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Edible oil prices have shot up to record highs in the local market, with soybean and palm oils gaining Tk 2 per litre at wholesale level over the week.
   Traders attributed the price spiral to the volatile global commodity market.
   At the city’s Maulvibazar wholesale market, non-packed refined soybean oil was traded for up to Tk 2,580 on Monday per maund (37.3 kilogram) while super palm oil for Tk 2,180.
   Wholesale rates of soybean were close to Tk 2500 per maund on Tuesday last and Tk 2450 a fortnight ago, while that of super palm were Tk 2100 and Tk 2000 respectively.
   Super palm traded at Tk 1800 level two months back, but now its price became higher because of its growing demands for its lower price compared with that of soybean.
   Super palm, which is the refined version of imported palm oil, shares more than two-thirds of the country’s total edible oil consumption during the summer season. In most cases consumers are deceived by retailers who sell super palm oil declaring it as soybean and benefit from the price differences, which average Tk 10 per litre. In winter, the palm oil becomes solid unlike soyabean oil.
   Mohammed Ali Bhutto, a wholesaler of Maulvibazar, observes that wholesale rates of edible oils are going up as supply of the daily essential remains tight from millers, who slowed imports due to rising global prices in recent weeks.
   ‘I can not remember whether unpacked soybean oil ever crossed Tk 2400 level and super palm Tk 2000 per maund any time in the past,’ said the trader at the country’s largest commodity wholesale market.
   Millers said price of crude palm and soybean oils increased by more than 15 per cent over a couple of months from the levels of $675 and $712 per tonne on Friday respectively,.
   Cost of shipping also increased abnormally during the period, further inflating the import costs which are ultimately passed on to the consumers, they added.
   Meanwhile, retail price of edible oil increased significantly over the past two weeks with per kilogram of unpacked soybean selling between Tk 70 and Tk 72 in different kitchen markets in the city on Monday, from Tk 64-Tk 66 a couple of weeks back. Unpacked palm oil was selling between Tk 58 and Tk 60 on Monday against Tk 54 and Tk 55 of two weeks ago.
   A report released by state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh on March 20 showed that retail prices of unpacked soybean oil increased up to 47 per cent and palm oil 39 per cent in a year.
   According to industry estimates, monthly demand for edible oils in the country is around 100,000 tonnes on an average and nearly 90 per cent of it is met by imported soybean and palm oils.

Telenor president and chief executive officer Jon Fredrik Baksaas said Telenor wanted to see the initial public offering by Bangladeshi mobile operator Grameenphone.
   The Norwegian company Telenor has 62 per cent stake in Grameenphone, the largest mobile operator in Bangladesh, while Grameen Telecom holds the remaining 38 per cent share.
   ‘We are proud of Grameenphone’s achievement, its contribution to economic growth in Bangladesh and the ability to serve more and more people both in rural and urban areas of the country. A public listing would bring more Bangladeshi ownership of Grameenphone,’ said Baksaas in a statement on Monday.
   ‘We think it is important that the people of Bangladesh and all customers of Grameenphone can become owners of this successful company,’ he said.
   The Telenor CEO recently met with Nobel peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus in Norway where they discussed various matters, including the possibility of an IPO of Grameenphone.
   Baksaas, meanwhile, also reaffirms Telenor’s strategy of maintaining majority ownership of Grameenphone for further participation in the advancement of mobile communications in Bangladesh.
   Grameenphone which has around 12 million customers covers almost 140 million
   population in both rural and urban Bangladesh provi- ding them both voice and data services.

The Dhaka-Agartala bus service has failed to attract adequate passengers and turned into a losing venture after nearly three and a half years of operation.
   The bus service was introduced on September 19, 2003 under an agreement signed between the Bangladesh and the India in 2001.
   Since its launching the bus service could not attract adequate travelers from both the countries, sources in Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation said.
   The sources said on March 28 the scheduled bus trip was cancelled for not having any passenger while on March 26 a bus left Dhaka with only four to five passengers. These are the common features of the bus services, the sources said.
   Out of 35-seat on the buses, on an average 25 seats remain vacant in each trip, the sources said.
   When contacted Abul Hossain Khan, deputy general manager of BRTC said, ‘We are facing shortage of passengers on the Dhaka-Agartala route. But the BRTC does not incur any loss as we are running this route through a private operator.’
   He attributed the lack of enough tourism sites in Agartala to the shortage of passengers or tourists from Bangladesh.
   Replying to a query Abul Hossain said that the government high-ups would decide the future of this route and see how to attract more passengers to make the bus services sustainable.
   Requesting for not to be named, a staff of the private operator Shyamoli Paribahan said, ‘The number of passengers is very minimal on this route. Sometimes, we suspend trip for not having even a single passenger.’
   He said normally the bus runs from Dhaka with three to five passengers. The same situation prevails while returning from Agartala.
   He said two buses are being operated on the Dhaka-Agartala route, one departs from Dhaka on each Monday, Wednesday and Friday and leaves Agartala on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
   The two-way trip between Dhaka and Agartala needs Tk 600 per passenger.

