The military-backed interim government will review a proposal of the industries ministry to sell off 39 per cent of Unilever shares owned by the government to bolster the country’s capital market, two senior government officials said.
   The government holds 39.25 per cent or 7,66,601 shares of the Unilever Bangladesh Limited.
   The Unilever Bangladesh board earlier rejected a finance ministry proposal to offload five per cent Unilever shares by the government and five per cent shares by the company.
   The company, however, has agreed to the new move made by the industries ministry, according to which the government will offload 20 per cent Unilever shares in the capital market under direct listing regulations. According to the proposal, the rest of the shares will be handed over to the Unilever Overseas Holdings BV, the parent company of Unilever Bangladesh, at the average weighted price of the first month’s trading at the bourses.
   The industries ministry has worked out the pricing formula in consultation with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh.
   ‘The country’s capital market will not be really benefited if the multinational company does not agree to offload its own shares,’ said a senior official of the finance ministry.
   The industries ministry proposal has been placed before the finance adviser, Mirza Azizul Islam, and the finance ministry will review it at an inter-ministerial meeting in the first week of December, the official said.
   The floating of Unilever Bangladesh shares will certainly make the investors enthusiastic as the company’s annual turnover is around $200 million, market analysts said.
   ‘Unilever shares are already being traded in Pakistan and other regional capital markets. However, here the company is opposed to the government’s proposal to offload a small amount of its shares,’ observed economist Abu Ahmed.
   He also pointed out that ‘multinational companies can enjoy tax exemption if they offload shares in the stock markets.’
   Formerly known as Lever Brothers, Unilever Bangladesh has been growing at a double-digit rate since the 1990s. The fast-growing Anglo-Dutch company is holding a firm grip on the country’s expanding consumer market. It sells beauty soap Lux and at least 40 other toiletries and consumer products.

US authorities launched fresh efforts Tuesday to unfreeze credit and limit the economic downturn with programs to buy up to 800 billion dollars in mortgage- and asset-backed securities.
   The initiatives call for up to 600 billion dollars in Federal Reserve purchases of mortgage securities, and a separate 200 billion dollars for asset-backed securities to help get credit to consumers.
   The new efforts come as part of a move to restart consumer credit markets that froze up in October and to get more liquidity and bring down borrowing costs for the housing market, which is at the center of the economic storm.
   The effort ‘attempts to restart the credit markets after the nuclear explosion that occurred in September,’ said Andrew Busch, analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
   ‘Clearly, the economy continues to reel from the extraction of low interest rates and available credit to financial institutions, to businesses, and to consumers.’
   Economist Marie-Pierre Ripert at Natixis added, ‘Both these measures are clearly a significant step in the action implemented by the Fed in trying to avoid a deeper recession and to prevent the economy to fall in a deflationary spiral.’
   The US central bank said it would launch purchases of up to 100 billion dollars of obligations of housing-related government-sponsored enterprises including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the next week, and buy another 500 billion dollars in a process started by the end of this year.
   Separately, the Fed said it would launch a program to buy up to 200 billion dollars in asset-backed securities — backed by student loans, auto loans, credit card loans, and other loans — in a further effort to unclog frozen credit markets.
   The US Treasury said it was allocating 20 billion dollars to the asset-backed securities fund as ‘credit protection.’
   ‘The asset-backed securities market provides liquidity to financial institutions that provide small business loans and consumer lending such as auto loans, student loans, and credit cards,’ Treasury said in a statement.
   ‘Millions of Americans cannot find affordable financing for their basic credit needs,’ Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said, adding that the program ‘may be expanded over time’ to other types of assets.
   The statement noted that these assets-backed securities amounted to 240 billion dollars in 2007 but had dropped sharply in the third quarter of 2008 ‘before essentially coming to a halt in October,’ making it harder for consumers to get credit and threatening a seizing up of economic activity.

