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Trade bureaucrats of the Bay of Bengal regional grouping agreed to shorten negative lists of products and set the rules of origin criteria for facilitating the free trade area agreement.
   In a three-day meeting that ended Wednesday in Dhaka, Trade Negotiating Committee of the Bay of Bengal Initiative
   for the Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) agreed to bring down the number of non-tradable products to 15 per cent of the total tariff lines from the existing 25 per cent.
   Also, trade officials of the seven-nation bloc decided to fix rules of origin criteria at 35 per cent for the developed countries within the group and 30 per cent for the least developed countries for enjoying liberalised tariff under BIMSTEC.
   ‘Few outstanding issues are almost settled now. One or two issues need to be sorted out,’ Manel de Silva, TNC chairperson and director general of Sri Lankan Department of Commerce, said after the meeting.
    The meeting began here Monday in a bid to resolve the differences among the member countries and pave the way for establishment of a free trade area in the region.
   Manel said the delegations would take up the agreements reached in Dhaka with their respective governments before finalising those at the committee’s next meeting in New Delhi on November 12-16.
   ‘We (TNC) will be ready to sign the agreement at the BIMSTEC Summit in New Delhi in February 2008,’ the Sri Lankan top trade official said.
   Under a framework agreement on FTA signed in 2004, BIMSTEC member countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand - had agreed to bring down import tariffs for a group of products to zero and other products to 1-5 per cent.
   The Dhaka meeting agreed to give special consideration to regional LDCs like Bangladesh. It also decided to reduce the sensitive list without the principle of reciprocity, meaning that a product being on the negative list of a particular country would not get duty-free export status in other countries in the grouping. Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka would convey their decisions to the meeting chair within 15 days of their decision since they face difficulties in narrowing the sensitive lists, meeting sources said. It was also agreed that regional LDCs would be offered common derogations, excepting special cases where country-specific exemptions could be given.
   The committee members felt that the member countries should seriously consider the options so that the outstanding issues could be resolved at the next meeting and the region could get closer to an effective FTA.

Stock prices fell Wednesday as the merchant banks sold off shares to adjust their clients’ portfolios after the SEC passed the margin rules for the capital market financiers, market analysts said. With the day’s fall, stock suffered loss for three consecutive days.
   Turnover at the bourses also declined due to reduced loan facility from the merchant banks, said Moin Al Kashem, senior vice-president of Prime Finance and Investment.
   The turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange Wednesday declined to Tk 114.93 crore from the Tuesday’s Tk 136.33 crore. DSE turnover was Tk 153.70 crore on Monday.
   ‘It appears that merchant banks are not giving new loans rather they are adjusting loans through sell-off keeping in mind the SEC margin rules,’ said Moin, also a stock market analyst.
   SEC probe committee’s detection of irregularities of the merchant banking wing of AB Bank initially triggered the margin loan adjustment sell-off, said an official of the DSE.
   The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved the margin rules that bar merchant banks from giving loans to their board members, employees and relatives.
   Under the rules, merchant banks will also have to follow the ratio set by the SEC in giving loans to their clients.
   Previously, there was no SEC guideline on issuing margin loans and the merchant banks used to follow their codes of conduct to approve loans to investors.
   On Wednesday, DSE general index lost 12.52 points
   or 0.49 per cent to close at 2546.03, while its blue chips index, DSE20, shed 18.24 points or 0.89 per cent to close at 2025.35.
   Chittagong Stock Exchange’s selective categories index lost 17.89 points or 0.42 per cent to close at 4257.73, while its blue chips index, CSE30, shed 37.69 points or 0.64 per cent to finish at 5892.83.
   Turnover at the CSE went down to Tk 15.62 crore from the Tuesday’s Tk 16.17 crore. On Monday, CSE turnover was Tk 20.45 crore.
   Of the total 202 issues traded at the DSE floor, 125 declined, 59 advanced and 18 remained unchanged, and out of 104 issues traded at the CSE floor, 62 dipped, 32 gained and 10 remained unchanged.
   Prime Finance and Investment topped the turnover leaders at the DSE with total transaction of Tk 8.29 crore.
   Other turnover leaders
   at the prime bourse were BRAC Bank, Aims 1st Mutual Fund, Square Pharmaceuticals, LankaBangla Finance, Summit Power, Power Grid Company Bangladesh, United Commercial Bank, Union Capital and AB Bank.

