latest turmoil follows the deaths of at least 11,000 people in Nepal since 1996 in fighting between government troops and Maoist rebels, who want to set up a communist republic in place of Nepal’s Hindu monarchy.
   Still, the World Bank said it expected a new 10-member council of ministers, appointed by the king, to complete economic and other reforms left over by the previous government in exchange for more budget support.
   The World Bank’s country director for Nepal, Ken Ohashi, told the bank’s executive board on Monday it was too soon to know whether the new government was able to pursue a development agenda amid the current political environment.
   ‘We deliberately took a wait and see stance, not making any public statement or seeking meetings with the minister for the first three weeks,’ Ohashi told the board, according to a statement issued on Wednesday.
   But Ohashi said the World Bank was prepared to give the new government time to show it can implement reforms set out in a three-year Poverty Reduction Strategy for 2004 to 2007, particularly on labor laws and governance.
   ‘We expect in the next 1-2 months the government should be able to demonstrate its stated commitment through actions,’ Ohashi said.
   Nepali economic officials have urged donors not to suspend aid as income from tourism has dropped sharply since the king’s crackdown, with foreign governments issuing advisories on travel to Nepal.

Pakistani importers have booked orders for the import of almost 500,000 tons of sugar since January, when the government allowed duty-free imports to cover supply shortages, an official said on Thursday.
   Private importers had booked around 347,000 tons of raw sugar and 147,000 tons of refined sugar by March 8, a finance ministry official told Reuters. ‘Our estimate is that some more LCs (letters of credit) will be opened for refined sugar import in the next few days,’ said the official, who did not want to be identified.
   ’But the quantity should not be more then 10,000 to 20,000 tons as our hands are already full.’ The latest figures are on the higher side of the government’s estimates. Officials said in February that imports were not expected to exceed 400,000 tons.
   Pakistan scrapped a 25-per cent import duty on sugar in January to cover an expected shortfall in production and check runaway domestic prices. Domestic sugar production is expected to slip to 3.1-to-3.2 million tons in the current November to March season, compared with 4.0 million the previous year. Annual sugar consumption is around 3.6 million tons.
   Domestic output dropped due to a water shortage which slashed the sugarcane crop to 47.3 million tons this year, compared with 52 million tons the previous year. Millers also cite smuggling of gur (dry molasses of sugar cane) as another reason for domestic supply shortages.
   ’A large number of Afghan traders are buying gur from Pakistan because there is no tax on its sale,’ said Zaka Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association. Gur sales are tax free in Pakistan, while the government charges a 15pc sales tax on sugar.
   Traders said importers have booked most of the refined sugar from the Dubai-based Al-Khaleej Sugar Mill for February/June shipment and a few shipments had already arrived.

AKTEL, the GSM service provider in the country, opened another customer care centre in Chittagong on Thursday, says a press release.
   The managing director of AKTEL, Md Nasir Bin Baharom, inaugurated the customer service centre by cutting a cake at a function.
   With this, the number of AKTEL customer service centres rose to five in the country and two in the port city of Chittagong.
   AKTEL has brought 61 districts under its network coverage with its customer base
   having over 1.3 million.
   The cell phone operator has also a plan to set up a customer service centre in Comilla.
   AZ Nizam, regional director of Chittagong, Faziur Rahman, director coordination, Jose Ravee, general manager, marketing, Mashuk Rahman, head of corporate affairs, Sania Mahmood, assistant general manger, marketing and other senior officials of AKTEL were present on the occasion.