Dhaka stocks plunged for the straight second day on Tuesday as investors, shaken by the downtrend in the market for the last couple of months, continued offloading shares, market operators said.
   The general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange lost 60.60 points, or 2.26 per cent, to close at 2618.07, while its blue chips index, DSE20, shed 45.48 points, or 2.00 per cent, to finish at 2223.37.
   A DSE stockbroker said selling pressure pulled down share prices across the board as investors were worried due to the bear run.
   On Sunday, the DSE general index, however, posted its highest single-day surge in the last four months thanks to a buying spree of investors enthused by the recent positive political developments. The market, however, dropped on the following day as investors hastened to release shares for profit-taking. They are still to recover from the gloom of the two-month bear run, the stockbroker said.
   The turnover at the DSE dropped to Tk 170.45 crore from the Monday’s Tk 243.39 crore. The market indicator dropped to Tk 200 crore-mark after five trading days.
   A merchant bank official said financial institutions were holding back investments before the yearend.
   Of the total 235 issues traded, 30 advanced, 197 declined and eight remained unchanged.
   Shares of the Standard Insurance Limited and Northern General Insurance Company Limited made their trading debut on the country’s stock exchanges Tuesday.
   The share price of Standard Insurance gained 48.75 per cent to close at Tk 148.75 each at the DSE. Northern General Insurance’s share price increased by 62 per cent to finish at Tk 162 at the bourse. The face value of a share of both the companies is Tk 100.
   Uttara Bank topped the turnover leaders with a total transaction of Tk 19.77 crore.
   Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Beximco, Titas Gas, National Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, Square Pharmaceuticals, ACI, BRAC Bank, and AB Bank were the rest of the day’s top 10 turnover leaders.
   Chittagong stocks also dropped on Tuesday for the second consecutive day.
   The selective categories index of Chittagong Stock Exchange lost 109.74 points, or 2.03 per cent, to close at 5296.72, while its blue chips index, CSE30, shed 145.16 points, or 1.98 per cent, to finish at 7192.72.
   Of the total 115 issues traded on the CSE floor, 13 posted gain, 97 dropped and five remained unchanged.
   The turnover at the CSE went down to Tk 25.03 crore from the Monday’s Tk 34.56 crore.

The public sector, long shunned by Chinese graduates looking to make their fortune in business, is once again in favour amid fears about the impact of the economic crisis on job prospects.
   A record 775,000 candidates registered for the civil service examination in China this year — 130,000 more than last year.
   Thirty years after the launch of the country’s economic reforms, the public sector remains a haven of stability at a time when millions of workers across China face being laid off amid the global economic crisis.
   ‘We are all worried about the situation and we wonder if we will be able to find work,’ explained Ye Liu, a broadcasting student from Fudan University in Shanghai who is among half of her class taking the exam on November 30.
   Already around 800,000 people who graduated in 2008 remain out of work, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
   Next year, eight million more graduates will enter the market just as the slowdown could see China’s economic growth plummet to its lowest in a decade.
   ‘I always thought that I could easily find a job, but with the crisis everything has changed,’ said Fu Jiawen, an intern at the human resources department of a multinational company, who is also taking the exam.
   ‘At least the civil service is not impacted by the vagaries of the economic situation.’
   China established the civil service entrance examination was established in 1994, but it was not always so popular. In 2000, for example, only 40,000 students tried their luck.
   Now even private sector employees have started to study again, aiming for one of the 13,500 positions available.
   ‘I went through piles of work, never-ending overtime,’ said 28-year-old Chu Yajie, explaining her unhappiness with a three-year career at an advertising agency.
   ‘I’ve had enough. The civil service can provide me with a daily lump of reasonable work and a stable salary.’
   Much sought-after jobs in the customs department pay young recruits a monthly salary of between 3,700 and 4,500 yuan ($660), compared to an average of 2,500 yuan in Shanghai for young graduates in the private sector.
   For less popular jobs such as a position at the prison management bureau, the salary is around 2,000 yuan.
   The trend to look for a stable government job rather than something in the private sector also appears to be being guided by graduates’ parents, including Chu’s.
   Professor Yu Hai, of Fudan’s School of Social Development and Public Policy, said parental influence was crucial in the increasing popularity of civil service jobs.

