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

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

While consumers get respite with the declining price of sugar, hopes for the government-owned sugar mills to make profit in the current year faces a blow.
   According to sources in the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation, slash in the rate of sugar by Tk 7 during the past couple of months to Tk 35 per kilogram, 15 state-owned sugar mills operated by the corporation have already lost Tk 35 crore worth of projected profit.
   ‘At least 50 per cent of our projected profit amounting to Tk 70 crore for the current year has gone down the drain as the price of sugar slumped,’ said a director of the corporation.
   The official said, with declining sugar price in international market and the supply of cheaper sugar by some newly established and privately-owned raw sugar refiners, the growing stocks from current season’s production remained unsold for a past few weeks.
   ‘We have been forced to reduce price to sell sugar in the market for paying bills to sugarcane suppliers and meet day-to-day production cost,’ said one senior official of the corporation.
   The sugar mills need about Tk 2.5 crore a day to pay farmers as the price of sugarcane, he said.
   The official revealed that by Sunday 15 sugar mills produced 29,000 tonnes of sugar out of 1,50,000 tonnes projected production target in the current crushing season which is scheduled to end by April 2007.
   Unusual rise in sugar price started in mid-2005 peaking at Tk 62 per kilogram at retail level in the early months of 2006, digging deep into consumers’ pockets and raising the production costs of food and beverage industries. In 2004 and earlier years a kilogram of sugar was sold only at Tk 28 or below in the retail market.
   But the woes of consumers gave a fresh lease of life in the last fiscal to the ever loss-making state-owned mills, put on life support by the government’s protection, which made profit for the first time in years.
   The corporation-run mills produced about 1,35,000 tonnes of sugar in the last fiscal and made a profit of about Tk 50 crore.
   The country’s sugar consumption is estimated at about 12 lakh tonnes and the state-owned mills meet less than 15 per cent of the demand.
   Market sources said four private sugar refiners now supply more than two-thirds of the market demand.
   Sugar refining in private sector started a couple of months back. Observing high value of sugar and reduced duty on raw sugar import, some local industrialists and importers were lured to establish costly units for refining consumer grade white sugar.
   Sugar import was liberalised in 2003 in Bangladesh, ending state-monopoly in the sugar trade. But the consumers benefited little from the step, as a syndicate of importers used to control the market manipulating price, consumer rights groups often allege.

Indian businessman Rajeev Sen wants to be seen in a nice car when he goes out partying. And a 150,000-dollar price tag is no obstacle for a man who plans to make the right impression.
   ‘You know things are changing in India. Youngsters like me are doing well so I think, ‘Why not?’’ Sen says, checking himself in the rear-view mirror before driving out to test his dream sports car.
   ‘If you’ve got the money and if you want to spend on something which is as good as Porsche, why not?’
   The 27-year-old real estate agent may be one of the few Indians who can afford such luxuries, but he reflects the growing confidence and affluence of millions of middle-class Indians.
   India’s estimated 300-million-strong middle-class is not only gaining from the country’s rapidly expanding economy but is also driving the consumption boom.
   ‘Apart from businessmen, we now have lawyers and doctors wanting to buy our cars,’ said Ashish Chordia, chief executive of Shreyans Motors, which has been selling Porsche cars in India since 2003.
   As demand grew, the company set up the first Porsche showroom in India this month in New Delhi. Another one in financial hub Mumbai is in store.
   India’s economy—the second-fastest growing after China’s—grew 9.2 per cent in the second quarter to September. The government has forecast growth of more than eight per cent for the year to March.
   Hotels, transport and communication sectors posted growth of nearly 14 per cent with real estate and construction recording a more than nine per cent increase.
   ‘The growing economy has meant we have higher disposable incomes. So we shop more, we eat out, we have better cuisines available. We have exposure to a lot of international brands,’ says management consultant Priya Sachdeva.
   The 32-year-old and her husband Nitin live in Gurgaon, an industrial town bordering Delhi, where multinational offices, swanky apartments and new shopping malls have made the city a powerful symbol of the country’s future.
   ‘The disposable income of Indians multiplies if you consider that a family living under one roof may have up to five earning members,’ said Arvind Singhal, economist at Technopak, a management consulting company.
   Despite the impressive growth rate, India also has the largest number of poor people in the world, with some 290 million living in poverty, according to the World Bank. Experts say it will take time for any benefits to trickle down.
   ‘From a consumption point of view, the bulk of the economic growth in India is actually driven by the middle class, the lower middle classes as well. Their numbers are very, very large,’ said Singhal.
   ‘They might be consuming in small quantities. You multiply small quantities by hundreds of millions of people, it adds up to significant numbers.’
   Singhal defines a middle-class person as someone who buys products out of choice and not out of necessity. He pegs the number at between 300 and 400 million.
   ‘This number varies for categories. It would be 60 to 80 million for Levi’s jeans, and more than six million households for cars.’
   Mobile phones, eating out and entertainment have gained most from the boom as Indians start to splurge. Consumer durables are said to be the next big thing.
   ‘About 10 years ago, almost 50 per cent of household expenditure used to be on food and basics. Now it is 35 per cent. Obviously, our sales are going up,’ said Jagdish Khattar, managing director of leading carmaker Maruti Udyog.
   ‘We were growing by eight to 14 per cent a few years ago. Now we are growing by 20 per cent,’ Khattar said ahead of the launch this week of a compact hatchback car the company is targeting at ‘the new India’.