The 27th board meeting of Asia Pacific General Insurance Company Ltd was held in Dhaka recently, says a press release.
   The directors, managing director and other executives of the company were present in the meeting held with AHM Mustafa Kamal, FCA, in the chair.
   The meeting discussed company's financial statement of accou-nts for 2004 and IPO matter. It also resolved that the management of the company will take necessary steps to submit prayer for permission of IPO to the Security Ex-change Commission by March 31.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rekindled currency market speculation that Japan could shift its forex reserves—the world’s largest—out of US dollars when he said today that reserves should be diversified.
   Although the dollar quickly recouped losses after a Finance Ministry clarification that Tokyo had no plans to shift funds out of the US currency, the episode highlighted the market’s unease with Japan’s $840.6 billion external reserves.
   The market has been sensitive to any signs of change in the reserves policies of Asian monetary authorities, who have acquired huge dollar reserves over the last few years as they bought dollars in market intervention aimed at stemming an export-crimping rise in their own currencies.
   The latest gyration came on the heels of a similar spike down in the dollar last month after a central bank report in South Korea, which has the world’s fourth largest reserves, that referred to reserves diversification.
   ‘I believe diversification is necessary,’ Koizumi said before a parliamentary committee when asked about the risks of having reserves concentrated too much in one currency.
   ‘At the same time, we need to consider what is profitable and what is safe, and make a comprehensive decision,’ Koizumi added.
   Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told Reuters last month that while diversification was an important issue, the sheer size of Japan’s reserves meant he had to be extremely careful.
   By selling dollars for other currencies, Japan would risk triggering a further fall in the dollar and lowering the value of its huge remaining dollar assets.
   The dollar briefly fell about a quarter per cent against the yen, the euro and other major currencies on Koizumi’s remarks.
   But the losses were erased within half an hour when a senior Ministry of Finance (MOF) official repeated Tokyo’s position that it did not plan to shuffle its reserve assets around.
   ‘We have no plan to change the composition of currency holdings in the foreign reserves and we are not thinking about switching dollar reserves to euro holdings,’ the ministry official told Reuters.
   ‘We are paying careful attention to our portfolio management by ensuring that assets in the reserves are stable, profitable and liquid,’ said the official, who declined to be identified.
   A renewed assurance that the ministry would not change the makeup of the reserves pushed down the euro below $1.3400 after it had earlier risen to a two-month high around $1.3440.
   The dollar also climbed back above 104 yen after briefly dipping to around 103.70.
   The MOF official said Koizumi’s earlier comments were referring to general issues such as having diversity in asset types among each currency in the reserves by considering its stability, liquidity and profitability.
   US Treasury securities also briefly sold off after Koizumi comments.
   Randal Quarles, US Treasury Assistant Secretary for International Affairs visiting Tokyo, said moves by central banks to shift reserves composition was inevitable but that they were unlikely to harm the government’s ability to finance its debt.
   Japan does not give a breakdown of the currencies in its foreign reserves, which were the world’s largest at $840.564 billion at the end of February.
   The reserves had ballooned after yen-selling intervention totalling a record 20 trillion yen in 2003 and a further 15 trillion yen in the first three months of 2004. However, Japan has not intervened in the market since mid-March last year.