Stocks slid on Monday for selling pressure amidst a bearish trend that gripped the stock markets recently due to erosion in investors’ confidence.
   Market sources said the price adjustment of the shares of Bank Asia after corporate benefits also pushed down the indices on the day.
   The general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange lost 23.52 points or 1.34 per cent to close at 1737.36, while the blue chips index, DSE20, shed 21.27 points or 1.53 per cent to close at 1372.72.
   The Chittagong Stock Exchange selective categories index lost 53.02 points or 1.93 per cent to close at 2697.43, while the blue chips index, CSE30, shed 113.57 points or 3.10 per cent to finish at 3553.63.
   ‘The erosion of investors’ confidence has resulted in the recent downtrend in the stock market, said Sharif Ataur Rahman, vice-president of the DSE.
   Sharif, also managing director of SAR Securities, a brokerage house, said external factors eroded the confidence of the investors on the market.
   Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive officer of the DSE, said the investors’ hesitant mood was behind the recent dullness in the market.
   Most of the securities ended down on Monday. Of the total 195 listed issues traded on the DSE floor, 139 declined, 38 advanced and 18 remained unchanged.
   A total of 90 issues were traded on the CSE floor. Of them, 69 issues declined, 15 advanced and six remained unchanged.
   On the ex-dividend trade, Bank Asia lost 20.19 per cent in its share price to close at Tk 346.75 on the DSE and 19.46 per cent to close at Tk 355 on the CSE.
   Turnover on the DSE decreased to Tk 66.10 crore from the Thursday’s Tk 72.76 crore and the CSE turnover declined to Tk 12.15 crore from Tk 12.75 crore.

The Asian Development Bank has to radically transform itself if it wants to remain relevant in a rapidly changing Asia, a major report on the future role of the ADB said Monday.
   The report projects that by 2020, Asia will be dramatically transformed into a region that has largely conquered extreme poverty, one of the main reasons for the bank’s existence.
   It estimates that by 2020 less than 25 million of East Asia’s estimated two billion people will be living on less than a dollar a day.
   At the same time, 90 per cent of the region’s people will be living in middle income countries, with its economy accounting for 45 per cent of global output and 35 per cent of world trade.
   ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda on Monday welcomed the report.
   ‘The report is both thoughtful and thought-provoking, and provides us with invaluable insights that will help chart the future course for ADB,’ he said.

Thailand’s premier started a visit to Japan Monday to sign a free-trade agreement with his country’s top investor, easing the international isolation of the kingdom since last year’s coup.
   Army-installed prime minister Surayud Chulanont will sign the deal on Tuesday, which Thailand hopes will boost investment from Japan but was fiercely opposed by environmental activists.
   The agreement was negotiated by Thailand’s elected prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a September military coup that triggered international condemnation.
   But Japan, which has historic political and economic ties with Thailand, has since resumed full-fledged contacts with the kingdom, accepting the junta’s promises that it will hold elections in December.
   Surayud, who arrived Monday afternoon at Tokyo’s Narita airport, ‘will be received as a regular prime minister and we will continue normal relations,’ a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
   By contrast, Surayud has not visited any Western countries since the coup and Thailand’s free-trade negotiations have stalemated with the United States.
   Surayud is due to sign the trade pact with prime minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday. He is also due to meet with Japanese business officials and have an audience with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko during his four-day visit.
   Speaking to Japanese reporters in Bangkok ahead of his visit, Surayud said he would explain to Abe about ‘Thailand’s political situation, which Japan worries about.’
   The trade deal comes as many Japanese and foreign investors voice concern about a nationalist streak in Thailand’s economic policies since the ousting of Thaksin, a business-friendly tycoon.