The Times appealed Tuesday to Australians in Britain not to head home, amid signs that looming recession and a plummeting pound are fueling an Aussie exodus.
   It paid tribute to famous Australians who have made their home in Britain, including Barry Humphries,
   Clive James and Germaine Greer, as well as the generations of young Antipodeans who have flocked to the ‘old country.’
   But in an editorial, The Times voiced alarm at new figures showing that 2,700 Australians now are heading home every month, compared to 1,750 in 2005.
   ‘This is largely a vote of no confidence in the old country,’ said the daily newspaper — a prominent part of Australian-born media titan Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation empire.
   ‘As the recession bites, the lure of home, with unemployment at a 33-year low and the Australian dollar at an 11-year high against sterling, is very tempting.’
   London has long been a key destination for young Australians, who pull pints in the city’s pubs and bars and famously turned the city’s Earls Court area into ‘Kangaroo Valley.’
   But the economic downturn is adding another reason to leave Britain, on top of the usual gripes of Aussies here — including the notoriously miserable weather, especially at this time of year.
   ‘There was always a case that anyone leaving Circular Quay in Sydney for Southampton dock was going the wrong way,’ said
   The Times, noting that 400,000 Australians live in Britain.
   ‘But now, with more than 20,000 Britons leaving for their country every year,
   we need all the Australians we can get. Would they please not go back where they came from?’

The first international CNG exposition in Dhaka concluded Tuesday at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre.
   More than 70 local and foreign companies from 16 countries engaged in manufacturing and trading of various CNG products, such as cylinders, kits, accessories, compressors and dispensers, took part in the four-day event, said a press release.
   Annisul Haque, president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, was present as the chief guest at the closing ceremony presided over by Global Event Management Services chairperson Monowara Hakim Ali.

Japan’s recession-hit economy will slip back into deflation in the second half of next year, requiring its interest rates to be kept very low, possibly beyond 2010, the OECD said Tuesday.
   Inflation will gradually fade and consumer prices will drop 0.3 per cent in the third quarter of next year and 0.2 per cent in the fourth, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report.
   Japan’s inflation hit a decade high 2.4 per cent in July after Asia’s largest economy finally exited a long deflationary spiral, but with energy costs now sinking, consumer prices will drop 0.1 per cent in 2010, the OECD said.
   ‘Japan has not been at the epicentre of the financial crisis, but after a brief growth spurt in early 2009 due to fiscal stimulus, output is set to stagnate over the second half of 2009, as the global economic downturn and the recent appreciation of the yen curtails external demand,’ warned OECD chief economist Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel.
   ‘With persistent economic slack and anaemic wage growth, deflation may return by mid-2009,’ he said.
   Japan was stuck in a deflationary spiral for years after its economic bubble burst in the early 1990s.
   Falling consumer prices cut into company profits and encouraged consumers to put off purchases in the hope of getting a better bargain in the future.
   But the return of inflation also caused concern because it was driven by soaring energy costs rather than a stronger domestic economy.
   Last month Japan’s central bank cut interest rates for the first time in seven years to tackle a recession in the world’s second biggest economy.
   The OECD said the Bank of Japan would need to keep its key lending rate at the current low level of 0.3 per cent for some time to ward off deflation.
   ‘The risks to activity stemming from the global financial crisis and the appreciation of the yen, as well as the need to let inflation rise to create some buffer against the risk of deflation, argue for maintaining the current degree of monetary accommodation, possibly even beyond 2010,’ it said.
   The OECD kept its forecast issued earlier this month for Japan’s economy to contract 0.1 per cent in 2009 and to grow 0.6 per cent in 2010.
   ‘External shocks from the run-up in commodity prices and then international financial turbulence have brought Japan’s expansion to an end,’ it said.

The Agrani Bank Limited signed an agreement Monday with four private debt collection companies for recovering the bank’s written-off loans, said a press release.
   The companies are Peoples Development Services Corporation Ltd, Multi Promotional Services Ltd, Speed Services Ltd, and Octokhan Investment Services (BD) Ltd.
   Syed Abu Nasser Bukhtear Ahmed, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, M Abdur Rahman, MD of Peoples Development Services Corporation Ltd, M Nuruzzaman, MD of Multi Promotional Services Ltd, AT Ahmedul Haque Chowdhury, MD of Speed Services Ltd, and Rahima Zaman, MD of Octokhan Investment Services (BD) Ltd, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.
   Syed Abdul Hamid and M Fayekuzzaman, deputy managing directors, all general managers and executives concerned of the bank and directors and top executives of the debt collection companies were present on the occasion.

Shariful Moslemin has joined Bangldesh Krishi Bank as deputy managing director recently, said a press release.
   Prior to this, he was a general manager of Janata Bank Limited. He started his banking career as probationary officer of Sonali Bank in 1978.
   Shariful Moslemin received his MBA degree from the Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University and also obtained a banking diploma from IBB.