Dhaka stock indices went up on Sunday, opening day of the week, on the back of rise of banking stock prices.
   Market sources said the investors showed interest in the banking stocks on the expectation of getting first-rate dividends.
   A total of 23 banks recorded transactions on Sunday on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. Of them, 19 banks advanced, three declined and one remained unchanged.
   Jamuna Bank, Exim Bank, Standard Bank, Prime Bank and Southeast Bank put their names among the top gainers of the day.
   Most of the securities, however, ended down. Of the total 183 issues traded on the DSE, 96 declined, 63 advanced and 24 remained unchanged.
   Bourse’s blue chips index, DSE20, gained 11.57 points or 0.84 per cent to close at 1388.04 while the general index advanced by 7.44 points or 0.47 per cent to close at 1593.96.
   Jamuna Bank, Dhaka Bank, Southeast Bank, Prime Bank, Standard Bank, Exim Bank and Pubali Bank were among the top ten turnover leaders of the day.
   The Power Grid Company Bangladesh, however, topped the turnover index with total sales of Tk 6.79 crore and the Industrial Promotion and Development Company of Bangladesh was the day’s second biggest turnover leader with Tk 4.32 crore.
   Turnover on the DSE, however, declined to Tk 46.41 crore, down from Thursday’s total of Tk 52.22 crore.
   Meanwhile, the Dhaka Stock Exchange at a board meeting on Sunday fixed March 12 for polls to elect four new directors
   for its board.
   ‘We will conduct polls on March 12 to elect four new directors who will replace four outgoing directors this year,’ said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive officer of the DSE.
   As per DSE charter, every year four of the directors retire on completion of their respective three-year terms from the board and the bourse holds polls to elect the same number of directors for the vacant posts.
   The bourse would hold its annual general meeting on March 15, Salahuddin also said.

China’s gross domestic product is estimated to exceed 20 trillion yuan (about 2.56 trillion US dollars) this year, up 10.5 per cent over 2005, said Ma Kai, minister of the State Development and Reform Commission, here on Saturday.
   Addressing the national development and reform working conference, Ma said that the country’s economy has been developing fast this year with good efficiency and low inflation. Stable economic operation has benefited the people and will power future development.
   He said that the Chinese people have benefited well from the steady and fast economic development. The SDRC projects that newly increased job opportunities could pass 10.5 million for the whole year, exceeding the 9 million planned figure at the beginning of the year.
   The per capita net income for farmers and urban residents is expected to grow by 6 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively. The consumer price index will rise by 1.3 per cent.
   In the first 11 months, the investment in fixed asset went up 26.6 per cent year-on-year, with the growth rate down 4.7 per centage points from the first half of the year. Newly increased loans in September, October and November have also decreased by 125.2 billion yuan, 9.5 billion yuan and 31.5 billion yuan, respectively.
   However, he warned that the basis for economic development is not solid enough, the GDP growth rate is still too fast, and the cost is too much. ‘It’s necessary to keep clear-headed,’ Ma said.
   Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that in 2005 China’s GDP hit 18 trillion yuan.
   The SDRC will continue to change the country’s pattern of growth from pursuing scale and output to stressing quality and efficiency next year, by further reducing energy consumption and pollution, said Ma.
   China has planned to cut its energy consumption for unit GDP from 1.22 tons of coal last year to 0.98 by 2010.
   Meanwhile, Ma said the government will go on reining in fixed-asset investment and boosting consumption, which was also pledged at the 2006 Central Economic Work Conference.
   The conference delegates proposed to boost the income levels and consumption of rural people and the urban poor, calling for greater attention to creating employment opportunities.
   The allocation of public resources must bring people more direct benefits, and problems involving people’s immediate interests must be carefully solved, said Ma.
   ‘We should promote social justice and stability by letting the people share the achievements of reforms,’ said Ma.

Mobile phone maker Nokia Sunday launched three new music mobile phones combining solid features, youthful style and attractive pricing.
   The new products would begin shipments in selected markets including Bangladesh within a couple of weeks, said a Nokia official.
   ‘With today’s launch we are reaching out to a broad range of people who want all the features for their mobile phone and their music player in a single, stylish device,’ said Prem Chand, general manager for Emerging Asia, customer and market operations, Asia Pacific of the company.
   ‘The Nokia 5300 XpressMusic offers a comprehensive feature set, including up to two gigabit memory and dedicated music keys at an accessible price. With this product launch, we are emphasising the XpressMusic brand, which clearly labels those Nokia devices that guarantee an outstanding mobile music experience,’ Prem said
   In addition Nokia Sunday also revealed two other music devices, the Nokia 5200 and the Nokia 3250 XpressMusic.

