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Foreign investment proposals nosedived by 132.84 per cent in terms of their value in the initial months of 2007 amid political uncertainties and the government’s foot-dragging on major investment decisions.
   Officials said Board of Investment received proposals from foreign investors to undertake projects valued $83.32 million in the first three months of the calendar year compared with $194 million received during the same period of 2006.
   Also, the domestic investment proposals declined to Tk 3,224.08 crore or $ 460.58 million during the first quarter against Tk 4,270.3 crore or $610.04 million of the year-ago period.
    The investment board is yet to come up with any explanation on the current trends of investment although its acting executive chairman has reportedly painted a rosy picture eyeing $1 billion FDI in 2007.
   The sources in the board said they had to postpone about 30 proposals from local investors in absence of due permission from the regulatory authorities because of recent demolition drives.
   The potential foreign investors, too, want to see the disposal of the pending investment proposals such as the one worth $3 billion by India’s Tata Group before forwarding their proposals, the sources added.
   ‘We have rather found the potential investors either hesitant or shaky about making investment proposals, let alone commissioning projects. They perhaps fear adverse consequence for themselves at the moment,’ a high official of the board said, seeking anonymity.
   The owner of a media business house told New Age that managing directors of many business organisations had either been staying abroad or maintaining low profile, lest they are implicated in any case. ‘How come they will invest their money when they are rather busy concealing information of property, be it genuine or ill-gotten?’ he said.
   A small garment exporter, who used to borrow money for readying each consignment, made his account of investment climate saying that nobody wants to hand over his/her capital or invest it until or unless the situation under the state of emergency takes a clear shape.
   Followed by recent drives against corrupt suspects, the months of political turmoil since October 2006 witnessed volatility in registration of investment proposals with the investment board.
   Month-wise amounts of local investment proposals are $49.54 million in March 2007, $258.74 million in February 2007, $158.28 million in January 2007, $209.85 million in December 2006, $197.39 million in November 2006 and $278.95 million in October 2006.
   The registration proposals of foreign direct investment amounted to $28.06 million in March 2007, $45.99 million in February 2007, $8.7 million in January 2007, $56.16 million in December 2006, $16.11 million in November 2006 and $32.78 million in October 2006.
   However, the board is unlikely to achieve the last year’s target of attracting almost $1 billion foreign direct investment for the first time, though it registered proposals worth $1.475 billion in foreign investment.
   The board’s acting executive chairman, Nazrul Islam, was not available for comment. But talking to a foreign news agency, he expressed high hopes for securing increasing foreign direct investment as a result of reforms being done by the interim government.

A record number of visitors to the Dhaka Travel Mart-2007 availed Biman’s special offer given for the Bangkok, Hong Kong, Karachi, Kathmandu and Kolkata routes.
   The national flag carrier gave the offer on the occasion of the three-day travel mart began at the Winter Garden of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel yesterday, DTM sources said.
   Under this special programme, the sources said, visitors were eligible to buy or book their journey on these routes at heavily discounted prices.
   Biman received huge response from the intending travelers, who had either purchased tickets or booked their journey to respective places of their choice.
   Different travel agencies and tour operators from home and abroad are participating in the three-day mart ending Saturday.
   Under the special DTM offer, Biman charged Tk 13,160 for travelling on Dhaka-Bangkok-Dhaka route, Tk 16,800 on Dhaka-Hong Kong-Dhaka route, Tk 21,000 on Dhaka-Karachi-Dhaka route, Tk 6,300 on Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka route and Tk 8,400 on Dhaka-Kathmandu-Dhaka route.
   The validity of all tickets under the programme will remain for 90 days only. The first leg of the journey is to be made within three months of the issuance of tickets that exclude applicable tax charges, the sources said.
   Apart from this special offer, visitors to the Biman stall will also enjoy the privilege of buying tickets for other destinations as well at Biman’s net fare with seven per cent discount during the travel mart days.