The financial crisis will likely push the world’s developed countries into their worst recession since the early 1980s, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday.
   In its half-yearly economic outlook, the Paris-based organisation said economic output would likely shrink by 0.4 per cent in 2009 for the 30 market democracies that make up its membership, against the 1.4 per cent growth prediction for 2008. As a result, the OECD said the number of unemployed across its members could rise by 8 million over the next two years and that there was a risk, ‘albeit small’, that some countries would experience deflation – falling prices.
   The OECD said the US was likely to contract by 0.9 per cent in 2009 following a 1.4 per cent expansion this year. Japanese output is expected to contract by 0.1 per cent only in 2009, following 0.5 per cent growth this year, while the 15-nation euro-zone will likely shrink by 0.6 per cent next year after 1.0 per cent growth this year.
   The OECD’s latest 2009 projections for the world’s leading three economic areas are more or less the same as the preliminary forecasts made earlier this month ahead of the G-20 meeting of world leaders in Washington, with only 2009 growth in the euro-zone revised down from the previous estimate of -0.5 per cent.
   The OECD said economic growth of its membership fell by an annualised quarter-on-quarter 0.2 per cent in the third quarter this year and would keep contracting until the middle of 2009. The biggest loss of output in the OECD is expected to occur during the fourth quarter of 2008, with a 1.4 per cent contraction predicted.
   The figures indicate that the developed world has now entered a slump estimated to last at least four quarters; two consecutive quarters is a common definition of recession.
   ‘Many OECD economies are in, or are on the verge of, a protracted recession of a magnitude not experienced since the early 1980s,’ said Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel, the OECD’s chief economist.
   The OECD said the US economy would contract by an annualised rate of 0.3 per cent in the third quarter, followed by a massive 2.8 per cent decline in the last quarter. Recovery is only anticipated in the third quarter of 2009 when output is set to spike 0.6 per cent as the effects of the credit squeeze abate, the housing downturn bottoms out, and low interest rates bear fruit.
   In the euro-zone, output is seen to have fallen by 0.9 per cent in the third quarter, followed by a 1.0 per cent decline in the fourth. As in the US, output is not expected to rebound until the third quarter of 2009, and only then by the modest amount of 0.1 per cent. Official European Union figures earlier this month confirms that the euro-zone as a whole is in recession.
   In Japan, the recession, which started in the second quarter of 2008, is only expected to last through to the first quarter of 2009, when output is expected to rebound by an annual rate of 0.8 per cent. However, output is set to stagnate over the second half of 2009 as the global economic downturn and the recent rise in the yen hits demand for Japanese goods.
   Because of the anticipated bounce-back in growth by the second half of next year, the OECD projected that economic output across its membership would rise in 2010 by 1.5 per cent.
   The OECD highlighted a number of countries where the downturn would be severe, partly because of falling house prices. These include Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain, and Turkey.
   ‘These economies are most directly affected by the financial crisis, which in some cases has exposed other vulnerabilities, or by severe housing downturns,’ said Schmidt-Hebbel.
   The OECD said Britain would see output decline by 1.1 per cent in 2009 after growing by only 0.8 per cent in 2008. The forecasts are similar to those announced Monday by the British government following its 20 billion pound ($30 billion) stimulus package.
   Elsewhere, the OECD said economic growth in China would remain below the double-figure rates experienced over the last few years through to the end of the decade. For 2009, the OECD projected Chinese growth to moderate to 8.0 per cent.