Full trade ties with the United States and WTO membership will bring profound changes to Vietnam, a communist country that is now embracing the free market, analysts and business groups say.
   Greater exposure to the harsh winds of the global economy will create new winners and losers in the small but fast-growing economy whose leaders have vowed to speed up two-decade-old ‘doi moi’ (renewal) market reforms, they say.
   Opening the Vietnamese economy further to large American and other foreign companies under WTO rules will have ‘profound consequences in the long term,’ said Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert with the Australian Defence Force Academy.
   ‘In strategic terms, the Vietnam Communist Party will have to give way to market forces in the running of the economy.’
   The US Congress has granted Vietnam the status of a full trade partner, removing the last obstacle between the former enemies as companies on both sides gear up for a new era when Vietnam joins the World Trade Organisation later this month, cutting many tariffs and subsidies.
   Passage of permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) in an 11th hour vote by the outgoing Senate Saturday ensured that US companies will now enjoy the same market access as those of other WTO partners when Vietnam becomes a member.
   US businesses have strongly lobbied for Vietnam’s WTO admission and PNTR, eager to produce and sell in an economy expected to grow by over eight per cent this year and which is now often touted as a hot new investment destination.
   The chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, David Knapp, applauded the ‘historic’ vote, which had been delayed and challenged for months due to procedural problems and concerns over human rights and US jobs.
   ‘American investors are attracted to Vietnam’s strong GDP growth, rapid industrialization, huge labour force, stable political situation and the prospect of a better business climate under WTO rules,’ Knapp said.
   Vietnam’s 84 million people, he said, ‘will benefit from the better choice, higher quality and lower prices that will result from increased openness and competition under WTO rules.
   ‘Vietnam’s 40 million workers will also benefit from an expanding economy, greater participation by the private sector and better training as Vietnam becomes more competitive,’ he said.
   Hoang Van Dung, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also hailed the PNTR passage and said it would benefit both sides, but warned of tough times ahead for many businesses at home.
   More than 90 per cent of Vietnamese companies are small and medium sized, he said.
   ‘When we open the market they will be under pressure from overseas companies. The companies are very newly established, in the last 20 years or less. They still lack experience in international business. They are very fragile, and many companies have not yet operated outside Vietnam.’
   Thayer said that ‘whatever the pain of short-term adjustments... the people of Vietnam will have a better choice of high quality goods. The private sector will strengthen especially as it meets world standards.’

India’s pharmaceutical companies, which amassed fortunes copying generic drugs from the West, are facing up to the challenge of developing their own medicines.
   Nicholas Piramal India Ltd, the country’s fourth-biggest drug company, wants to be the first local laboratory to discover, patent and market original drugs.
   ‘We want to bring a new drug to the market for the treatment against cancer,’ said Piramal communications director Swati Piramal.
   ‘It would be an affordable drug for India and for the rest of the world,’ said Swati, wife of Ajay Piramal, founder and chairman of the Mumbai-based group. ‘This new drug would offer better access to medicines for people at the bottom of the pyramid.’
   She escorted several journalists round the firm’s ultra-modern research centre last week in a suburb of Mumbai, India’s economic capital, to publicise the seriousness of their intent.
   Some 150 researchers from 22 different countries enjoy the best of scientific equipment at the facility which fully meets Western standards, said Swati Piramal.
   Their efforts are focussed on testing 14 promising new products.
   However, to date NPIL devotes only 1.7 per cent of its 250-million-dollar annual turnover to research and development.
   India’s top four pharmaceutical firms—Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy’s, Cipla and Nicholas Piramal—grew strong under the protection of legislation dating back to 1970 which allowed them to skirt round Western patent laws.
   The law granted patent rights for a different manufacturing process of an existing drug rather than the discovery of the basic molecule.
   For three decades, local laboratories were allowed to produce and sell cheap generic drugs in India and other countries that did not recognise patent rights.
   In recent years, Indian pharmaceutical groups have fought numerous court battles over patents against the likes of giants Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis or Novartis in the United States and Europe.
   But in March 2005, parliament passed The Patent (Amendment) Bill to ensure India falls in line with World Trade Organisation rules and prevent the copying and sale of low-cost generic drugs, including those used to treat HIV-AIDS.
   Faced with their product pipeline drying up, India’s pharmaceutical industry—with annual sales of six billion dollars or just one per cent of the global total—had little choice but to invest in research and development as the new law prohibits them introducing drugs patented post 1995.
   Dr Reddy’s has taken up the challenge and like NPIL has set its sights on becoming the first Indian outfit to discover and market a new drug throughout the world.
   Founder Anji Reddy, who suffers from diabetes, hopes to succeed with a treatment for the illness which afflicts 12 per cent of the Indian population.
   Research and development is proving a tougher business.
   ‘Making copycat drugs has been a very base business for drugmakers but now they are trying to move up the value chain to sustain their growth on the longterm,’ said pharmaceutical analyst Saion Mukherjee of BRICS Securities.
   ‘It’s a real trend in the market, but so far the success is limited,’ he said. ‘It will take time before we see (original Indian) drugs on the market.’
   The Indian companies, which had become the largest makers of generic drugs worldwide, supported the patent amendment bill.
   It aligns the country with WTO rules but also allows them to manufacture generic drugs under license for sale in major markets such as the United States. And it provides intellectual property rights for their own products.
   Swati Piramal underlined the changes.
   ‘We won’t bust everybody’s patent. We decided to follow the rules of intellectual property. We don’t want to launch legal battles,’ she said.
   India, which is the world’s fourth-largest producer of medicines by volume but only 13th by value, hopes the new patent law will make it a global research base.
   More and more multinationals are expected to open up shop to take advantage of the large pool of scientists and low-cost labour.