The United States remains obsessed with the September 11, 2001 attacks on its soil and is unlikely to allow Arab investment into sensitive areas, Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said in a report Monday.
   Speaking to London’s Financial Times in a rare interview, the billionaire investor also said his Dubai-listed Kingdom Hotel Investments has a one billion US dollar ‘war chest’ and is looking to expand in Asia.
   The Financial Times said it spoke with Alwaleed midway through his 10-day tour of Asia, which will take him to China for a meeting with president Hu Jintao this week.
   ‘The US is still obsessed by 9/11 and sensitivities over security,’ Alwaleed told The Financial Times, referring to the attacks which killed about 3,000 people and for which Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.
   He was quoted as saying the US is unlikely to allow Arab investment into airports, ports and other sensitive areas for several years as a result.
   US security concerns over Arab investment gained prominence last year when DP World, controlled by the Dubai government, acquired US operations through a 6.9-billion-dollar acquisition of Peninsular and Oriental, a deal making it one of the world’s largest port operators.

With just minutes to go, the United States and South Korea on Monday reached a free trade agreement which scraps tariffs on thousands of items and will boost commerce by billions of dollars a year.
   The pact, secured after 10 months of tough negotiations amid sporadically violent protests, is ‘a strong deal for both Korea and the United States,’ deputy US trade representative Karan Bhatia told a press conference.
   South Korean trade minister Kim Hyun-Chong called it a ‘win-win’ agreement. His country won its battle to exclude the politically sensitive rice crop from the deal.
   The US is counting on the agreement, which needs legislative approval in both countries, to shrink its trade deficit with South Korea which amounted to 16 billion dollar in 2005.
   South Korea will gain a major advantage in the US market over competitors Japan, Taiwan and China.
   President Roh Moo-Hyun called the deal ‘a stepping stone for another economic leap forward in the nation’s push to join the ranks of advanced countries.’
   In the auto sector, responsible for more than 80 per cent of the US bilateral trade deficit, South Korea agreed to change its tax system on autos based on engine size which makes US models more expensive.
   South Korea agreed immediately to scrap its 8.0 per cent tariffs on American cars. The United States will immediately remove its 2.5 per cent tariffs on Korean cars of less than 3,000cc and auto parts with tariffs on larger models to be phased out later.
   Overall nearly 90 per cent of each side’s tariffs on industrial goods will be scrapped immediately, said South Korea’s chief negotiator Kim Jong-Hoon.
   After a tense final negotiating session lasting some 26 hours, the pact was approved just before a deadline of midnight Sunday Washington time.
   The timing means the Democrat-controlled Congress will review it while president George W Bush still has ‘fast-track’ trade promotion authority.
   Without his authority to compel a yes-or-no vote without amendments, the process could drag on for years. Leading Democrats last week slammed the proposed pact as inadequate.
   The trade deal is the biggest for the US since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 and its first with a major Asian economy. Studies show it could add about 15 billion dollars to annual two-way trade, which was worth 74 billion dollars in 2006.
   Bush told legislators it would bring export opportunities for the US, promote growth and save American consumers money.
   ‘The agreement will also further enhance the strong United States-Korea partnership which has served as a force for stability and prosperity in Asia, Bush said.

China is increasingly looking to deepwater hydrocarbon resources such as gas and oil to meet growing energy demand from its rapidly expanding economy, an industry group said Monday.
   ‘Deepwater is not the future, it is here,’ Jim Wang, a board member of the Houston-based Chinese American Petroleum Association, told an industry conference in Beijing.
   ‘Chinese oil companies are going international and going into deepwater to meet domestic demand,’ he said.
   He said challenges to this type of growth include the country’s relative lack of deepwater project experience.

A credit crunch stemming from turmoil in the subprime mortgage market will trigger further weakness in housing and keep US economic growth ‘below trend’ most of this year, a UCLA Anderson Forecast unit said in a report on Monday.
   The sluggish growth will help clear the way for the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy at the end of the second quarter despite a historically low 4.5 per cent unemployment rate, the economic forecasting unit said in its report.
   Citing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s recent comments about the link between inflation and employment levels appearing ‘looser’ than in past decades, the unit projected three cuts to the Fed Funds rate by the end of the year, taking it to 4.5 per cent from 5.25 per cent currently.
   ‘Given the level of unemployment such a move would be unprecedented, but we believe that the Fed is rethinking the role of unemployment in the inflation process,’ the report said. ‘Thus we suspect that once the Fed accepts the notion that inflationary pressure has peaked and the housing market has started another leg down, policy will be eased.’
   Housing data will be key, said David Shulman, the economist who wrote the report: ‘If they see the housing numbers coming in as ugly as we do, we think they will ease pretty quickly.’
   The housing sector, already suffering from a fat backlog of homes for sale, lukewarm demand and flat to falling prices, is poised for a blow from increasing defaults by subprime mortgage borrowers, Shulman told Reuters.
   ‘Housing is subtracting a whole point from gross domestic product,’ he said. ‘That is going to continue until we hit the fourth quarter.’