A group of developing world charities, unions and nonprofit groups urged US Democratic lawmakers on Thursday to withdraw their support for world trade talks, which they say could deepen global poverty.
   Congressional action on trade ‘must include rejection of the current attempts to expand the failed World Trade Organisation through the Doha round,’ a coalition of more than 200 groups said in a letter to Congress’ Democratic majority.
   The letter, sent earlier this week to Democrats in both houses, was signed by more than 200 groups ranging from the Africa Trade Network to ActionAid International, a South Africa-based aid and advocacy organisation, to smaller national or local groups in countries like Peru, Angola and Sri Lanka.
   The letter comes the same week that WTO chief Pascal Lamy canvassed Capitol Hill in an effort to drum up support for the Doha round. Negotiators now aim to conclude a deal by the end of the year, but after more than five years of missed deadlines, and with persisting divisions over agriculture trade, the round’s fate remains murky.
   It is also unclear how much support Democrats will give the round and whether they’ll renew the Bush administration’s trade negotiating powers, which expire this summer. Those powers, called fast track, are seen as crucial for a world trade deal. In the letter, the groups argued that a Doha deal would not live up to its promises to boost poor economies and combat poverty through trade. It said trade liberalization to date had eroded incomes throughout the developing world.
   ‘We urge you to reject fast track for the WTO, and instead work together with your trading partners and global civil society for a new multilateral trade system that benefits all of us,’ they wrote.

Crimped by a local skills shortage, readymade garment, knitwear and textiles industries spend thousands of dollars a year on foreign technicians and mid-level professionals.
   Over 4,000 foreigners now work in such industries as RMG, textiles, engineering and infrastructure, and cellphone.
   The bulk of them, however, work in the major export-focused RMG and textiles sectors, according to the Board of Investment and Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority.
   According to BEPZA, entrepreneurs hire technicians mostly from China and merchandisers from India. They also employ nationals of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
   Basic salary of the hired workers ranges from $350 to over $1,500 a month. Nearly 1,200 foreign workers currently employed in the exclusive industrial zones or EPZs, official figures show.
   A BoI official, who issues work permits to foreign nationals working outside EPZs, said about 3,000 foreigners are working in the industrial sectors.
   ‘Most of the applications come from RMG and textile sectors,’ the official, opting not to e named, said.
   ‘We also receive applications for work permits from power and energy, engineering, and steel sectors. Mobile phone operators also hire foreign technicians,’ he said.
   ‘Lack of skilled workers locally has forced us to employ foreigners. We have to hire them to manufacture quality garments and compete in global market,’ Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told this news agency.
   Garments owners usually hire mid-level workers such as production manager, merchandiser and quality controller in their industrial units.
   ‘This has become evident as we have not developed educational and technical institutes keeping in mind the needs of the industries,’ Chowdhury said.
   The president said the BGMEA Institute of Fashion and Technology is trying to train up such manpower to meet a portion of demand.
   ‘But the number is too small to meet the yearly requirement. We need at least 6000 midlevel workers a year,’ Chowdhury said.
   Abdul Hai Sarker, president of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, said they face problem dyeing and finishing.
   ‘Local technicians cannot do the job properly. They waste more than foreign technicians do because they are not trained,’ Sarker said.

The Middle East-based airliner Oman Air will launch flight operation from Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong on May 1, Oman Air officials said.
   An Oman Air senior official, Mohammad Zakaria, said a 737 Boeing would be put in service on the Chittagong-Muscat route to carry passengers.
   ‘The flight will operate five days a week except for Saturday and Monday,’ he said. ‘Our service from Chittagong will be formally launched on May 1.’
   Oman Air will be the second international airliner after Thai Air to operate flight from Chittagong, sources said.
   Three other foreign airlines — Singapore Airlines, Phuket Air and Indian Airlines — operated flight service from Chittagong several years ago. But they stopped running flights from Chittagong on the grounds of economic viability, airline and airport sources said.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves, spurred by proceeds from the Rupali Bank sale and the fourth installment of development support credit from the World Bank, could touch the $5 billion mark in the near term, a central bank official said.
   A consistent increase in remittance inflows and export earnings pulled the foreign exchange reserves up to $4.43 billion Thursday, the highest ever position in Bangladesh’s history. Forex reserves recorded over $4.2 billion in early April.
   ‘We can attain a $5 billion reserve after getting payments from Rupali Bank sale and receiving DSC from the World Bank,’ Bangladesh Bank deputy governor Kazemi told this news agency.