As the home of Britain’s three tallest buildings and international banks such as HSBC, the Canary Wharf commercial district in London is likely to feature high on any would-be terrorist’s list of targets.
   But like businesses, stadiums and railway stations worldwide, it has enlisted the latest technology to protect itself, creating a boom among manufacturers more accustomed to supplying airports.
   This month, Canary Wharf started using a system which can detect objects concealed under clothing, including materials used by suicide bombers, British manufacturers ThruVision told AFP.
   It is designed to protect 80,000 people who work at the 14 million square foot (four million square metre) complex, as well as the thousands more who flock to its shopping malls, bars and restaurants each week.
   The move underlines the extent to which the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda on the World Trade Center towers in New York and other terrorist plots have broadened the range of contexts in which security is seen as a top priority.
   On December 5 and 6, London hosted the International Security National Resilience conference, attended by 6,000 people including representatives from the Austrian-Swiss hosted Euro 2008 football tournament and Swedish carmakers Volvo.
   Exhibitors showing off their wares at the event underlined the extent of the shift in the industry.
   ‘The change mainly came about because of 9/11, then 7/7 and then recently the baggage scare at Heathrow airport,’ Jan Brown, the Europe, Middle East and Africa marketing manager for Rapiscan Systems, which makes baggage and people screening machinery, told AFP.
   On July 7 2005, 52 people were killed by four suicide bombers on London’s transport system, while in August, British police uncovered an alleged plot to bomb trans-Atlantic jets, which led to tougher baggage restrictions on planes.
   Traditionally, US-owned Rapiscan has worked with airport authorities worldwide.
   But Brown added they had increasingly supplied clients including ports and stadiums in the last couple of years and were hoping to compete for work at the 2012 London Olympics.
   The firm’s year-on-year sales in the area Brown covers increased by 14 per cent in 2001 and by 56 per cent in 2006.
   Rapiscan is also trying to address one of the main challenges facing the industry—how to screen people on public transport.
   Like some other firms, it has developed technology which can identify people carrying items including explosives and metals under their clothing.
   This has been trialled at Paddington railway station in London, from where thousands of commuters stream into the capital every working day.
   Brown said this equipment could only pick out hidden items, not identify what they were, meaning it needed to be used alongside other equipment.
   ‘There’s a whole lot of stuff out there but there’s no one thing that will get everything. You have to do it in phases,’ she added.
   John Marsala, vice-president of international sales at US-based L3 Communications, which has developed software to detect suicide bombers, also identified public transport as a tough field.
   ‘We can take care of the airplanes; mass transit is extremely difficult,’ he told AFP.
   The main problem is the volumes of people using such modes of transport, estimated at seven million a day in London alone, he added.
   ‘Everybody’s trying to figure out that solution...there’s lots of thinking being done on it at the moment, but there’s really no terrific solution.
   ‘There are some thoughts on how you would do it but it’s probably going to be the last thing’ accomplished, Marsala said.
   Will Geddes, of International Corporate Protection, a firm which reviews security for corporate firms, cautions that security equipment can only be as good as the person operating it, though.
   ‘There are some companies who have got the most amazing technology in the world that they’ve spent millions on, yet it’s ineffective because ultimately, a lot of this equipment is human controlled,’ he told AFP.

Grameenphone Ltd inaugurated the sixth annual health, safety and environment week Sunday.
   HSE eeek is part of GP’s on-going process to promote awareness about health, safety and environmental issues throughout the company and in the society at large.
   GP’s vision ‘We are here to help’ is very aligned to this year’s HSE week.
   ‘Let us commit to make HSE a part of our day-to-day activities,’ said Erik Aas, managing director of Grameenphone, in a message to the employees.
   Frank Fodstad, deputy managing director of GP, inaugurated the HSE week at the corporate head office.
   Emad UI Ameen, director human resources, Dr Mohammad Shahnawaz, head of HSE, and other members of Grameenphone’s management team, along with a large number of employees were present on the occasion.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited opened its 174th branch in Gulshan on Sunday.
   Abu Nasser Mohammad Abduz Zaher, chairman of the bank, inaugurated the branch as the chief guest.
   Presided over by Abdur Raquib, executive president of the bank, the function was addressed, among others, by Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, former advisor of the caretaker government, Mohammad Mosharraf Hussain, ex-MP and former director of the bank, Muhammad Dawood Khan and Zakiuddin Ahmed, former directors, Abul Hossain, senior vice president and head of Dhaka central zone of the bank.
   The bank also organised a seminar on ‘Islamic economics and banking’ at the premises of the branch.

The RB Group of Companies, a leading electrical, electronics and automobile marketing company in the country, has launched the Walton energy saving power tiller in the market, says a press release.
   On the occasion the company arranged a seminar at its head office in Dhaka on Saturday and briefed the audience about the features of the brand.
   The managing director of RB Group, SM Nurul Alam Rezvi, presided over the seminar while the vice-chancellor of RUET, Prof Dr AFM Anawarul Haque, was present as chief guest.
   Prof Dr Md Ashraful Haque of Electricity and Electronic Engineering Department of RUET and Engineer Md Abdullah Al Mamun of Electrical and Electronic division of RB Group also spoke at the function.
   Rezvi said the group always brings something innovative and new for its consumers. The energy saving power tiller, first of its kind in Bangladesh, has already created enthusiasm among the farmers as it has many high-end features.
   ‘The Walton power tiller is equipped with improved nazel, planzer, liner, piston and others which can help reduce more oil consumption. The speed of the power tiller is higher from any other power tillers. As a result it is very helpful to cultivate more land at comparative oil consumption and short time,’ he said.
   The machine has electronic start option, which enables it to start with a key.
   Thus it does not require any handle to operate. It has a special light which can be turned can be easily turn on and off any time. It also contains eco-friendly parts which emit less harmful spoke, company people claimed.
   Walton power tiller’s compressor ratio is 20:1, which is 20 per cent higher than the general power tiller. It needs 258.49g/kw-hr where general power tiller needs 265.29gfkw-hr, they added.

International Turnkey Systems opened its Bangladesh office at Mohakhali in Dhaka on Saturday
   The chief executive officer of Warid Telecom, Munir Farouki, and the ITS senior manager, Karim Bhola,, inaugurated the office.
   Mohammed Salim, sales manager, Ayoob Abodulla Abolfatih regional customer service manager, and Salim Khan , accounts manager, and Talat Mohammed Towfiqa Elahi, service account manager (Bangladesh) were also present at the occasion, says a press release.