As many as 225,000 jobs could be lost in New York city and state due to the Wall Street crisis, the state comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, said Monday.
   ‘Total private sector job losses during this two-year period could reach 225,000 in New York state, including 175,000 in New York city,’ DiNapoli said in a report on the crisis.
   The report, covering the period October 2007 to October 2009, warned that ‘job losses could be even greater if the downturn is longer and deeper than currently forecast.’
   The report underlines alarming budget shortfalls facing both New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg and state governor David Paterson.
   DiNapoli said that both city and state rely so heavily on Wall Street for tax revenues that they might need ‘federal assistance to navigate these uncharted waters.’
   The report predicts 48,000 job cuts in New York city’s financial services sector, 38,000 of them in the securities industry.
   The finance sector is so central to the area’s economy that every Wall Street job supports two additional jobs in other fields in the city and another 1.3 elsewhere in the state.
   Before the crisis, which has seen the collapse of major banks and the wiping out of trillions of dollars worth of investments, Wall Street was the engine of New York government revenues.
   The securities industry accounted for just five per cent of New York city jobs, but 25 per cent of income. A big slice of tax revenue has traditionally come in the fourth quarter when bonuses are paid out, but these are now expected to shrink dramatically, adding to the state’s budget woes.
   During the last big Wall Street downturn following the end of the dot.com bubble and the September 11, 2001 attacks, bonuses fell by 50 per cent over a two-year period
   ‘The size of the losses and the resulting consolidation and downsizing that is taking place in the securities industry suggest that a bonus decline of a similar or even greater magnitude could occur this time,’ DiNapoli said.
   Bloomberg warned earlier this month that he would implement 1.5 billion dollars in spending reductions and cut 3,000 positions from the city workforce.

Algeria’s industry minister Hamid Temmar called on Japanese companies to invest in the country in a speech on the opening day Monday of an Algerian-Japanese Forum in Algiers.
   Temmar said he hoped the two countries’ economic ties would extend beyond the vast hydrocarbon sector. ‘Outside hydrocarbons, Japanese investment in Algeria is non-existent,’ he added.
   Japanese investors would benefit from low energy prices and access to neighbouring markets, he said.
   Algeria was putting its weight behind a pan-Arab free-trade zone, while pushing for similar trade freedoms with the European Union by 2017 following a joint accord signed two years ago, he added.
   ‘We also want to send about 20 of our business leaders to Japan for training. We are already doing this with South Korea and soon with Germany,’ he said.
   Yoshihiro Shigehisa, head of Japanese engineering company JGC Corporation told the forum that Japanese companies were keen to develop Algeria’s renewable energy sector.
   ‘As well as an Algerian market of 35 million inhabitants, a free-trade zone between Algeria and the EU offers opportunities for co-operation,’ he added.

Grameenphone Ltd signed an agreement with the Society for Development Initiatives recently to provide communication facilities under its Business Solutions package.
   Shamsul Haque, executive director of SDI, and Ishtiaq Hussen Chowdhury, general manager, direct sales, of GP, signed the agreement, said a press release.
   Senior officials of both the organisations were present on the occasion.

Apollo Hospitals Dhaka has signed an agreement with Covanta Bangladesh Operating Ltd recently to provide medical services and special corporate benefits to their employees, said a press release.
   Shagufa Anwar, general manager of Apollo, and AHM Nasimullah, managing director of Covanta, signed the agreement.
   Senior officials of both the organisations were present on the occasion.

Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited has opened its 3rd SME service centre at Meghula Bazar of Dohar in Dhaka on Monday.
   M Yeasin Ali, managing director of the bank, inaugurated the centre.
   This SME Service Centre has been linked with the bank’s ‘truly on-line banking’ network to facilitate 24-hour banking services to the clients where services like ATM, Kiosk, SME loans, and remittance will be available.
   Local elites, business persons, bankers, educationists were present in the ceremony, said a press release.

IDLC Finance Limited has won the bronze medal in Best Presented Accounts Award 2007 presented by the South Asian Federation of Accountants, an apex body of SAARC, in non-banking financial sector category.
   HM Ziaul Hoque Khan, general manager and chief financial officer of IDLC, received the award at a function in Hyderabad, India, said a press release.
   The awards were conferred based on evaluation of the published annual reports of entities in South Asian countries administered by the SAFA Committee on Improvement, Transparency, Accountability and Governance.