Indian inflation remained steady at 6.09 per cent, according to data on Friday, still way above the central bank’s target of five per cent and keeping up pressure for more monetary tightening.
   The wholesale price index, India’s most closely watched cost-of-living monitor, showed inflation at 6.09 per cent for the week ended April 14, unchanged from the previous week,
   A year earlier, inflation was at 3.70 per cent.
   The Reserve Bank of India, the central bank, has warned of signs of overheating in the fast-growing economy and has introduced a slew of monetary tightening measures in recent months to curb inflation.

Western business leaders avoided heavy criticism of Moscow here Monday during a showcase event for Russian enterprises that is being clouded by escalating tensions between the Kremlin and European Union.
   The 10th annual Russian Economic Forum has been hit by the boycott of top Moscow officials and Russian business chiefs. Non-Russian delegates who did attend expressed shock at the death Monday of the former Russian president, Boris Yeltsin.
   Leading businessmen including an executive from Russia’s state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and an economic adviser to president Vladimir Putin, were among those who cancelled their forum attendance at the 11th hour.
   Barclays Capital chairman Hans-Joerg Rudloff told the London-based event that his call up to the podium as a last minute replacement provided impartiality to proceedings.
   ‘It gives me the opportunity not to be called a poodle of the Russian presidential Russian administration,’ Rudloff said on the second day of the gathering, which ends Tuesday.
   He went on to speak highly of Russia’s economic progress since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, while noting the need for further change.
   ‘Russia is integrating in our world, trying to engage, trying to improve the many things that still have to improve. Clearly not just looking at natural resources but trying and wanting to industrialise,’ Rudloff told delegates.
   According to Roger Munnings, forum chairman and president of the Russian arm of global finance group KPMG, Russia was earning revenues totalling 500 million dollars a day from oil exports.
   ‘The rest of the world needs Russia for hydrocarbons and energy supply,’ Munnings said.
   The EU’s reliance on Russian energy was highlighted late last year when Ukraine refused to pay inflated prices for Russian gas.
   Moscow retaliated by briefly halting supplies to Ukraine, which led to a knock-on disruption of supplies across Western Europe.
   Among Russian business executives boycotting this year’s forum are Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairman of Gazprom, and the president of oil company Rosneft, Sergei Bogdanchikov.
   Moscow last week expressed fury after Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, who was granted political asylum in Britain in 2003, called for the overthrow of Putin.
   Ties between London and Moscow have been strained since the assassination by radioactive poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in November.
   His associates accused Moscow of poisoning Litvinenko because of his opposition to Putin, a claim rejected by the Kremlin.
   On Monday, there was only praise for another Russian president, namely Yeltsin.
   ‘He will go down in history as the man who showed extraordinary personal courage,’ Britain’s former ambassador to Moscow, Sir Roderic Lyne, said at the forum.
   ‘His leadership made a very major contribution to the peace of Europe and the peace of the world. That’s a pretty fine record,’ said Lyne, who was appointed in 1999 after Yeltsin resigned the Russian presidency.

New Zealand hiked interest rates for the second time in less than two months Thursday, raising them 25 basis points to 7.75 per cent as it wrestles to keep inflation under control.
   The latest rise in the official cash rate is aimed at ensuring ‘inflation outcomes remain consistent with achieving the target of 1.0-3.0 per cent inflation on average over the medium-term,’ the central bank said in a statement.
   But, economists gave the announcement a lukewarm reaction.
   Westpac Bank chief economist Brendan O’Donovan said there was nothing in the statement that would materially change market pricing on longer term interest rates.
   The latest rise followed a similar 25 basis points increase in early March and gives New Zealand one of the highest interest rate levels in the developed world.
   The move was expected to put further upward pressure on the dollar and consequently on exporters’ margins.
   ‘Recent indicators confirm that the resurgence in economic activity that began in late 2006 has continued over recent months, with domestic demand continuing to expand strongly,’ the Reserve Bank of New Zealand said.
   ‘Demand is being fuelled by a buoyant housing market, increases in government expenditure, rising terms of trade, ongoing net immigration and a robust labour market.’
   While interest rates are being used to try to slow domestic demand, particularly in the housing market, they are also helping push up the New Zealand dollar, making life ever harder for exporters.
   Latest inflation figures showed the Consumer Price Index rose just 2.5 per cent in the year through March but there was a 4.1 per cent rise in the domestic sector where the impact of overseas competition is not felt.
   Real estate industry data showed median house prices were up around 14 per cent in March from a year earlier.
   Some economists had felt the central bank could afford to leave rates alone following rises in home lending rates that had effectively delivered a tightening of monetary policy, along with the sharp rise in the local dollar.
   The central bank statement described the New Zealand dollar exchange rates as ‘exceptional by historical standards’ and ‘unjustified on the basis of medium-term fundamentals’, which economists saw as a hint at intervention.
   Westpac’s O’Donovan called it ‘a strong warning to currency markets’ but added ‘in our opinion intervention is not imminent’.
   Last week, the dollar nudged 75 US cents and sat at 74.25 US cents immediately after the rate announcement Thursday before rising to 74.81 US cents.