The United States of America will host the major economies meeting on energy security and climate change on September 27-28 in Washington, DC.
   This is an initiative based on the fundamental premise that climate change is a generational challenge that requires a global response.
   The meeting is the first in a series of gatherings that will include 17 of the world’s major economies, developed and developing, as well as the United Nations.
   Combined, all participating countries represent about 85 per cent of the global economy and 80 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
   This new international initiative was endorsed by G-8 leaders in June and by the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders in Sydney, Australia earlier this month. The Major Economies Meeting later this week will move that initiative forward.

The Italian prime minister Romano Prodi on Tuesday showed keen interest to invest more in Bangladesh.
   During a meeting with chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session, he highly appreciated Bangladesh’s active role in the area of climate change important for both the countries.
   Explaining the favourable investment opportunities that exist for foreign investors in Bangladesh, Fakhruddin said Italian companies would be most welcomed.
   He said ideal conditions for investments are present in power, infrastructure and energy sectors.
   The chief adviser also underscored the fact that Bangladesh was in a position to expand the export basket to Italy, particularly with larger components of pharmaceuticals and leather in addition to RMG and knitwear.
   He sought Italy’s support for simplification of rules of origin of Bangladesh exports to the European Union.
   Romano Prodi also praised the Bangladeshi workers in Italy stating that they are ‘peaceful, disciplined and economically active.’
   Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed said this was a win-win situation for both the countries, creating employment for Bangladesh and economic growth for Italy.
   The chief adviser also explained the steps taken by the caretaker government to ensure the timely holding of a free, fair and credible election.

Citigroup Global Markets Bangladesh Private Limited on Wednesday launched merchant banking operation for its clients.
   The Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, Faruk Ahmad Siddiqi, inaugurated the operation of the first foreign-owned merchant bank at Motijheel in the city.
   At the inaugural function, Faruk Ahmad said the launch of operation of a foreign-owned merchant bank would give a boost to the capital market.
   Bangladesh market is small, but it has potential, he added.
   He hoped that within 3-4 years the market would grow bigger which would encourage foreign investors to come to this market.
   He urged the merchant bank to bring more foreign investors into the stock market.
   Mark Renton, managing director and head of Citi Asia-Pacific Investment banking, who arrived in the capital on Tuesday, also spoke at the inaugural function.
   He said the launching of Citigroup merchant bank would increase the image of Bangladesh abroad and the merchant bank would represent the country to the foreign investors.
   He said further that Citigroup has been working in many countries of Asia and the Bangladesh operation would be benefited from their experience.
   The vision of the company would stimulate entrepreneurs in the country, he hoped.
   The Launching programme was attended by Mamun Rashid, managing director of Citibank NA, Bangladesh, officials of Dhaka Stock Exchange and potential investors.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association on Wednesday decided to go for a legal battle against Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry for dropping five BGMEA members from FBCCI’s voter list.
   The apparel sector trade body in a statement on Wednesday said, ‘FBCCI Arbitration Tribunal has been engaged in a conspiracy and has taken a biased decision to keep five BGMEA members out of the vote.’
   BGMEA vowed to go to court to reinstate its members in the FBCCI list.
   The apex trade body on Tuesday dropped the five names from the voters’ roll following petitions claiming that the said BMGEA members were elected to the executive committee through a flawed election.
   The election tribunal of FBCCI in its verdict viewed that the BGMEA election was held in violation of the court orders and therefore the results were illegal and void.
   ‘Thus the nomination of five persons from the current executive committee of BGMEA for FBCCI election has been done without lawful authority,’ added the verdict.
   A copy of the verdict, attested by the federation’s secretary general Syed Jamaluddin, was faxed from a private business house, MM Group, owned by Mahmub Minhaz, a BGMEA member.
   The apex trade body initiated the action following a petition filed by Mahbub Minhaz.
   FBCCI removed BGMEA director Annisul Huq and vice-presidents Faisal Samad, MA Salam, Ferdous Perwez Bivon, and ABM Shamsuddin from its voters’ list.
   The move would block Annisul Huq, a former BGMEA president, from contesting for the top post of the country’s apex trade body in its election scheduled for November 22.