Rural India, ‘the battleground in the fight against poverty’, can be transformed by switching government expenditure from food, fertiliser and power subsidies to productive investment in farm infrastructure, World Bank economists have said.
   ‘Besides being bad for the environment and a potential source for leakage of funds, these subsidies absorb an increasingly larger share of agricultural spending,’ World Bank Lead Rural Development Specialist Martien van Nieuwkoop and Lead Economist Dipak Dasgupta said in their paper on Indian agriculture on Sunday.
   They said government expenditure must be shifted from these large and often unproductive subsidies to transforming rural infrastructure like roads, water supply, research, electrification and market support.
   Based on various analytical works and project interventions, the World Bank economists, terming India’s rural areas as ‘the battleground in the fight against poverty’, said farmers must be involved ‘front-end’ to deal with resistance to the transition for rationalisation of existing sops.
   They said barriers to domestic marketing of agricultural produce must be removed and greater participation of the private sector in procurement be encouraged.
   ‘This will entail a different role for the state, including the need for organising farmers so that they are better positioned to capture economies of scale in marketing and value addition,’ the paper said.

Japanese corporate sentiment worsened for the first time in a year amid growing concerns about the outlook for the US economy and uncertainty over future oil price and yen movements, a Bank of Japan survey showed on Monday.
   The closely watched March tankan survey did little to change the widespread view that the central bank will be slow in raising interest rates, with many traders expecting the next rate hike to come sometime after upper house elections in July.
   The dollar edged a tad higher against the yen right after the tankan release but held mostly steady just below 118 yen. Investors in the Japanese government bond and stock markets largely shrugged off the survey.
   The headline sentiment index for big manufacturers was plus 23, meaning those firms who think business conditions are favorable outnumbered those who think they are negative by 23 per centage points.
   This was down from plus 25 in December and slightly below economists’ forecasts of plus 24.
   It was also the lowest level since June 2006 and the first time in a year for the headline index to worsen.
   The diffusion index for June was seen at plus 20, showing big manufacturers, a key driver of Japan’s economy, are less upbeat about conditions over the next three months.
   Economists said firms have seemingly become more wary about a likely slowdown in the economy of the United States, Japan’s biggest export destination, along with global stock market upheaval at the end of February and a slight rise in the yen.
   ‘The decline in the headline figure reflects uncertainties in the outlook for the US economy, foreign exchange rates and oil prices, despite firm domestic demand,’ said Takumi Tsunoda, an economist with Shinkin Central Bank Research Institute.
   Broad weakness in the yen has helped Japanese exporters over the past year, keeping corporate profits at high levels. But volatility in global equities markets since late February had triggered some correction in the yen’s declines.

Airline hassles are on the rise: More passengers found themselves bumped, their flights delayed or their bags lost last year than in 2005, a study found.
   The annual review, released Monday, does not include recent weather-related flight delays such as the ones that left JetBlue and United Airlines planes idling for hours on taxiways.
   ‘They just don’t get it yet,’ said Dean Headley, an associate professor at Wichita State University and co-author of the study.
   One upside, researchers said, was that the overall number of airline complaints has stabilized since hitting a five-year low in 2005.
   Industry spokesman David Castelveter blamed the majority of delays on bad weather. Making matters worse, he said, more planes will be in the air in coming years and the air traffic control system cannot handle the growth.
   ‘We’re going to see more delays and those delays translate to cancellations, mishandled bags and unhappy passengers,’ said Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, a trade group for the major US carriers. ‘It’s not a pretty picture.’
   Congress needs to provide more money to update the system so it better can handle the increased traffic and weather problems, Castelveter said.
   The Airline Quality Rating report, compiled annually since 1991, looked at 18 airlines and was based on Transportation Department statistics. The research is sponsored by the Aviation Institute at University of Nebraska at Omaha and Wichita State University.
   Among the findings:
   _Southwest had the lowest number of complaints in 2006, 0.18 per 100,000 passengers. United and US Airways tied for the most, 1.36 per 100,000 passenger.