President Rafael Correa expelled the World Bank’s representative from Ecuador, accusing the institution of trying to extort money from him when he was economy minister in 2005, officials said Thursday.
   The leftist president, in office since January, has charged that the global development lender suspended a 100 million dollar loan for Ecuador in 2005 in retaliation for his reform of the country’s oil sector.
   The foreign ministry said in a statement that Correa declared World Bank official Eduardo Somensatto of Brazil ‘persona non grata’ — a diplomatic term equivalent to an expulsion — and immediately informed the Washington-based bank. According to diplomatic sources, the letter implies the representative’s expulsion but does not necessarily mean the suspension of the bank’s activities in Quito.
   ‘The declaration of ‘persona non grata’ implies that Somensatto should leave the country urgently, a bit urgently or not urgently at all,’ Jose Luis Moreno, a former diplomat, was quoted as saying in the newspaper El Comercio.
   The foreign ministry said the World Bank was notified of the decision by letter Tuesday to the bank’s offices in Washington and Quito. At the time, Somensatto was outside the Ecuadoran capital, it said.
   Ecuador has also decided to have any loans still due to it from the World Bank suspended, economy minister Ricardo Patino told reporters Thursday.
   In Washington, the World Bank said it wanted to keep open its communication channels with the Ecuadoran government and was evaluating the implications of Somensatto’s ‘withdrawal.’
   ‘We reiterate the willingness of the institution to maintain dialogue at the highest level with the nation’s authorities,’ the bank said in a statement.
   Correa had announced on three occasions since April 15 that Somensatto would soon be expelled in reprisal for the freezing of a 10 million dollar World Bank credit while Correa was economy minister under then president Alfredo Palacio in 2005.
   Correa said the bank froze the credit to punish him for reforming the oil industry, and accused the multilateral lender of ‘extortion.’
   Correa’s reform was designed to create an oil fund to buy back the Ecuador’s sovereign foreign debt.
   ‘When I became minister and turned out not to be a messenger boy for the World Bank, they held the check,’ Correa said on April 21.

Google, with a brand value of USD 66.4 billion, has unseated Microsoft as the world’s most powerful brand, according to an annual ranking by a market research firm.
   Silicon Valley-based Google is followed closely by General Electric ($61.8b), Microsoft ($54.9b) and Coca-Cola ($44.1b), according to the UK research firm Millward Brown Optimor.
   The Brandz Top 100 study by Millward Brown said that the search engine’s brand value has increased by 77 per cent since last year.
   ‘Success stories from this year’s Brandz Top 100 demonstrate that winning brands leverage major market trends effectively to create business value,’ said Joanna Seddon, chief executive at Millward Brown.
   ‘Strong brands are capable of extending into areas of opportunity to access new revenue streams and to help businesses respond to market changes.’ The ranking attempts to put a dollar value on a brand based on current and expected future earnings.