Jalal Ahmed took charge of Petrobangla as its chairman on Monday.
   Prior to this appointment, he served as the chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka for three years, said a press release.
   A BCS cadre of the 1982 batch, Jalal Ahmed held different posts in the field administration and at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
   He did his Master’s with honours in public administration from the University of Dhaka and had training in utility management and price reform from foreign institutions.

Prime minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday said Washington’s uncompromising national security stance since the 2001 attacks here is hampering Canada’s wish to expand free trade in the Americas.
   He also expressed concern in a rise in protectionist and nationalist sentiment in the United States as the 2008 presidential race gears up.
   ‘My own sense is that any talk of deepening the North American Free Trade Agreement or strengthening trade relationships on this continent is not going to happen in the immediate future,’ Harper said.
   ‘My conclusion after a year and a half in this job is that ... the United States government post-September 11 has very much become pre-occupied with security, and security that has very much a strong emphasis on national sovereignty and national borders.
   ‘And I think that until we’re able to couple that somewhat better, that the prospects of deepening our economic relationship are limited.’
   Harper was responding to questions after a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Earlier, he spoke at the United Nations.
   At present, some 80 per cent of Canadian exports head south to the United States, and 66 per cent of Canada’s imported goods originate in the United States.
   In an attempt to ‘diversify and deepen’ its trade linkages, Canada has recently begun negotiating free trade pacts with Colombia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Jordan, Harper noted.
   He went on to say that he is ‘deeply concerned’ about the buzz in the United States ahead of presidential elections next year with ‘populism, protectionism, and nationalism in an unhealthy sense running through it.’

Singapore once again topped the World Bank’s ranks for the best place in the world to do business, and Egypt is the leader in reforms to invite more business, the World Bank said Tuesday.
   ‘For the second year running, Singapore tops the aggregate rankings on the ease of doing business’ in 2006-2007, the World Bank said in releasing its ‘Doing Business 2008’ report.
   Singapore unseated New Zealand in the annual rankings last year. In the latest report, New Zealand held on to the number-two spot, ahead of the United States, in third place.
   Hong Kong, Denmark, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Australia and Iceland rounded out in descending order the top 10 places for ease of doing business in the survey of 178 economies.
   The World Bank said that countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union reformed the most in 2006-2007, along with a large group of emerging markets, including China and India.
   ‘China was the standout in East Asia, implementing far-reaching new private property rights and a new bankruptcy law,’ the bank said in a statement.
   Egypt, the leading reformer, greatly improved its position in the global rankings on the ease of doing business, with reforms in five of the 10 areas studied by the report, the 185-nation poverty-fighting bank said.
   ‘The report finds that equity returns are highest in countries that are reforming the most,’ said Michael Klein, World Bank/International Finance Corporation vice president for financial and private-sector development.
   ‘Investors are looking for upside potential, and they find it in economies that are reforming—regardless of their starting point,’ he added.
   In addition to Egypt, the other top 10 reformers are, in order, Croatia, Ghana, Macedonia, Georgia, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, China and Bulgaria.