Rising wages and a shortage of skilled workers threaten to blunt the competitive edge of India’s flagship 48-billion-dollar information technology industry, experts said.
   Rivals such as China and the Philippines are set to challenge India’s dominance, which is also being eroded by IT employees jumping jobs for higher pay, a rising rupee and deficient infrastructure such as telecom connectivity, roads and ports.
   ‘These are issues the industry has to deal with in a globalised world,’ Kaushal Sampat, chief operating officer of the Indian unit of Dun and Bradstreet, said.
   ‘You can’t look just at the positives, thump your chest and say you are the champion.’
   ‘For every positive, there’s a negative,’ Sampat, 36, said in an interview in Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley.
   Dun and Bradstreet, the New York-listed provider of information on companies worldwide, released at the weekend its first report on India’s information technology industry, which has risen in the past decade on the coattails of software firms such as Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Tata Consultancy and Satyam.
   The appreciation of the rupee, which rose last week to an 11-year-high against the dollar, employee turnover rates as high as 25 per cent and a shortage of skilled workers estimated at half a million by 2009 as wages rise 15 per cent a year are the key risks, said the report.
   ‘Limitations in domestic infrastructure and competition from other global players offering manpower at low cost like China, Philippines and Vietnam can (also) have a negative impact on the performance of IT companies,’ it added.
   These factors are countering positives such as worldwide growth in IT spending, which is forecast to rise at 7.0 per cent annually to 2010 to exceed two trillion dollars, and the opening of new markets in Europe.
   V.K. Magapu, chief executive of L and T Infotech, an arm of Indian engineering firm Larsen and Toubro, said half-a-million people were employed by IT companies when the industry’s annual turnover was 14 billion dollars, less than a third of the current level.
   IT firms will need an additional 1.6 million software programmers and other engineers to raise combined revenue to 72 billion dollars in the next five years, Magapu said at the launch late Friday of the Dun and Bradstreet report.
   ‘The resource crunch will be truly felt when one large IT multinational comes to India and says I want to hire 20,000 people in the next six months,’ he said.
   India’s IT talent pool and wage costs that at one point were a fifth of those in the US and Europe have attracted global companies.
   IBM has announced it will invest six billion dollars in India in the next three years, Intel wants to spend more than one billion dollars, Cisco 1.1 billion dollars and Microsoft 1.7 billion dollars.
   Typically, 50 per cent of the spending by IT companies, including those in software and related services, business outsourcing and computer hardware, is on wages.
   In the 1990s, Infosys, Wipro and other Indian IT companies leveraged on their then low labour costs and plentiful supply of skilled workers to win business from overseas customers who contribute more than three-quarters of the industry’s total revenue.
   But now with a shortage of such graduates, the country needs to make a more difficult transition of training arts and commerce graduates in technology skills, said Magapu.
   In the US, an unsuccessful aspirant for an engineering course may opt to become a plumber whereas in India, he or she would opt to graduate in another subject, the executive said.
   ‘Our graduates are not incapable of programming (software),’ Magapu added. ‘But you can’t convert a plumber into a programmer.’

A Japanese official voiced caution Monday over the landmark free-trade deal between Seoul and Washington, which would give South Korean products an edge in the world’s biggest consumer market.
   ‘If the accord is launched, naturally we will face different tariffs in the US market and it will impact on Japanese industries,’ said Takao Kitabata, vice minister of economy, trade and industry.
   ‘We have to see what kind of effect it will have in Japan,’ he told a regular press conference.
   Japan and South Korea both built themselves into prosperity on the back of high-end exports of products such as electronics and automobiles, particularly to the United States.
   The deal gives South Korea a major boost in the US market over Asian rivals including Japan, Taiwan and China, which is expected to be increasingly competitive.
   South Korea and the United States negotiated down to the wire on the politically sensitive free-trade agreement, which would scrap tariffs on a huge range of items but excludes rice, as Seoul had demanded.
   The deal—the biggest for the US since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 and its first with a major Asian economy—must still survive opposition in the South Korean and US legislatures.
   But it was approved just in time for the US president, George W Bush, to use his ‘fast track’ authority, meaning the Democratic-controlled Congress will vote it up or down without the power to amend it.
   The South Korean president, Roh Moo-Hyun, who pushed hard for the deal despite opposition from some political allies, said it would pave the way for his country to become one of the world’s advanced economies.

The head of GlaxoSmithKline, Europe’s biggest drug maker, will meet with the World Health Organisation’s director-general on Friday to discuss ways to provide vaccinations against the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the company’s head said in an interview published Monday.
   Speaking to The Times, Jean-Pierre Garnier declined to comment on the specific content of his upcoming discussions with Margaret Chan, but said that the British pharmaceutical group ‘had a proposal to make.’
   ‘We will be a piece of the solution. We want to work with the WHO,’ Garnier told the daily.
   He also said: ‘They (poorer countries) are concerned that the pharma companies are not going to have enough (vaccines) for them.’
   ‘Many of those countries don’t have unlimited financial means, so there is kind of an anxiety about what do we do now.’
   Garnier said that further details would be made public after his meeting with Chan.
   The World Health Organisation says H5N1 has infected at least 282 people and killed at least 169 of them, mostly in Southeast Asia, since the end of 2003.
   Last week Indonesia lifted a ban on sharing bird flu samples with the WHO for tests said to be key to tracking and tackling the disease.
   It had stopped sending samples over concerns drug firms would end up using them to develop costly vaccines that would be beyond the budgets of poorer countries.
   Firms now need permission from a country to gain access to its virus samples under a deal agreed with the WHO after days of international talks in Jakarta.
   Scientists worry the virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.

The Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is expected to meet with top officials from German giant Volkswagen over the future of ailing national automaker Proton, a senior official said Sunday.
   ‘A high level meeting is expected soon. It is being arranged,’ the official who is familiar with the on-going talks on a possible tie-up told AFP.
   The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meeting would take place in Malaysia but declined to elaborate further.
   ‘There is genuinely good faith between the parties,’ he added.
   Abdullah has said Malaysia may allow Volkswagen to gain a controlling stake in Proton, a move that would help turn around the fortunes of the company.
   The planned meeting comes as Malaysia missed a Saturday deadline to name a strategic partner for Proton, whose controlling shareholder is state investment arm Khazanah Nasional which holds a 42.7 per cent stake.
   Volkswagen said Friday it was still negotiating with Proton over a possible accord after a report that the German company had pulled out of the talks.
   Analysts say a foreign partner is crucial to Proton’s survival as it battles sliding sales due to growing competition from local and imported autos.
   The planned meeting comes as distributors of Proton urged the carmaker to quickly form partnerships to reverse falling sales.

Citigroup, HSBC and other foreign banks marked their local incorporation in China on Monday, a rite of passage after years of biding their time on the sidelines of one of the world’s fastest growing financial markets.
   Citigroup Inc. and Britain’s HSBC Holdings PLC were among four foreign banks approved to incorporate local subsidiaries, a step toward entering the local retail banking market. Until recently, most banks could handle only limited local currency business and international banking.
   ‘We want to be the leading customer-focused international bank in China,’ Richard D. Stanley, chairman of Citibank (China) Co. Ltd., Citi’s new wholly-owned local unit, said during a ceremony featuring lion dancers, cymbals and confetti at the bank’s regional headquarters in Shanghai’s Pudong financial district.
   HSBC and Hong Kong’s Bank of East Asia Ltd. held similar events earlier in the day. British bank Standard Chartered Bank PLC began operations last week after receiving its local business license.
   ‘Today we opened a new chapter in the bank’s 142-year history in China,’ said Vincent Cheng, chairman of HSBC Bank (China) Co. All the banks, dwarfed in the local market by state-controlled rivals, have said they intend to focus on relatively wealthy Chinese customers and corporate clients.
   ‘We’re a tiny fraction of what the local banks are and will be for the foreseeable future,’ Stanley said. Still, the banks are looking at a range of new products as they gear up to compete for local customers.
   New York-based Citibank would like to start underwriting local currency bonds, once regulations allow, Stanley said.
   Cheng said that HSBC plans to enter all areas of the business, serving retail, multinational and local corporate clients, especially those looking to invest or expand operations overseas.
   Beijing agreed to gradually open the industry to foreign competitors under the terms of its entry into the World Trade Organisation membership in 2001. Chinese law requires foreign banks to set up Chinese subsidiaries to handle local currency business.
   The banks have already spent years gaining a foothold in China’s banking market. Several have bought stakes in Chinese banks and are helping them to market credit cards and other services.
   The biggest are setting up Chinese subsidiaries with plans to target the retail market, but many others may operate through partnerships with local banks.
   Eight other banks are in the process of incorporating local entities, according to the Chinese banking regulator. They include US bank JPMorgan Chase & Co, ABN Amro, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Bank Ltd and Wing Hang Bank Ltd, Japan’s Mizuho Corporate Bank and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Singapore’s DBS Bank and Overseas Chinese Banking Corp.
   Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG and France’s BNP Paribas SA say they plan to apply for permission to incorporate.