China’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.9 per cent in February from a year earlier, picking up far more sharply than expected after a slowdown in January, official data showed.
   Prices in urban areas rose 3.6 per cent year-on-year while rural CPI was up 4.5 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.
   In January prices had risen only 1.9 per cent as inflation progressively cooled from the high of 5.3 per cent seen in the middle of 2004 and after 2.8 per cent in December.
   Economists at ING Barings had forecast a rise in CPI of 2.2 per cent, with a consensus of analysts looking at a gain of 2.3 per cent.
   ‘It is much higher—much of it is food but even by that measure it is very strong,’ said Tim Condon, economist at ING Barings.
   Food prices, which make up about one third of China’s inflation index, rose 8.8 per cent in February, while non-food items were up 1.4 per cent, the NBS said.
   However, it said the sharp gains in February could not be compared to last year as the Lunar New Year holiday fell in January in 2004 and in February this year.
   ‘Due to factors in the Lunar New Year ... changes (in the period) compared to last year make consumer prices not fully comparable,’ it said.
   For January to February combined, CPI rose 2.9 per cent.
   Analysts acknowledged the impact of the holiday on prices but said the robust rise for the month could renew pressure on authorities for a new round of tightening measures to peg back China’s runaway growth.
   ‘It points to the abundant liquidity in the economy moving upwards,’ Condon said, adding: ‘The boom could start again.’
   ‘If inflation breaches the 4.0 per cent threshold this year then a rate hike would be likely,’ said Condon, adding, however, that he believed inflation would remain below that threshold for the year at around 3.5 per cent.
   Last October policy makers raised interest rates by 27 basis points to 5.58 per cent, the first such increase in nearly a decade as inflation hit seven-year highs in July and August.
   Both CPI and February producer or factory gate prices, which rose 5.4 per cent after 5.8 pect in January, remain at high levels, said Qu Hongbing, an economist at HSBC.
   ‘With average inflation for the two months of 2.9 per cent there is still a risk (on prices)’ and this is especially so because there is ‘no clear evidence of a meaningful slowdown of investment, which for me is the real cause of the underlying inflation pressure,’ Qu said.
   Over-zealous lending has led to a series of curbs to slow the frenzied pace of investment that drove much of China’s economic expansion of 9.5 per cent in 2004, the fastest in eight-years.
   China’s fixed-asset investment growth slowed slightly in 2004 to 25.8 per cent from 26.7 per cent in 2003 but analysts say it still needs to come down to a more manageable level.
   For February, the NBS said grain prices increased 11.6 per cent, meat rose 14.9 per cent and eggs jumped 16.3 per cent. Seafood prices rose 15.9 per cent and fresh vegetables were up 13.1 per cent.
   Vehicle prices fell 3.6 per cent on continued weak demand but auto fuel and parts were up 9.6 per cent.
   Inter-city transportation prices jumped 8.7 per cent, while communication-related items fell 16.7 per cent, the NBS said.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, persuaded that multilateral financial institutions must do more to deal with corruption, will soon propose reforms to encourage increased bank accountability, a senior aide said Thursday.
   One recommendation under consideration would urge the World Bank and related global institutions to require mandatory financial disclosure for all officials and employees whose duties and responsibilities involve them in the contracting or procurement process.
   The reform package, which is still evolving, would be introduced in a few weeks along with legislation to authorize more than $3 billion in new financing for three of the banks—the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank, according to Keith Luse, Lugar’s senior Asia adviser and director of the committee’s bank probe.
   The reforms grow out of Lugar’s investigation into allegations of corruption in projects funded by the multilateral banks. Begun more than one year ago, the probe is expected to last through 2005 and possibly even longer.
   ‘The banks are at varying levels in their commitment and action to combat corruption,’ Luse said in an interview.
   ‘The World Bank has demonstrated the most vigorous leadership in reform efforts,’ he said. But he declined to assess the efforts of the other banks, which also include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Inter-American Development Bank.
   ‘It’s clear to Chairman Lugar that the banks have taken some steps to combat corruption, but more clearly needs to be done,’ Luse said.
   But he added: ‘Unfortunately, the overall anti-corruption effort will be ongoing and long term. Part of the challenge is the culture of corruption which exists not only within countries but certainly in pockets of the banks.’
   Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, has been examining the banks’ anti-corruption strategies through a combination of public hearings, private meetings, written interrogatories and visits by staff aides to bank development projects overseas.
   Testimony has come from bank employees, ‘whistle-blowers,’ nongovernmental organizations and academics.
   The committee plans to hold another public hearing—featuring the US executive directors to the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the European Bank and Reconstruction and Development—sometime in April.
   Projects under review have included the Yacyreta hydroelectric dam on the Argentine-Paraguay border, the Highlands Water Project in the land- locked African nation of Lesotho, and projects in Cambodia.
   Aides said the committee’s probe has prompted activity in other countries where additional inquiries are underway on a wide range of projects. One example is the Italian parliament which is now looking at reforms it might undertake in dealings with the banks.
   World Bank investigators said last month that they had penalized more than 300 firms and individuals for fraud and corruption since 1999 but did not know the full extent of the problem in bank-financed projects.
   Under Lugar’s authorizing legislation, the World Bank is slated to receive $2.85 billion over the next three years; the African Development Bank, $407 million over three years; and the Asian Development Bank, $461 million over four years.

The EU commission warned Friday it could take ‘appropriate’ measures to limit the impact of a surge in Chinese textile imports after quotas were lifted on January 1.
   European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said industry leaders had voiced concern, adding that the EU executive’s mission in Beijing will discuss the issue with Chinese authorities next week.
   ‘I am monitoring the statistics closely, and I am in direct and active contact with the Chinese authorities. I will take appropriate action at the appropriate time,’ he said in a statement.
   On Thursday, textile industry leaders asked the European Commission for safeguard measures to halt a flood of Chinese clothing products following the expiration of international textile trade quotas at the beginning of the year.
   ‘I have received representations from the European textiles industry and I’m also conscious of the potential damage to the industry in developing countries,’ Mandelson said.
   The European textile industry has been bracing for a flood of low-cost textiles products since the beginning of the year when an international textile quota system expired.
   However, European Commission spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville said that for the time being the EU’s executive arm did not have credible data from member states on Chinese textile imports since January 1.
   Figures released Thursday by a Chinese textile association showed that Chinese exports of textile and apparels soared in January, after the lifting of the decades-old quotas.
   Veron-Reville said that the commission was drawing up guidelines based on the volumes and prices of Chinese textile imports that could trigger action from the EU to limit them.
   She said that ‘the objective of these guidelines, their purpose is to give us a framework for analysis of the market situation.’
   They would provide the ‘preventive framework for consultations’ and ‘facilitate a moderation of Chinese exports’.
   However, ‘the safeguard measures should remain last-resort measures,’ she said.