Russia on Wednesday rolled out a new regional passenger jet that it hopes will revive the country’s civil aviation industry and rival similar models from Brazil and Canada.
   The Superjet 100 is being developed by state-run jetmaker Sukhoi with Western partners at a factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia’s Far East, some 8,000 kilometres east of Moscow.
   ‘The first plane of the new Russia is of great importance, a priority project, because the domestic market is not enough for a world economy,’ first deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov said at the unveiling ceremony.
   With the Superjet 100, Sukhoi hopes to succeed where Soviet-era jetmakers Ilyushin and Tupolev failed: in taking a large share of the world’s booming passenger jet market.
   The plane, which can fit up to 110 passengers, is due to undergo test flights later this year, and developers hope to be producing up to six planes a month for world markets by 2010.
   Sukhoi is hoping US and European authorities will certify the plane in 2008.
   For officials, the project is a symbol of Russia’s ambitions to diversify its increasing powerful economy away from a reliance on oil and gas exports towards manufacturing and hi-tech.
   US jetmaker Boeing, Italy’s Alenia, and French companies Snecma and Thales are all involved in the project, for which Sukhoi expects to spend around one billion dollars.
   Alenia, part of Italian industrial giant Finmeccanica, owns a 25 per cent stake in Sukhoi Aviation.
   Russian carrier Aeroflot has ordered 15 of the Superjet 100s for 400 million dollars and Italian regional carrier ItAli has put in an order for 10 planes.
   There are 73 orders in total so far for the Superjet, mainly from Russian regional carriers.

The European Union on Wednesday accused the United States of trying to weaken aircraft maker Airbus and causing 27 billion dollars in losses by paying subsidies to US rival Boeing.
   Airbus and EU offficials said on the sidelines of the first hearing at the World Trade Organisation on the EU’s complaint against the United States that support for Boeing weakened Airbus’s competitiveness.
   ‘We will produce the cold facts to demonstrate subsidy by subsidy how US subsidies have benefitted Boeing and injured Airbus interests,’ said Geoff Shuman, Airbus director of European affairs
   An EU official who declined to be identified said the US subsidies between 2004 and 2006 had caused Airbus to lose 27 billion dollars and were illegal under world trade rules.
   ‘Boeing has never paid back a single cent of the subsidies it has received,’ Shuman said.
   ‘Airbus has paid back 40 per cent more than it has received from EU governments since 1992 and has repaid in excess of seven billion euros so far for research and development investments,’ he added.
   The EU case focuses on ‘lavish’ research and development support it says the US Defense Department and NASA provided to Boeing, as well as support from the states of Illinois, Kansas and Washington.
   The first hearing by the WTO dispute settlement panel judging the case comes six months after a similar hearing by another WTO panel on a separate US complaint against Europan subsidies for Airbus.
   ‘The idea that Boeing has been causing serious prejudice to Airbus doesn’t fit the facts. Since 2000, Airbus has gained 20 percentage points of market share, all taken directly from Boeing,’ said Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the US trade representative.
   ‘The EU’s claims are to distract attention from its own massive subsidies,’ she added.
   Washington is primarily targeting European government loans to Airbus for the launch of new models it claims illicit under WTO rules.
   In July, the United States charged that the estimated overall benefits of such support for Airbus amounted to 205 billion dollars, double its previous estimate.
   Both complaints were launched nearly simultaneously at the Geneva-based WTO in October 2004. A ruling in the US case against the EU is expected first, in December 2007, with the ruling on the EU’s complaint following months later.