A dispute between Singapore Airlines and its pilots will not delay the scheduled delivery of Airbus A380 jets in October, the airline's chairman said Monday.
   The carrier and its pilots have 'differences' over how much they should be paid to fly the giant new plane, SIA has said previously.
   SIA and its pilots' union, the Airline Pilots Association of Singapore (ALPA-S), will bring their dispute to the Industrial Arbitration Court on April 23, SIA chairman Stephen Lee said.
   The court's decision is final and legally binding.
   'The 380 delivery is scheduled in October. I don't think this will delay the operation of the plane,' Lee told reporters at the launch of a 'collective partnership' between the airline and its unions.
   SIA is set to be the first carrier to receive the double-decker A380 in October this year after a series of delays blamed on wiring problems pushed back delivery from earlier last year.
   The airline has committed to buy 19 of the super jumbos.
   'Sometimes when the positions are quite far apart and we cannot bring them closer, mediation or arbitration may not be a bad thing,' Lee told reporters at the launch of a 'collective partnership' between the airline and its unions.
   'We are not so worried about going to mediation-arbitration if that can solve the issue,' he said, adding that while the arbitration is in process, SIA is working with the pilots' union to form a closer partnership.

Saudi Arabia has banned 107 companies from recruiting foreign workers after they failed to employ a minimum required number of Saudi nationals.
   The companies facing the ban have 100 or more foreign employees and one per cent or less Saudi workforce, the labour ministry said.
   The statement said twelve of the 107 companies that have been banned from recruiting foreign workers had no Saudi employee and only eight of the companies reached one per cent.
   The law, approved by the Cabinet three years ago, requires companies with 20 or more employees to recruit minimun of 30 per cent Saudis.
   It is part of the ‘Saudization’ intiative taken by the government to gradually replace the rising population of expatriate workers, most of whom are from South and South-East Asia, and reduce unemployment among Saudi nationals.
   Sulaiman Al-Misyadi, general manager of Fares Bundugji Establishment, one of the companies facing the ban, said his business is in cleaning and very few Saudis were interested in such jobs.
   A large number of Saudis had applied for jobs and were employed as supervisors but most of them left after a short time in search of new careers, he was quoted as saying by Arab News.

Housing markets in the 13 nations sharing the euro currency show signs of cooling, especially in Spain, even though lending for home purchases remains strong, European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said in an interview published on Monday.
   Lending for house purchases was ‘very dynamic’ in the eurozone last year, with an annual rate of growth of 9.4 per cent, he told daily Spanish business newspaper Expansion.
   ‘This dynamism was one of the details which the ECB took into account when making its decisions. Besides I would say that everything that nations can do to contain these adverse events would be encouraging,’ he said.
   ‘But I would like to emphasize that we are seeing a certain slowdown in national housing markets, particularly in Spain,’ he added.
   The ECB raised its key interest rates to a five-and-a-half-year high of 3.75 per cent last month and has signalled that a further rise is possible in coming months. Financial markets expect another quarter per centage point rise in June.
   Trichet was in Spain last week for a meeting of central bankers from eurozone and Mediterranean countries.

The formation of gas producers’ cartel is not imminent even though the world’s leading natural gas exporters are interested in forming such a club, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Monday in an interview published in Spain.
   ‘We talk about this, and amongst gas producing countries the desire exists for it but I believe we will not arrive at the creation of a gas OPEC for the moment,’ he told daily newspaper El Pais.
   Some world media have reported that major gas exporting nations, which include Russia, Iran, Qatar, Venezuela and Algeria, will roll out a gas cartel similar to the one which exist for oil producers when they meet in the Qatari capital of Doha on April 9.

The dollar steadied against major currencies Monday ahead of fresh US manufacturing data, and as dealers digested a slightly bigger-than-expected decline in Japanese business confidence.
   They added that foreign exchange market participants were awaiting other economic indicators this week amid uncertainty about the prospects for the US economy, while watching growing tensions between Iran and Britain.
   The euro eased to 1.3351 dollars in early European trading, from 1.3356 dollars late in New York on Friday.
   The dollar was unchanged at 117.82 yen in European trade, compared with late on Friday.
   Dealers readied for the Institute of Supply Manage-ment’s manufacturing index, due for publication in the United States on Monday. News of US plans to impose sanctions on some Chinese imports had dented the dollar on Friday.
   ‘The dollar remains prone to further selling in the wake of the China duty announcement and this afternoon’s ISM manufacturing is unlikely to turn dollar sentiment ahead of the key US employment report on Friday,’ said Derek Halpenny, senior currency economist at The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.
   The Japanese currency came under pressure overnight after the Bank of Japan said business confidence fell back from a two-year high in the three months to March, marking the first decline for a year.
   But the yen later recovered ground as market participants took the view that the dip will not threaten the Japanese economic recovery.
   ‘The Tankan showed some weakness but that was still within expectations,’ said Saburo Matsumoto, chief forex strategist at Sumitomo Trust Bank.
   ‘For some players, the result was even better than originally anticipated,’ Matsumoto said. ‘It is hard for any players to continue selling the yen only based on the Tankan result.’
   Confidence among Japan’s big manufacturers dropped to 23 in March from 25 in December, the Tankan survey showed, slightly below market expectations for a figure of 24, the central bank said.
   The market was meanwhile keeping a close watch on trade frictions between the United States and China, as well as the standoff between Britain and Iran over 15 British sailors and marines seized in the Gulf.
   The euro was changing hands at 1.3351 dollars, against 1.3356 dollars on Friday, 157.31 yen, 0.6767 pounds and 1.6225 Swiss francs.