A panel chaired by British Prime Minister Tony Blair called Friday for the international community to spend an extra 25 billion dollars (19 billion euros) a year for the next three to five years to finance urgent reforms in Africa.
   In a far-reaching report coinciding with Britain’s chairmanship of the G8 group of leading industrial countries, the multinational Commission for Africa labelled widespread poverty and economic stagnation on the continent ‘the greatest tragedy of our time’.
   ‘Africa requires a comprehensive ‘big push’ on many fronts at once,’ it said, listing corruption, security issues, education, AIDS and health measures and fair trade as major priorities.
   The blue-ribbon Commission for Africa, launched by Blair in February 2004, placed responsibility for change on the shoulders of both Africans and foreign powers.
   Africa had a duty to accelerate reform and make its governments accountable to their people, but ‘the developed world had a moral duty—as well as powerful motive of self-interest—to assist Africa,’ it said.
   Blair was to present the commission’s first report in London on Friday alongside fellow commissioners including South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Irish pop star-turned debt relief campaigner Bob Geldof.
   There was ‘no excuse, no defence, no justification for the plight of millions of our fellow beings in Africa today’, Blair was due to say at the launch of the report, according to extracts of his speech released in advance.
   ‘We cannot allow this to continue. It is, I believe, the biggest moral challenge of our generation. A challenge for all of us—for the governments of Africa and the countries of the developed world.’
   Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, another commissioner, was to host a concurrent launch in Addis Ababa, while a third event was to be attended in New York by William Kalema, chairman of the Uganda Investment Authority, and British government minister Baroness Valerie Amos, representing Blair.
   Blair and his finance minister Gordon Brown, also expected at the London launch, have put Africa at the top of international agenda this year, during Britain’s presidency not only of the G8 but also of the European Union.
   An advance copy of the commission’s executive summary received by AFP made concrete recommendations for action by donor states.
   It called for 100-per cent debt relief for poor sub-Saharan countries, an extra 25 billion dollars annually for Africa until 2010-12 and then, following a review, an extra 50 billion dollars per year.
   Each year 10 billion dollars should go to infrastructure—roads and buildings, but also communication technology—another 10 billion to health services, and eight billion to education reform.
   It also cautioned donors against attaching too many strings to their money, saying aid should come as cash grants and without ‘policy conditionality’.
   Aid ‘must be given in ways that make governments answerable primarily to their own people,’ it said.
   Wealthy countries must also agree to eliminate agricultural subsidies that protect farmers but distort international trade and harm Africa, it argued.
   Finally, Africans had to have a greater say on the global scene, at financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, but also at the United Nations.
   The commission called for ‘greater African representation’ on the UN Security Council but stopped short of calling for a permanent seat.
   African states were given a slate of actions to undertake, including getting rid of all school fees for primary education, earmarking 15 per cent of national budgets to health, and doubling the area of arable land under irrigation in a decade’s time.
   But the commission conceded that many of its recommendations dealt with less concrete ‘changes to behavior’, notably to root out corruption, protect the rights of women and promote mutual accountability among African states.

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner called for a nationwide boycott of Royal Dutch/Shell after the oil company hiked gasoline prices at the pump by as much as 4.2 per cent.
   ‘There is no better action than this national boycott against those who are abusing the people,’ Kirchner said. ‘Let’s not buy anything from them, not even a can of oil,’ he said.
   As the president called for the boycott, some 300 militants who support him blocked traffic outside the Shell’s Buenos Aires offices and threatened to blockade all of the Anglo-Dutch company’s gasoline stations in Argentina if the 4.2 per cent price hike is not reversed.
   ‘If they don’t lower the prices we call for a boycott and a blockade of all Shell stations,’ provincial deputy Luis D’Elia said at a rally outside the Shell offices.
   ‘We will do it throughout Argentina,’ said D’Elia, who leads a militant movement made up mainly of unemployed workers.
   Shell has a total of 930 gas stations in Argentina, where it controls 16.5 per cent of the liquid fuel market.
   Spain’s Repsol-YPF and Brazil’s Petrobras have said they would not raise their gas prices.
   The Argentine government is particularly worried about the impact of such price hikes because bonds recently issued as part of the restructuring of the country’s crippling debt are pegged to inflation.
   Keeping inflation in check is all the more important as the government faces legislative elections in October, at a time when workers are becoming increasingly militant in their demand for increases in their salaries that have remained at the same levels for about a decade.
   Kirchner has also complained about increases in beef prices and set his sights on privatized utility companies that are seeking higher fees to compensate for the losses they suffered as a result of the 65 per cent devaluation of the peso in 2002.
   In Paris, the head of energy and environment utility Suez said Thursday that in view of the situation in Argentina, he could not rule out a withdrawal of the company from the South American country.