Frothy milk prices, sub-prime fears and weaker job prospects have undercut consumption pillars of the German and US economies, studies on both sides of the Atlantic show.
   The first two factors sapped shopper morale in the eurozone’s biggest economy this month, a survey released Wednesday by the German GfK institute found.
   In the United States meanwhile, consumer confidence tanked in September to almost a two-year low amid faltering business and job market conditions, the Conference Board said one day earlier.
   Household consumption is a stronger contributor to the world’s biggest economy however than in Germany, where exports are a traditional engine of growth.
   The leading barometer of German household confidence fell to an indexed 6.8 points from a revised level in August of 7.4, its second drop in as many months, a GfK statement said.
   ‘Above all, the credit crisis in the United States and rising food prices are responsible’ for German consumers’ decreased inclination to break out their debit cards, the institute added.
   ‘The German propensity to buy is currently restrained,’ GfK observed. ‘This accompanies the propensity to save, which has increased considerably this month.’
   The collapse of the US market for high-risk mortgages, the so-called sub-prime market, triggered a crisis in the global banking system that tightened credit and caused many business and consumers to cut back on spending plans.
   Other factors cited in the GfK study were debates about the euro’s current strength against the dollar and its potential effect on the German economy.
   Soaring oil prices and their likely effects on heating bills, and the prospects of an overall economic slump in the United States, a key market for German exporters, added to the ‘rather more gloomy conditions of late.’
   In the US, ‘weaker business conditions combined with a less favourable job market continue to cast a cloud over consumers and heighten their sense of uncertainty and concern,’ said Lynn Franco, the Conference Board’s research director.
   The business research group said its US consumer confidence index fell to 99.8, down from a revised 105.6 in August.
   IXIS Corporate and Investment Bank economist Marie-Pierre Ripert identified ‘weakening in the job market, tightening in credit conditions and the financial crisis, declining home prices and rising gasoline prices’ as major causes.
   ‘All these factors are likely to weigh on consumer spending in the months ahead triggering a significant deceleration in GDP growth,’ she added.
   The US report was based on a survey of 5,000 households, while the GfK study polled 2,000 people on their expectations for the month to come concerning the economy, personal income and inclination to make purchases.
   German consumer confidence dipped in all three domains.
   While consumers continued to believe the German economy was healthy, they paid close attention to developments in the United States, and ‘continual speculation as to the impact of the mortgage crisis is making is mark on consumer sentiment,’ GfK said.
   Increased disposable income that resulted from lower unemployment and higher wages failed to stem a lowering of income expectations to a level near that in February.
   German shoppers, however, ‘appear to have already taken into account’ the euro’s rise in value and the German research group did not expect it to result in ‘further significant setbacks.’
   Europe’s single currency, meanwhile, set another record high against the dollar, reaching 1.4162 dollars in early Tokyo trade Wednesday on growing concerns that the US economy was losing steam.

Kazakhstan’s parliament approved on Wednesday a bill making it easier for the state to break contracts with foreign companies, upping the pressure on Italian energy giant ENI in an ongoing row.
   The bill, which still needs the approval of the upper house of parliament and President Nursultan Nazarbayev, says the government can break contracts if foreign companies’ behaviour threatens ‘the economic interests of Kazakhstan.’
   Kazakh deputies introduced the legislation earlier this month, adding to government pressure on an ENI-led consortium over production delays and cost overruns at the vast Kashagan oil field it controls.
   The field, which contains 13 billion barrels of proven crude reserves, is key to this resource-rich Central Asian state’s plans to triple its oil production by 2015.
   But ENI has pushed back the start of production from 2005 to 2010 and Kazakhstan wants to modify the contract to increase its share of future profits from Kashagan from 10 per cent to 40 per cent.
   The parliament said the bill must be adopted by October 22, which is also the deadline that the government has set to negotiate ‘a friendly settlement’ with ENI.
   ENI, France’s Total, British-Dutch major Shell and ExxonMobil of the United States each hold 18.52-per cent stake in the consortium developing Kashagan. ConocoPhillips of the United States has 9.26 per cent and Japan’s Inpex and Kazmunaigaz each hold 8.33 per cent.

Indian giant Reliance Industries is suspending plans to bring a Western-style ‘retail revolution’ to the nation’s biggest state amid opposition from small traders and local government, an official said.
   The company has frozen retail operations and is handing out termination letters to some 1,000 of its 2,800 store employees in Uttar Pradesh state, said the senior company official, who did not wish to be named.
   ‘We will not force ourselves into a state where we are not wanted. We will not push ourselves into a state. We won’t operate there until we get clearance.
   ‘We’re giving termination notices for around 1,000 employees,’ added the official.
   Reliance had opened 50 Reliance Fresh small supermarkets across Uttar Pradesh, seen as vital to the success of the company’s retail rollout with its population of 166 million people.
   There have been protests across India against the opening of Reliance stores since company chairman Mukesh Ambani announced a six billion dollars retail foray last November, declaring he wanted to unleash a ‘retail revolution.’
   India’s 15-million ‘mom and pop’ corner stores are fearful that competition from the giant retailers, with air-conditioning and plastic-wrapped produce, will force them to shut shop.
   Last month, Reliance opened 14 new stores in the Uttar Pradesh cities of Lucknow and Varanasi that were forced to down shutters amid violent protests by traders.
   Later the state government led by chief minister Mayawati ordered their closure, citing law and order concerns, and announced ‘a high-level committee to review’ the matter.
   The latest developments underline the hurdles facing Reliance and other big retailers as they seek to introduce Western-style shopping to India’s largely unorganised retail landscape of small shopkeepers.
   In Bhubaneshwar, capital of the eastern state of Orissa, traders earlier this week ransacked two Reliance stores, forcing their closure, and leading police to forbid the opening of a third.
   The Orissa government afterwards said it would ‘examine’ Reliance’s move to open outlets in the state.