Dividend
   1st Lease Internationa
   The board of directors has recommended stock dividend @ 20pc for the year 2006. Annual general meeting will be held on June 20 at the BIAM Auditorium, 63, New Eskaton, Dhaka. Book closure Date: June 1 to 20.
   Islami Bank
   The board of directors has recommended cash dividend @ 15pc and stock dividend @ 10pc for the year 2006. Annual general meeting of the bank will be held August 31. Other information of AGM to be notified later.
   Premier Leasing International Ltd
   The board of directors has recommended cash dividend @ 15pc for the year 2006. Annual general meeting will be held on May 28 at the National Shooting Federation-Bangladesh,Gulshan-1, Dhaka. Record Date: May 2.
   
   Profit
   Al-Arafah Islami Bank
   As per audited accounts as on 31.12.06, the bank has reported net profit of Tk. 470.02 m with EPS of Tk. 550.24 as against Tk. 262.90 m and Tk. 307.77 respectively as on 31.12.05.
   Central Insurance
   As per audited accounts as on 31.12.06, the company has reported net profit of Tk. 19.65 m with EPS of Tk. 18.19 as against Tk. 13.45 m and Tk. 18.68 respectively as on 31.12.05.
   
   Transaction
   National Bank Ltd
   Abdul Awal, one of the sponsor/directors of the bank, has further reported that he has completed his sale of 20,000 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange as announced earlier.
   Ashraf Textile
   Ekram Ali Mridha, one of the sponsors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 13,492 shares out of his total holdings of 14,792 shares,
   While Asgar Ali Mridha and Momtaj Begum, both are sponsors of the company, have also reported their intention to sell their entire holdings of 2,401 and 8,971 shares respectively of the company at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   
   Trade
   Ashraf Textile
   Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date i.e., April 3.
   Stand Bank Ltd
   Trading of the shares of the bank will be allowed only in the spot market and Block/Odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle with cum benefit from 03.04.07 to 05.04.07 and trading of the shares will remain suspended on record date i.e., 08.04.07.
   Uttara Finance
   Trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market and Block/Odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle with cum benefit from 03.04.07 to 05.04.07 and trading of the shares will remain suspended on record date i.e., 08.04.07.
   1st Lease International
   There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the company on 03.04.07 following its corporate declaration.
   
   In response to DSE query
   GQ Ball Pen
   In response to a DSE query, the company has informed that there is no undisclosed price sensitive information of the company for recent unusual price hike.
   Islami Bank Ltd
   The bank has also informed that it has revalued its Premises to Tk 321, 87,11,775 from Tk. 280,93,11,775 as assessed by professional valuers and accounted for in the financial statements of the bank for the year 2006 and was approved along with approval of the financial statements of the bank for the year 2006.
   Source: DSE, CSE

Indonesia’s oil output below target
Indonesia reported Monday its daily oil production stood below the target of 1.05 million barrels due to natural depletion and lack of new investment. The Southeast Asia’s lone OPEC member said oil production averages 966,449 barrels per day as of March 28. The only way to boost production is by exploring new, large oil wells, said Dodi Hidayat, deputy chairman of the Oil and Gas Executive Body ‘We can fill in production shortages using the existing wells, but to boost production, we need to find large wells,’ he added.
— Xinhua

Motorola CEO quits TW board to focus on slow sales
Motorola Inc’s chief executive officer Ed Zander resigned as a director of Time Warner Inc on Friday after four months on the board, as billionaire Carl Icahn pushed for a seat on his own company’s board. Zander, named a director on January 25, won’t seek re-election at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on May 18 ‘in light of the increased challenges facing Motorola,’ New York-based Time Warner said in a regulatory filing Friday.
— Xinhua

ROK exports continue double-digit rise
South Korea’s exports grew at a double-digit rate for the 14th straight month in March, fuelled by strong overseas demand for semiconductors, ships, petrochemicals and steel, a government report said Monday. Exports rose 14 per cent year-on-year to 30.6 billion dollar last month, the ministry of commerce, industry and energy said. In February, exports had increased 11.3 per cent from February 2006 to 26.4 billion dollar.
— AFP