US textile groups expect US government trade data released on Friday to show a sharp increase in clothing imports from China and to bolster their case for the Bush administration to impose emergency curbs.
   The industry has been pressing for government action to stop what it contends will be a flood of imports from China following the end of a decades-old international quota system on Jan. 1.
   This Friday, the Commerce Department will release trade data for January, providing
   the first glimpse into whether the feared surge has materialized.
   ‘We anticipate the February numbers will be worse, but we do anticipate there will be a significant increase in apparel categories in January,’ said Missy Branson, senior vice president at the National Council of Textile Organisations.
   Chinese Customs data shows that China shipped nearly 27 million cotton trousers and 18 million cotton knit shirts to the United States in January, which was more than they did in all of 2004 when quotas were still in place, Branson said.
   But Erik Autor, vice president for the National Retail Federation, said such increases are magnified by the fact that US quotas for key clothing products from China ‘were much tighter for any other suppliers.’
   While Friday’s number will undoubtedly show increases from China, overall clothing imports might not increase much at all as shipments from other countries fall, he said.
   Late last year, the textile industry filed a dozen petitions asking the Bush administration to impose emergency import restrictions on an array of clothing from China. The requests were designed to head off a surge before it occurred .
   However, textile importers and retailers obtained an injunction at the US Court of International Trade that has blocked the Bush administration from considering the petitions.
   In turn, the Justice Department has filed an appeal asking the injunction to be lifted while the importers’ underlying complaint about the curbs proceeds through the court system.
   Textile groups now want the Bush administration to ‘self- initiate’ new proceedings that would lead to restrictions based on the actual trade data that is starting to emerge.
   China agreed when it joined the World Trade Organization to let the United States and other members impose emergency restriction on its textile and apparel shipments through 2008 in response to a surge.

China’s banking system is not only awash with debt but loopholes in its supervisory system have allowed 4,000 officials to flee with 50 billion dollars in cash, state media said Friday.
   ‘The current loopholes in China’s system of financial supervision is the main reason for the success of corrupt officials in taking a large amount of funds overseas,’ Zhang Xiao, former head of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, said at the ongoing meeting of the National People’s Congress or parliament.
   Under existing banking rules, companies can open up numerous accounts in many different banks, making it
   easy for corrupt officials to wash money and send capital overseas, Zhang was quoted by the Beijing Morning Post as saying.
   ‘At present the way that enterprises wantonly open up accounts is still very serious, many enterprises have several accounts in many banks;
   this makes it difficult for financial supervision organs to
   grasp the situation of capital flight in a timely manner,’ Zhang said.
   ‘Many corrupt officials and other criminals use company accounts to hide transfers and illegal income.’
   According to a report by Ministry of Commerce, some 4,000 officials have successfully fled with 50 billion dollars in illicit cash as of early 2005, the newspaper said.
   The Chinese banking system suffers from huge non-performing loans, including 1.4 trillion yuan (170 billion dollars) shifted to four asset management companies created six years ago.
   Bringing down this mountain of bad debt has become an urgent task for China as it seeks to prepare its largest banks for overseas share sales, making them as attractive as possible to potential foreign investors.