Scandal-hit German engineering giant Siemens presented buoyant half-year results on Thursday but faced a crisis of leadership after its chief executive agreed to stand down.
   Siemens said it earned 1.26 billion euros ($1.71b) in the second quarter compared with 923 million euros in the same period a year ago, a rise of 36 per cent that exceeded analysts’ forecasts.
   Turnover was up 10 per cent to 20.63 billion euros, also beating expectations.
   ‘There are the results we have been dreaming of,’ chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld said a day after announcing he would quit in September when his contract expires to allow the company to deal with a widening investigation into slush funds.
   ‘I regret leaving this company. It was an important part of my life,’ Kleinfeld said.
   He set tough targets for his eventual successor, laying down higher profit margin goals for nine of the group’s 11 divisions.
   Siemens confirmed on Thursday that the US stock market watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission, will formally examine allegations that Europe’s largest engineering company set up slush funds worth up to 400 million euros ($545m).
   The company also said it was widening its own internal investigation into suspicious payments.
   Kleinfeld, a 49 year old who runs marathons as a hobby, said a request from the company’s supervisory board to delay a decision on renewing his contract was ‘unacceptable.’
   In the absence of a ‘vote of confidence’ from the board, he had decided it was best to stand aside, he said.
   The German business daily Handelsblatt reported on its website on Thursday that he would be replaced by Gerhard Cromme, a current board member and the one-time head of steel and heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp.
   Cromme has a reputation as a strong advocate of ‘clean’ corporate governance and is believed to have played a leading role in ousting Kleinfeld. Handelsblatt quoted banking sources, but there was no immediate confirmation from Siemens.
   Kleinfeld’s departure means the company has lost both of its top officials in the wake of the corruption allegations. Heinrich von Pierer, Siemens’ former chief executive and the head of the supervisory board, formally stepped down on Wednesday.
   The manner in which Kleinfeld was ousted by the board was sharply criticised by shareholders’ groups, who pointed out that he had not been charged with any wrongdoing.
   German Economy Minister Michael Glos said he regretted that Kleinfeld was stepping down but said he thought he was being sacrificed to allow the company to attempt to make a clean break with the allegations.

French industrial data and expected unemployment figures brought sunshine to the economy on Thursday 10 days before the final presidential vote, giving ammunition to rightwing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.
   Sarkozy, who faces Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, was until recently a leading member of the government.
   Asteres economist Nicolas Bouzou described the overall picture painted by the industrial survey as ‘almost idyllic.’
   But about 40 academics and economists have urged the government not to publish March unemployment data later in the day, alleging that the figures would be ‘artificially low’ and would amount to ‘manipulation of public opinion’ before the vote a week on Sunday. The statistics institute INSEE said on Thursday that the confidence of French industrialists had risen in April, mainly on production prospects.
   And prime minister Dominique de Villepin said he expected the unemployment data to show a further fall in unemployment, a central election issue.
   Stressing that the data were compiled independently, he said he ‘imagined that the figures will go in the right direction.’
   In February the number of registered unemployed fell by 1.0 per cent to 2.066 million and the rate by 0.1 percentage points to 8.4 per cent
   But analysts warned that the improving industrial climate is being driven by growth in the eurozone and notably Germany, and could quickly cool.
   And they said that the latest data was strong despite the strength of the euro which, paradoxically, is criticised by both final candidates for weighing on French exporters and the economy in general. The strength of the euro, and many aspects of France’s commitment to the European Union, were virulently attacked by several minor candidates eliminated in the first round of the election last Sunday.

To enhance its presence in Australia, IT major Satyam Computer Services has opened a 150-seat development centre in North Sydney, which will serve as a regional solutions hub.
   Satyam already has development centres in Melbourne and at York Street in the Sydney Central Business District and is focused to bolster its Virtual Global Delivery Model, the company said in a filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
   ‘Australia is an important marketplace for Satyam, and this new centre will offer the same expertise and project management capabilities typified by our Australian operations,’ Satyam co-founder and CEO B Rama Raju said.
   These capabilities will provide customers throughout the region with the improved agility and responsiveness they need to excel in a competitive business environment, he added.
   The new Sydney solution centre would be able to provide onshore and offshore services to regional clients due to the availability of mature communication end IT talent. Satyam said it would hire 50 graduates over the next three months to work in the centre, and another 50 in the following year — taking the total headcount of the company in Australia to 700.
   The company signed an agreement with the Australian Computer Society earlier this week through which ACS Foundation will search Australian universities to help the company find and develop exceptional information technology professionals.