China has become a leader in tearing down barriers to business, but lots of red tape remains, a report from the private investment arm of the World Bank said Wednesday.
   The world’s fourth-largest economy has been ‘a standout in regulatory reform,’ the International Finance Corporation said in its Doing Business 2008 report.
   ‘While there is room for improvement, it is clear that China is making steady progress in improving business conditions for companies including small and medium sized enterprises,’ Michael Ipson, the IFC’s manager for China and Mongolia, told reporters.
   China was ranked among the world’s top 10 reformers, along with nations such as Egypt, Croatia and Ghana, the IFC said.
   The report, which has been published five times and ranks almost all the world’s economies on the ease of doing business, in particular singled out two reforms from the past few months in China.
   A new property law in March helped to put private property rights on an equal footing with state property rights and made it easier for companies to find collateral for loans.
   China also adopted a new bankruptcy law in August, giving secured creditors priority to proceeds from their collateral, according to the report.
   This reassurance is likely to make investors more willing to finance projects in China.
   ‘We see that the number of businesses being established in China grows every year and that it is in fact a government policy to nurture a climate which allows the companies to be established and grow,’ said Ipson.
   In the first eight months, 24,848 foreign enterprises invested in China, according to commerce ministry data. There were no immediately available data on the establishment of local enterprises in the same period.
   However, China was only number 83 when ranked according to ‘ease of doing business,’ and IFC officials pointed out examples where enterprises must still deal with large amounts of bureaucratic red tape.
   Justin Yan, one of the authors of the report, said a company must go through an exhaustive, and exhausting, 37 procedures to get a construction licence.
   On average, a company operating in China also has to spend 872 man hours annually to complete tax procedures, he said.
   ‘That’s about a month. So that’s quite a long time,’ he said.
   Yan warned that East Asia and the Pacific were ‘near the bottom’ in terms of reform.
   ‘What we see here is that a region that continues to do quite well economically but perhaps runs the risk of being left behind simply because it is not keeping up with other regions in the paces of business reform,’ he said.

Mobile operator Grameenphone has recently signed an agreement with the Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh.
   Under the deal, Grameenphone will provide communication facilities to the commission under its business solutions package.
   Dr Stefan Frowein, ambassador of the European Commission to Bangladesh, and Stein Naevdal, chief marketing officer of Grameenphone, inked the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.
   Michel De Knoop, head of administration, Kazi Azizul Haque, administrative adviser, and Tamanna Hassan, protocol officer of the EC delegation, and Laszlo Barta, head of sales, and Mahboob Hossain, general manager and head of direct sales, of Grameenphone were present at the deal signing occasion.

Borse Dubai said Wednesday it had sweetened its takeover offer for Nordic market operator OMX and had secured 47.6 per cent of shares in the group.
   Major OMX shareholders Investor and Nordea agreed to sell their stakes for 265 kronor per share ($40.6), Borse Dubai said in a joint statement with US operator Nasdaq, higher than the initial offer of 230 kronor.
   Borse Dubai said that ‘57.4 million OMX shares, equivalent to 47.6 per cent of OMX shares outstanding are now under Borse Dubai’s control through direct ownership, option agreements and irrevocable undertakings.’
   Borse Dubai launched the takeover offer in partnership with US operator Nasdaq, to which ownership is to be transferred under a complex agreement that will then give Dubai a stake in the Nasdaq.

Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov called on foreign companies to invest in his country’s energy sector in a speech published on Wednesday by the state news agency.
   ‘The oil and gas sector needs foreign investment’ to allow Turkmenistan to triple gas production by 2030, Berdymykhammedov, who is on a visit to the United States, was quoted as saying by TDH news agency.
   Turkmenistan also aims to multiply oil production 10 times by 2030.
   The ex-Soviet Central Asian state, whose energy sector has long been dominated by Moscow, produces around 80 billion cubic metres of gas and 10 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

The distressed German bank IKB could be hit by a wave of shareholder legal actions as a result of losses suffered in the US home loan debacle, a press report said Wednesday.
   ‘In all, we are preparing more than 80 complaints and demand 4.5 million euros ($6.5m) from the bank,’ which specialises in business finance, the daily Handelsblatt quoted lawyer Ralf Plueck as saying.
   The first batch of 40 complaints against IKB and its former boss, Stefan Ortseifen, would be filed on Thursday, and charge that shareholders were not warned of problems linked to the crisis in the US market for high-risk mortgages, he said.
   IKB was saved from bankruptcy in August when the German bank KfW, the government’s financial arm, provided IKB with a line of credit worth 8.1 billion euros and other German banks agreed to add another 3.5 billion if needed.
   On July 20, IKB had presented provisional quarterly results and reaffirmed its full-year targets, leading many analysts to recommend its shares.
   Ten days later however, the bank issued a profit warning and its shares plunged on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
   IKB is to publish Friday the final results from the first quarter of its 2007/2008 fiscal year.

Singapore said Wednesday a record 911,000 visitors went to the city-state in August, the highest ever for that month.
   Last month’s arrivals were 4.7 per cent higher than last year and were fuelled in part by a record 114,000 visitors from China, surpassing the previous peak of 113,000 recorded in July 2006, the Singapore Tourism Board said.
   ‘August is typically a peak travel month for visitors from China as it coincides with school summer holidays,’ it said.
   Apart from China, arrivals from Indonesia, Australia, Japan and India also contributed to the record-breaking month, it said.
   Hotels in the city-state enjoyed average room occupancy of almost 90 per cent and earned nearly 160 million Singapore dollars (US$107m) in room revenues last month with average room rates of 198 dollars, the tourism board said.
   Lacking natural attractions, Singapore has embarked on a major campaign to spruce up its tourist appeal.
   It has plans for new attractions including two casino resorts, expected to open by 2010, and is trying to become an arts and entertainment centre.
   It is to host its first Formula One Grand Prix event later next year.

The euro struck another record high against the dollar in Asian trade on Wednesday on growing concerns that the world’s largest economy is losing steam, dealers said.
   They said that another batch of sluggish data had sparked renewed speculation about possible further US interest rate cuts.
   The euro reached 1.4162 dollars in early Tokyo trade, the highest level since its introduction in January 1999.
   By mid-afternoon it stood at 1.4146 dollars, up from 1.4135 in New York late on Tuesday.
   The dollar rose to 114.79 yen from 114.77 while the euro eased to 162.40 yen from 162.43.
   The greenback stumbled in overseas trade as markets reacted to news that US consumer confidence slid to a near two-year low in September while sales of existing homes declined 4.3 per cent in August.
   The figures fanned jitters about the impact on the world’s largest economy of rising defaults in subprime mortgages to Americans with patchy credit histories, dealers said.
   ‘Market sentiment toward the dollar is still very weak and overall trend is to sell the greenback,’ said Marito Ueda, a currency trader at FX Prime.
   ‘The weak data overnight causes concern that the subprime housing loan problem might resurface,’ he said.
   The Conference Board of the United States said its consumer confidence index fell to 99.8 this month, down from a revised 105.6 in August.
   The confidence reading was sharply below Wall Street forecasts of 104.5 and was at its lowest level since November 2005.
   The ailing US property market also got more bad news as an industry report showed existing home sales fell 4.3 per cent in August and that the glut of unsold properties rose further.
   The figures stoked market speculation about possible further cuts in US interest rates by the Federal Reserve, which last week slashed its benchmark rate by half a point to 4.75 per cent, dealers said.
   ‘Mounting expectations for additional rate cuts and lingering uncertainty about the depth of the US subprime loan problems are likely to continue to weaken the appetite for the dollar,’ said Mizuho Corporate Bank foreign exchange dealer Shuichi Kanehira.
   The yen showed little reaction to the formation of Japan’s new government after new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda kept the existing team of top economy and finance ministers.
   ‘If the new cabinet can restore some stability in the Japanese political scene, the yen will not become a target of selling. But the latest change in power is largely neutral,’ Kanehira said.
   Traders will be keeping a close eye on Japan’s inflation, unemployment and other data due on Friday to judge whether the Bank of Japan will raise its super-low interest rates from 0.5 per cent.
   In one piece of bright news on Asia’s largest economy, the government said Wednesday that Japan’s trade surplus nearly quadrupled in August thanks to fast-growing exports to the rest of Asia and Europe.
   The dollar fell to 1.4984 Singapore dollars from 1.5004 a day earlier, to 32.93 Taiwan dollars from 32.95, to 45.21 Philippine pesos from 45.32, and to 9,137.50 Indonesian rupiah from 9,157.