The Israeli finance ministry unveiled a 2.8-billion-dollar plan to restore faith in banks and pension funds on Tuesday after widespread criticism of an earlier economic bailout package.
   The ministry said the plan would be implemented in four steps, starting with a state guarantee of some 1.5 billion dollars aimed at shoring up the banks and allowing them to resume lending.
   A further 1.25 billion dollars will be used to set up a capital fund to protect pension funds and bolster the external credit market.
   The ministry also plans to establish a system to assist bondholders to reach debt repayment arrangements with bond issuers and to pass new legislation to encourage foreign investment.
   The finance ministry already announced a 5.4-billion-dollar package last Wednesday aimed at stimulating the economy and creating jobs to stem rising unemployment.
   But that plan ran into criticism from both left and right and it failed to avert sharp falls on the Tel Aviv stock exchange on Thursday and again on Sunday.
   ‘The aim of these steps is to strengthen the Israeli financial market and is in addition to the bailout plan proposed last week which dealt with economic activity,’ said a ministry statement announcing the new plan.
   ‘The plan was set up by the ministry, the Bank of Israel and the Israel Securities Authority,’ it said.
   ‘The global credit crunch and the financial crisis in general demand such steps be taken.’
   Israel’s main Histadrut trade union confederation sharply criticised the earlier stimulus package for failing to protect pensions savings from the slump in stock market values.
   It has threatened a general strike to press its demands for a safety net to protect the savings of those nearing retirement.
   Histadrut leaders were meeting on Tuesday to consider whether to declare a dispute which could pave the way for a general strike in two weeks.
   The financial crisis has dominated the front pages of the Israeli press in recent days.

The dollar traded mixed in European dealing on Tuesday, rising against the euro but falling versus the yen, as the market continued to digest a US government bailout of stricken American bank Citigroup.
   In late morning trading here, the euro fell to $1.2838 from $1.2928 late in New York on Monday.
   Against the Japanese currency, the dollar dropped to 95.86 yen from 97.23 yen on Friday.
   ‘The dollar has regained a little of its losses from overnight lows but the greenback has certainly taken something of a blow in light of that Citigroup bailout news,’ said CMC Markets analyst James Hughes.
   Traders took profits on the euro’s sharp rise Monday when a US government rescue of Citigroup and a British economic stimulus plan had prompted a renewed appetite for risky investments.
   World stock markets rallied after the US government stepped in to rescue Citigroup, backing some $300b in troubled mortgage assets and injecting $20b in capital. Some market players voiced doubt over an economic impact of Citigroup rescue.
   The pound also pared its gains on Monday after British finance minister Alistair Darling said he would cut sales taxes as part of efforts to boost an economy that is expected to shrink next year. Darling said he would fund the stimulus plan — worth $30b — by borrowing more and raising income tax on the wealthy from 2011. Traders were waiting for a second estimate of third-quarter US economic growth due to be published later Tuesday, as well as another batch of data from the struggling eurozone economies.
   In London trade on Tuesday, the euro changed hands at $1.2838 against $1.2928 late on Monday, at 123.17 yen (125.71), 0.8499 pounds (0.8519) and 1.5122 Swiss francs (1.5173).
   The dollar stood at 95.86 yen (97.23) and 1.2033 Swiss francs (1.1951).
   The pound was at 1.5122 dollars (1.5173).
   On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold fell to $810.75 an ounce from $822.50 late on Monday.

Oil prices slid on Tuesday as traders banked profits following sharp gains won a day earlier, analysts said.
   Crude futures had closed up almost five dollars on Monday after a government bailout of ailing American bank Citigroup weighed on the US currency, making oil cheaper for holders of foreign money, pushing up demand.
   On London’s InterContinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January dropped $2.14 to $51.78 a barrel in midday trade.
   Light sweet crude for January fell $2.28 to $52.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
   Oil prices rose ‘significantly yesterday (Monday) reacting to another bailout on Wall Street,’ said Victor Shum from the energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
   ‘It was a significant boost and it is not surprising that we are correcting a bit today,’ he said.
   Oil prices last week slumped below $50, reaching their lowest levels for almost four years in London, as the market worries that a global recession will severely hit energy demand.
   They have dropped two-thirds since striking record high points of above $147 in July, when fears of supply disruptions sent them rocketing.
   On Tuesday meanwhile, major oil producer Russia said it would coordinate strategy with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries which pumps 40 per cent of the world’s crude.
   Russian energy minister Sergei Shmatko, who was in India for a meeting of Central Asia republics, said Moscow had not ruled out a cut in production to help maintain prices.
   ‘OPEC is discussing measures to protect the current oil market,’ Shmatko told the conference, speaking through a translator.
   ‘Russia will coordinate with OPEC to defend its interests... and work out protection measures,’ he said.
   Russia, one of the world’s largest producers of oil and gas, is not a member of OPEC. The cartel is to hold an extraordinary meeting on Saturday in Egypt amid speculation that member nations will agree to cut output again in a bid to boost plunging oil prices.