The Australian prime minister, John Howard, on Sunday asked a panel of industry experts to examine how to set up an international carbon emissions trading scheme to help address global warming.
   Howard said he had established a panel of public servants and business leaders to examine the issue, including Qantas chairwoman Margaret Jackson, BHP Billiton executive director Chris Lynch and National Australia Bank chief John Steward.
   Howard, who has faced international criticism for his refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, said he wanted the panel to devise a system that would not harm the Australian economy.
   ‘Its sole remit will be to tell us what the shape of a global emissions trading system might take, and it will be looked at against the background of preserving the natural advantages Australia has in areas like fossil fuels and uranium,’ Howard told ABC television.
   ‘We don’t intend to do things, that are going to hurt this country’s economy. It’s possible to make changes that reduce greenhouse gas emissions that preserve our comparative advantage.
   ‘The trick, of course, is
   to make sure that the adjustments are worldwide, so that the relative advantage is not destroyed.’
   Earlier this year, Howard’s conservative government refused to back a carbon trading system because it said it could force up petrol and electricity prices.
   But Howard has softened his stance after opinion polls found voters did not believe he was doing enough to address climate change.
   Howard did not say when the panel would report back to him.

Hours before adjourning for the year, the US Congress on Saturday sent President George W. Bush legislation that would open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas drilling and redistribute billions of dollars in royalties to four Gulf states.
   The drilling measure was wrapped into a broad tax and trade package that the US Senate approved by a 79-9 vote, hours after the House of Representatives approved it.
   Rep Bobby Jindal, a Louisiana Republican and one of the drilling measure’s main supporters, said Bush will sign the bill into law.
   The offshore legislation ends a 25-year ban on drilling in deep waters about 125 miles south of Florida’s Panhandle, but extends a moratorium on drilling in other Florida waters until 2022.
   The area known as ‘Lease Sale 181’ holds an estimated 1.26 billion barrels of crude oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
   In a statement, the White House said the bill ‘will help to reduce our dependence on imported sources of energy by increasing access to domestic sources of oil and gas.’
   But it will be years before the tracts are leased to energy companies and the new supplies actually hit the market.
   More offshore areas would have been opened if Republican House leaders had won Senate support for a bill passed by the House earlier this year that sought to open nearly all US Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters more than 100 miles offshore.
   But with time dwindling before the 109th Congress adjourned, key House Republicans agreed this week to use the more limited Senate bill.

In the same year that public furor derailed a Dubai-owned company’s plans to buy and run operations at major American ports, the number of foreign business deals reviewed by the Bush administration for US security risks surged to nearly 100, up from 65 reviews last year.
   A few anxious companies in deals pending with foreigners have sought the Bush administration’s approval even for sales that do not raise obvious security questions, said lawyers and federal officials involved in these cases.
   They attributed the jump largely to a busy year for international mergers and broader awareness of such reviews after the political uproar that scuttled the Dubai ports deal.
    ‘The numbers are up. A company will file even though they don’t think it’s a national security concern,’ said Clay Lowery, an assistant secretary at the Treasury Department.
   Most of the reviews this year, however, raised legitimate concerns, said Christopher Padilla, an assistant secretary at the Commerce Department. ‘Of the increases we’ve seen, only one or two cases didn’t have national security issues that needed to be raised,’ he said.

Ministers from the 11-member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries are likely to decide on a further cut in OPEC oil output when they gather Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria, analysts say.
   The cartel, which regulates its oil supply to maximise export revenues and control prices, is eager to keep crude around 60 dollars per barrel and a further cut would support the market heading into the northern hemisphere winter.
   The meeting is also expected to include some behind-the-scenes friction as countries reconvene to assess adherence to their individual production limits.
   OPEC lowered its output quota at its last meeting in Qatar to stem a slide in prices, which had fallen from a high of 78 dollars per barrel in July to about 58 dollars at the time of the meeting in October.
   The 1.2-million-barrel-per-day cut was distributed among the 10 members bound by quota system, but there are suspicions of cheating amid evidence that some members have continued pumping at previous levels.
   ‘We estimate the actual cuts out of the 1.2 million barrel announcement at something about 80 per cent, or 800,000 barrels a day,’ said Carl Calabro, a senior analyst at Washington-based energy consultancy PFC Energy.
   ‘I’m sure there will be some finger-pointing at first. There were 400,000 that were supposed to be cut, so where’ve they gone?’
   Saudi Arabia has most strictly adhered to its limits, he said, with the over-production suspects being chiefly Iran and Venezuela.
   ‘There are some people that talk a good game, who talk about cutting production, but don’t,’ he said.
   A lack of discipline among OPEC members has bedevilled the cartel in the past and the reduction in Qatar was greeted with scepticism by some analysts, who suggested some members would find it too difficult to forego oil revenues.
   For the meeting in Abuja, prices are back above the 60 dollar mark at 62.03 dollars per barrel, but mild winter weather in the United States and Europe, inventory levels, and a slowdown in the US economy are likely to convince members of the case for another cut.
   Ministers from the leading exporters have all given notice in recent weeks that the group is prepared to pare back its quota, which binds all members except Iraq and currently stands at 26.3 million bpd.
   Asked at the beginning of December whether the OPEC cut would be 500,000 bpd, the Nigerian oil minister and OPEC president, Edmund Daukoru, told journalists: ‘When we meet, we will look at the data and the trend and I do not expect anything less at this meeting.’
   The oil minister of Saudi Arabia, Ali al-Nuaimi, who is considered the most influential member owing to the country’s vast resources, has also hinted that OPEC will cut again.
   ‘They will probably lower their production ceiling because they have mentioned this for some time ... especially the Saudi minister which is the kingpin of the OPEC meeting machine,’ said Manouchehr Takin, a senior oil analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies.
   Indonesian energy minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Friday that OPEC was likely to cut by 1.0-1.5 million bpd. Representatives from Algeria, Iran, Qatar and Venezuela have all previously expressed support for more action.
   Veronica Smart, an analyst at the Energy Information Centre, a British consultancy, said a reduction would be designed to defend the 60-dollar price ceiling.