Oil eases as funds take profits
Oil prices fell on Friday, extending the previous day’s heavy losses as funds took profits from a 12 per cent gain in the past month. Selling was mitigated by a report from the International Energy Agency predicting world oil demand would grow even faster than expected this year, as robust growth in the United States and China pumps up consumption. US light crude fell 62 cents to $52.92 a barrel, having earlier touched $52.50, the lowest price since March 2. Oil tumbled $1.23 on Thursday as traders took profits from a six-day rally powered by a cold snap and fund buying, that had sent prices soaring this week to a four-month high of $55.65 a barrel, 2 cents shy of October’s all-time peak. Brent crude in London traded down 59 cents to $52.07 on Friday, having set a record $54.30 on Wednesday.
— Reuters

US budget deficit widens to record in Feb
The United States posted a record $113.94 billion budget deficit in February, above most Wall Street forecasts, as higher government receipts were not enough to cover a spending increase. The February deficit, reported on Thursday in the US Treasury Department’s monthly budget statement, exceeded the $96.70 billion budget deficit in February 2004. The government took in $100.87 billion in February, nearly $9 billion more than a year ago, but outlays rose more than $26 billion, causing the budget gap to stretch. Still, the US government is in a better position so far this fiscal year compared to where it was in February 2004. The current fiscal budget deficit is $223.42 billion compared to $228.49 billion in the first five months of fiscal 2004. The fiscal year runs from October to September. The median prediction from Wall Street analysts polled by Reuters put the deficit at $95 billion in February, though forecasts ranged from $85 billion to $115 billion.
— Reuters

US trade deficit rises in January
The US economy’s insatiable demand for imported goods resulted in a trade deficit in January of 58.3 billion dollars, the second-highest level on record, the Commerce Department said Friday. The figure was up 4.7 percent from a revised 55.7 billion dollars in December and surprised market watchers, whose consensus forecast for the January shortfall in goods and services was 56.8 billion dollars. It compared with the record deficit of 59.3 billion seen in November. Trade across US borders hit new highs in January, the Commerce Department said. Imports were up 1.9 percent to 159.1 billion dollars, much more than expected by economists, and exports gained 0.4 percent to 100.8 billion. Imports of consumer goods led the increase, rising 2.0 billion dollars, with automotive vehicles, parts and engines as well as capital goods accounting for much of the rest. The auto sector was the biggest contributor to the higher export figure, going up 0.3 billion dollars from December to January.
— AFP

Hong Kong gold closes lower
Hong Kong gold prices closed lower Friday at 441.10-441.60 US dollars an ounce compared to Thursday’s close of 442.10-442.60 dollars. The market opened at 441.60-442.10 dollars.
— AFP

Vietnam gets $105 million World Bank loan
The World Bank has granted Vietnam a 105 million dollar concessional credit to assist the development of the communist country’s banking sector, it said Friday. The loan formed the second phase of a plan that aims to ‘improve payment services and broaden access to finance throughout the country, and enhance the operations of participating banks,’ the statement said. The credit would help the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to increase the capacity of inter-bank payments systems and assist participating commercial banks ‘to meet the increased demand for new products and services.’ The bank said the 49-million-dollar first phase, completed in December 2003, enabled the SBV to reduce inter-bank payment delays from 30 days in mid-1995 to less than 24 hours.
— AFP

China imports fall amid cooling measures
China’s imports in February unexpectedly fell from a year earlier, reflecting the country’s economic cooling measures and leading to a $4.6 billion monthly trade surplus, the 10th in a row. Imports in February were $39.9 billion, down 5.0 per cent on a year earlier, while exports were $44.5 billion, up nearly 31 per cent on the year, the Commerce Ministry said Friday. The monthly surplus compares with a $6.5 billion surplus in January and a deficit of nearly $7.9 billion a year earlier, when Chinese demand was growing even more strongly than its current rapid pace, sucking in huge volumes of commodities and oil. ‘This time last year, China was in the final throes of the boom,’ said JP Morgan economist Ben Simpfendorfer. ‘Demand peaked and spot prices peaked. It was a nasty combination.’
— Reuters

French trade deficit narrows to 931m euros
The French trade deficit narrowed sharply in January as a pickup in exports of ships, aircraft and mechanical equipment offset the higher cost of oil imports, customs figures showed Friday. The deficit fell to 931 million euros (1.2 billion dollars) from 2.54 billion in December, with exports rising to 29.844 billion euros from 28.285 billion and imports easing to 30.755 billion euros from 30.825 billion. Several large naval contracts, the delivery of 11 Airbus aircraft and a surge in exports of mechanical equipment led the rise, with help from intermediate goods, automobiles and pharmaceutical products.
— AFP

Germany may issue 50-year bonds
The German government intends to follow France’s lead and start issuing 50-year bonds, the finance ministry said on Friday. “It’s an option that we’re looking at,” a ministry spokeswoman told AFP. So far, the maximum maturity on German government bonds has been 30 years, but Berlin has decided to examine even longer term issues following the success of France’s 50-year
bonds.
— AFP