India and Greece are set to boost their trade volume to one billion euros by 2010 with New Delhi asking Athens to actively participate in its infrastructure projects to remove the trade imbalance between the two sides.
   President APJ Abdul Kalam, who met his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias and prime minister Kostas Karamananlis in Athens on Thursday said the two countries had pledged to increase bilateral trade from the 540 million euros recorded last year to one billion euros by the turn of the decade.
   Kalam said ‘Greece is indeed very good on infrastructure building, so Greece and India will be partners’ in creating infrastructure.
   Briefing reporters on Kalam’s engagements, secretary Nalin Surie of the external affairs ministry said Greece had evinced keen interest in India’s shipping and tourism sectors and sought air connectivity between the two countries at the earliest.
   ‘We hope this would be solved as and when the capacity and load factors are worked out,’ Surie said.
   He said it had been brought to the notice of Greek authorities that India’s exports accounted for nearly 480 million euros of the total trade of 540 million euros last year, and their contribution was sought in building infrastructure.
   Replying to a question on bilateral investments, Surie said i-Flex, an Indian software company, has decided to start a venture in Greece. ‘We also sought the setting up of their companies in India,’ he said.
   He said Kalam had ‘warm’ and cordial meetings with Greek leaders and hoped this visit would help strengthen bilateral ties.

Taiwan’s economy showed signs of growth with the index of leading indicators for March standing at 109.4 points, up 0.9 per cent from February, the government said Friday.
   In February, the index registered a revised 0.2 per cent month-on-month decrease, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said.
   The index is used as a gauge for the economy’s direction in the coming three months.
   The March index of coincident indicators, which coincides with the current pace of economic activity, rose 1.1 per cent month-on-month to 110.2 points, after posting a revised 0.2 per cent decrease in February, it said.
   Both indexes for leading and coincident indicators are based on a 2001 benchmark of 100.
   The total score of monitoring indicators for March was 23 points, compared with 19 points in February. The March monitoring indicators showed a ‘green light’ that signalled steady growth.

The CII, UK’s largest professional body dedicated to insurance, savings and financial services sectors, and the Securities and Investment Institute have signed a collaboration agreement, facilitating the two bodies to align their qualifications and share offices around the world.
   Currently both organisations offer qualifications on the Financial Services Skills Council list of Appropriate Examinations for individuals wishing to become financial advisers.
   The SII is to withdraw its certificate in Investment and Financial Advice and will instead refer its students to the CII’s certificate in financial planning.
   At the same time, the CII is to offer its members the SII’s fund management examination as part of the CII diploma in financial planning framework. The examination covers the activities, knowledge and techniques required to undertake the management of funds for institutional clients.

3,000 hectares land under soyabean farming
Some 3,000 hectares of land have been brought under soyabean farming in Rajoir and Shibchar upazilas of Madaripur district this season with an output target of 15,000 metric tonnes. Farming of soyabean is gaining popularity among the farmrs of the district day by day due to favourable weather, nutrition value and change of food habit. Department of Agricultural Extension officials said they ensured supply of quality seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and other necessary inputs among the farmers at fair prices to make the scheme a success.
— UNB

French unemployment rate falls to 8.3pc in March
The French unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage points in March to 8.3 per cent, the French employment ministry announced on Thursday. The employment ministry said the number of jobseekers in March fell 1.4 per cent to 2.037 million, while the unemployment rate according to International Labour Organisation norms fell 0.1 points from the February level to 8.3 per cent. The figure comes at a critical time ahead of the final round of presidential elections on May 6 with the solution to France’s stubbornly high unemployment rate a key policy focus for both candidates. Right-wing candidate Nicholas Sarkozy, a former finance and interior ministry in the incumbent centre-right government, is up against Socialist rival Segolene Royal in the run-off.
— AFP

Japan’s industrial output falls 0.6pc in March
Japan’s industrial output fell by 0.6 per cent in March from the previous month, defying market expectations for an increase, official data showed Friday. Average market expectations had been for a gain of 0.9 per cent after February’s 0.7 per cent increase. However, year-on-year output was up 1.6 per cent in March, according to the ministry of economy, trade and industry, which said production was still on ‘a gradual, raising trend.’
— AFP