The Asian Development Bank is to loan India $1 billion, the largest ever advance by the bank to a developing country, to help alleviate rural poverty, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Saturday.
   The development bank is expected to announce the loan on Monday amid concern that failure to broaden the base of India’s blistering growth could lead to social conflict, capital flight, falling investment and an economic slowdown.
   The package will be aimed at weaning the rural poor away from moneylenders by expanding access to formal finance, the newspaper said, marking a shift in emphasis towards the social sector for the ADB’s Indian loans.
   Until the end of 2005, nearly 90 per cent of the ADB’s loans to India had been invested in infrastructure.
   The funds, to be disbursed over three years and to be managed by the finance ministry, will boost lending by cooperative banks in five states; Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and either Gujarat or Orissa.
   Economists believe limited access to credit is a big factor behind slowing growth in the farm sector, which provides a livelihood for two-thirds of India’s 1.1 billion population.
   Reducing rural poverty has been the main policy platform of the Congress-led coalition, which returned to power in 2004 amid discontent at widening inequalities, falling rural incomes and a deepening debt crisis in the countries’ 700,000 villages.

Five years after 12 EU members switched to the single European currency, hopes for a rapid expansion of the eurozone have been dashed by delays in eastern Europe and a lack of interest from west European holdouts.
   In 2002, 304 million European citizens in countries including France, Germany, Ireland and Spain waved goodbye to their francs, marks, punts and pesetas, and expectations were high that they would be joined by millions more by the end of the decade.
   With the exception of Britain and Denmark, which have special eurozone opt-outs, all European Union members are supposed eventually to make the euro their official currency.
   Economists at the time predicted that the 10 countries which joined the EU in 2004, mostly former members of the communist bloc, would adopt the euro no later than 2010.
   A first wave of three or four countries was expected to be ready by January 2007.
   But the forecasters failed to take into account that there would be governments that were able but unwilling to adopt the euro, others that were willing but unable, and some that were neither willing nor able.
   In the end, the club will gain just one new member next January 1, when Slovenia’s two million inhabitants give up their tolars.
   Cyprus’ population of 750,000 and the 400,000 Maltese are expected to swap their pounds and liras the following year.
   Slovakia, with a population of 5.4 million, is also on course to switch from the koruna in January 2009, despite the formation earlier this year of a coalition government including euro-sceptic populists and the far right.
   But things are looking more complicated for the six other countries that joined the EU two years ago, taking the bloc’s membership to 25.
   The Baltic nations of Lithuania and Estonia had hoped to join the eurozone in 2007.
   In theory, nothing could have been easier.
   The Lithuanian lita and the Estonian kroon are tied to the euro and the health of their public finances, a key measure for eurozone membership, causes envy in countries like France or Germany.

A proposed investment in India by French foods group Danone has been blocked by its joint venture partner, India’s Wadia family, amid a row over breach of contract, a spokeswoman for the family said on Friday.
   Danone was looking to buy a minority stake in Indian biotech firm Avestha Gengraine Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Avesthagen), which some media reports valued at more than $30 million. But the Wadias blocked the deal, claiming Danone broke an agreement that any India investment would be done through a joint venture.
   Danone and the Wadias hold equal stakes in a joint venture that controls Britannia Industries Ltd., India’s top biscuit maker.
   ‘As per the terms of the agreement, any investment Danone wishes to make in India has to be routed through our joint venture,’ the family spokeswoman told Reuters. ‘We want to protect our interests in the joint venture.’
   The Wadia group, which has interests in textiles, real estate and airlines, petitioned Mumbai’s High Court which suspended the transfer of shares from Avesthagen to Danone.
   Danone said in statement on Friday that a ruling was expected at the end of January 2007.
   In the same statement, Danone said it bought a 4.6 per cent stake in Avesthagen on Dec. 1, 2006.
   ‘Terms of the agreement between Groupe Danone and group Wadia stipulate that only investments for manufacturing and marketing of food and beverages in India are to be proposed to the JV owned by Danone and Wadia,’ it said.
   ‘Avesthagen, as a biotech company remains clearly out of this agreement.’
   A spokesman for Avesthagen, whose investors include ICICI Venture Funds and the Tata group, declined comment.
   The Economic Times newspaper said on Friday Danone may seek to exit the Wadia venture or buy control of it for 9 to 10 billion rupees ($201-$224 million).
   The Wadia spokeswoman denied the two firms had discussed ending their venture, saying the Wadia group remained committed to the venture.
   Britannia, which also has a dairy products venture with New Zealand’s Fonterra, recently stopped giving Danone financial information ahead of its public release.