World oil prices advanced on Wednesday as traders anticipated falling crude inventories in the upcoming weekly snapshot of US energy reserves.
   New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, added 58 cents to 80.11 dollars per barrel.
   The price of Brent North Sea crude for November delivery gained 28 cents to 77.90 dollars per barrel in London trade.
   Last week, prices hit all-time peaks on concerns over tight American energy supplies and fears of stormy weather in the rig-heavy US Gulf of Mexico.
   Prices have since tumbled on profit-taking after the record-breaking rally which saw New York crude hit 84.10 dollars and Brent strike 79.94 dollars per barrel.
   ‘We fell steeply Tuesday and now we are consolidating ... the prospect of US stats is underpinning the market for now,’said Base Commodities trader Christopher Bellew.
   Later Wednesday, at 1430 GMT, traders will absorb the US Department of Energy’s weekly snapshot on American energy stockpiles.

Malaysian co
to invest in
Adamjee EPZ
Malaysian company M/s Garisan Etika Bangladesh (Pvt) Ltd will set up a 50MW power generation plant at Adamjee EPZ with an investment of $41 million. An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and the M/s Garisan Etika Bangladesh (Pvt) Ltd at BEPZA Complex in the city on Wednesday. AZM Azizur Rahman, general manager of BEPZA, and Mohammad Tuffile Nawab Din, chairman of M/s Garisan, signed the lease agreement on behalf of their respective organisations, said a press release. Abdul Malek Bin Abdul Aziz, Malaysian high commissioner, Brigadier General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf, BEPZA executive chairman, and senior officials from both the sides were present at the signing ceremony. It may be mentioned that in the 25th meeting of the BEPZA board of governors, it was decided that the authorities would allow private companies to operate power generation plants as service oriented enterprises in the EPZs to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
— New Age

Bangla movies to go for inflight screening
The Impress Telefilm, producer of teleflims and entertainment programmes, and the Interface Communications, a public relations and marketing support organisation, on Wednesday signed an agreement in the city. Under the deal, the Interface Communications will be the sole distributor of Impress Telefilm’s full-length. Bangla films, teleflims and other programmes for screening as inflight entertainment of different airlines, said a press release. Faridur Reza Sagai, managing director, Impress Telefilm, and Kazi Wahidul Alam, chief executive officer, Intertace Communications, signed the deal on behalf of their respective organisations.
— New Age

Result of Reverse Repo auction
The Reverse Repo auction for commercial banks and financial institutions was held at the Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday. A total of 17 bids of 1-day tenor amounting to Tk 1,240 crore and two bids of 7-day tenor amounting to Tk 194 crore, in grand total 19 bids amounting to Tk 1,434 crore, were received, and all the bids were accepted. The rate of interest against the accepted bids was 6.50 per cent per annum, said a BB press release.
— New Age