Two massive casino projects can help power Singapore’s red-hot stock market to new heights in 2007 because of their spill-over effects on the rest of the economy, analysts say.
   Construction—which has trailed other industries for years—along with high-end property developments look set to be the early beneficiaries of the decision to lift a ban on casinos in the city-state.
   The stock market’s benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) has been on a roll since October, setting record closing highs in its march towards the 3,000-point level after starting the year at 2,369.37.
   It closed Friday at 2,865.14 after touching a peak of 2,914.72 ahead of the announcement that Malaysia’s Genting International won a license to build a casino and amusement park in partnership with US-based Universal Parks and Resorts on Sentosa island.
   The first casino license had been awarded in May to Las Vegas Sands, which will erect a convention and hotel complex near the banking district.
   The two ‘integrated resorts’ are expected to inject altogether more than six billion US dollars in investments into the economy as they are constructed over the next four years.
   A Citigroup report calculated the two resorts could boost Singapore’s annual economic growth by 0.1-0.2 per centage points in 2007-2009 and as much as 0.3-0.5 per centage points from 2010 onwards when they are both in operation.
   The government estimates 2006 economic growth at 7.5-8.0 per cent, moderating to a still healthy 4.0-6.0 per cent in 2007.
   ‘The lift in the (casino) pre-completion phase comes from construction spending and spill-over benefits, particularly from enhanced property values,’ Citigroup said.
   ‘Stronger gains post-2010 will come from a surge in tourism, jobs and betting taxes,’ it said, adding property values near the locations of the two resorts have already soared by more than 30 per cent.
   Analysts say foreign players are also pouring funds into Asia as part of a global shift based on expectations the region can withstand a US slowdown next year. Property firms are among the investors’ favourites.
   ‘The integrated resorts are a big boost to tourism, to high-end property values,’ Chua Hak Bin, an economist with Citigroup in Singapore, told AFP, adding that ‘there seems to be considerable firepower’ behind the stock market’s record-busting spree.
   CIMB-GK Research said in a report to clients that ‘the main impetus for the Singapore stock market in 2006 was the buzz created by the government’s attempts to jazz up the country’ which include the casino projects.
   It urged investors to ‘stay the course’ in 2007 since ‘the outlook is rosy.’
   Turnover at the Singapore Exchange has been around 1.0 billion US dollars daily, a lower valuation than at exchanges in Seoul, Taiwan, Sydney and Hong Kong, indicating more room for growth.
   The property sector has been the main winner in the bull run so far and is expected to remain a favorite with investors next year, said Macquarie Equities Research.
   ‘We expect sustained interest in property into next year, both from equity investors as well as direct property investors,’ it said, adding high-end housing prices are expected to rise 15 per cent in 2007.
   ‘The Asian property outlook remains strong in 2007 and CapitaLand, in our view, is the best proxy to Asian reflation,’ Macquarie said in a report.
   CIMB-GK favours stocks of high-technology manufacturing firms because of their current valuations.
   ‘We take the view that tech has been a big laggard for two years and valuations have turned very attractive,’ said CIMB-GK.

Malaysian police have set up special units nationwide in a bid to crack down on loan sharks or illegal money lenders in the country who were reportedly using violence to settle debts.
   ‘We have to act as money lenders are resorting to violence,’ the Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan was quoted as saying by the News Straits Times daily on Sunday.
   ‘Each state will have their own team to investigate and monitor activities of licensed and unlicensed money lenders,’ Musa said.
   He said the police will be seconded to the housing and local government ministry, which issues licenses to money lenders, to track down illegal money lending operations.
   On Saturday the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation said it would form a special group to study existing laws against loan sharks and look for more efficient methods for dealing with the problem, the newspaper reported.
   ‘We will also monitor complaints from victims. If we find criminal elements in the complaint, we will take it to the police,’ said the foundation’s chairman, Maximus Ongkili.

Malaysian employers looking to hire domestic help from the Philippines will have to pay twice the usual salary starting December 15, the Star daily reported on Sunday.
   The cost for a Filipino maid will rise to 1,430 ringgit (500 dollars) a month, double the old rate and three times more than their Indonesian counterparts, prompting a sharp rebuke from employment agencies.
   The Star reported the minimum monthly wage was set by the Philippines Overseas Labour Office, POLO, which has also set a minimum age of 25 years for maids working in Malaysia.
   Malaysian employment agencies have complained that the new wages were too steep from the previous 715 ringgit.
   ‘The 100 per cent increase is too high and unrealistic,’ one agency told the Star.
   The newspaper said there were some 20,000 Filipino maids in Malaysia with about 30 employment agencies involved recruiting them.
   Josephus B. Jimenez, the Philippine Embassy labour attaché to Malaysia said Filipino household workers now had to attend and complete an orientation course on work policies and their responsibilities, the Star said.

The alleged bribery scandal surrounding the German conglomerate Siemens may scupper a planned tie-up with Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia, according to a German newspaper report to be published Sunday.
   Nokia could at the last minute withdraw from the joint venture, Nokia Siemens Networks, which is designed to merge their telecoms equipment and network activities starting on January 1, due to a special clause in the merger contract, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.
   Nokia Siemens Networks would have annual sales of close to 16 billion euros (20.5 billion dollars) and a workforce of 60,000, making it number three in the telecommunications equipment sector behind Ericsson and Alcatel/Lucent.

Asian currencies gained this week against the US dollar, which fell on concerns about the extent of the economic slowdown there.
   Japanese Yen: The yen gained to 115.25 to the dollar late Friday, compared with 115.76 a week earlier.
   Australian Dollar: The domestic unit was trading at 78.85 US cents at 5:00 pm Friday (0600 GMT), down slighlty from the previous week’s 79.03 US cents.
   Chinese Yuan: The yuan closed at 7.8245 to the dollar Friday on the exchange-traded market, compared with Thursday’s close of 7.8220, and a closing price of 7.8325 to the dollar the week before.
   Hong Kong Dollar: The Hong Kong dollar ended the week 7.772 to the dollar, compared to 7.775 a week earlier.
   Indonesian Rupiah: The rupiah ended the week trading at 9,063/9,068 to the dollar, compared to 9,160/9,165 to the dollar one week earlier.
   Philippine Peso: The Philippine peso strengthened to 49.67 to the dollar on Friday from 49.76 to the dollar on December 1.
   Singapore Dollar: The dollar was at 1.5402 Singapore dollars on Friday compared with 1.5427 the previous week.
   South Korean Won: The won closed at 920.30 to the dollar Friday, up 6.50 won from the previous day, as government authorities reportedly poured some one billion dollars to help curb the won’s appreciation against the US currency.
   Taiwan Dollar: The Taiwan dollar fell 0.06 per cent in the week to Dec 8 to close at 32.390 against the US dollar. The local currency closed at 32.370 a week earlier.
   Thai Baht: The Thai baht rose to an eight-year high against the dollar over the past week amid optimism over steady growth in the Thai economy, dealers said.
   The Thai baht closed Friday at 35.55-57 to the dollar, up from 35.89-92 a week earlier.

Transaction
   Powergrid
   As reported by the selling agent of shares, a total of 86,52,800 shares were sold as of 07.12.06 out of company’s declared 86,53,493 shares for general public/institutions.
   Standard Bank Limited
   Al-haj Mohammed Shamsul Alam, one of the sponsors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 5,000 shares out of his holdings of 3,40,013 shares of the bank while Md Shahedul Alam, another sponsor of the bank has reported his intention to buy 5,000 shares of the Bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   Uttara Bank
   Md Asaduzzaman, one of the sponsor/ directors of the bank has reported his intention to buy 10,000 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange.
   NBL
   Abdul Awal, Nasreen Fatema Awal, Tabith M Awal all are sponsors of the bank have reported their intention to sell 3,500 shares each of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   Mercantile Bank Limited
   Jamshed Reza Khan, one of the sponsors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 27,464 shares out of his holdings of 1,68,088 shares of the bank while Md Shahabuddin Alam, another sponsor of the bank has reported his intention to buy 27,464 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange.
   Amam Sea Food
   The board of directors did not recommend any dividend for the year 2005-2006. Annual general meeting of the company will be held on December 31 at the factory premises of the company, Singerchar, Aichgati, Belphulia, Rupsha, Khulna. Book Closure : 21.12.06 to 31.12.06.
   
   Spot trade
   Libra Infusions Limited
   Trading of the shares of the company will also be allowed in spot market with cum benefit from December 11 to 12, as book closure will start from 14.12.06.
   Al-Haj Textile
   Trading of the shares of the company will also be allowed in spot market with cum benefit from December 11 to 12, as book closure will start from 14.12.06.
   Hill Plantation
   Trading of the shares of the company will also be allowed in spot market with cum benefit from December 11 to 12, as book closure will start from 14.12.06.
   Bangladesh Plantation
   Trading of the shares of the company will also be allowed in spot market with cum benefit from December 11 to 12, as book closure will start from 14.12.06.
   Pharmaid
   Trading of the shares of the company will also be allowed in spot market with cum benefit from December 11 to 12, as book closure will start from 14.12.06.
   Delta Spinners Ltd
   Trading of the shares of the company will also be allowed in spot market with cum benefit from December 11 to 12, as book closure will start from 14.12.06.
   Al-Amin Chemicals
   Trading of the shares of the company will also be allowed in spot market from December 11 to 18, as book closure will start from 20.12.06.
   Tripti Industries
   Trading of the shares of the company will also be allowed in spot market from December 11 to 18, as book closure will start from 20.12.06.
   
   Annual general meeting
   GMG Ind Corp
   The company has informed that the 48th annual general meeting of the company will be held on December 17 at the Aristrocrat Restaurant, House No. 16, Road No. 15, Gulshan-1, Dhaka. Book Closure: 08.12.06 to 17.12.06. There is no agenda for dividend in the AGM notice.
   Source: DSE, CSE

CSE closes higher
Trading at Chittagong Stock Exchange closed higher on Sunday with the gainers dominating the losers. The CSE All Share Price Index increased by 0.58 per cent to close at 3724.38 points. The CSE-30 Index also rose by 1.18 per cent to close at 3312.42 points. A total of 92 issues traded Sunday. Of them, 44 gained, 39 declined and nine remained unchanged. Some 1,331,963 shares and debentures worth Tk 11.38 crore changed hands Sunday.
— UNB

Treasury bills
auction held
The 50th auction of 28-day, 91-day, 182-day treasury bills was held in Dhaka Sunday. A total of Tk 553 crore and Tk 15 crore were offered respectively for the 28-day and 91-day bills and all bids were accepted. Tk 197 crore, Tk 85 crore and Tk 50 crore were devolved to Bangladesh Bank respectively for the 28-day, 91-day and 182-day bills. The range of the implicit yield of the accepted bids was 7.30-7.32 per cent, 7.58 per cent and 7.84 per cent per annum respectively.
— UNB

HK jewellery export exceeds 23b HKD
Hong Kong jewellery exports in the first 10 months of 2006 exceeded 23 billion HK dollars, an increase of 14 per cent over the same period last year, Hong Kong Jewellery Manufacturer’s Association said Friday. Speaking at the ‘2006 World’s Jewellery Design Masters, Strategists & Leaders Forum’ opened here Friday, Edward Cheung, chairman of the association, noted that Hong Kong will continue to be the world’s fourth largest exporter of precious jewellery in near future, supported by its remarkable design, quality and craftsmanship.
— Xinhua