The Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association has initiated to sell eggs and broiler meat at fair price in various city spots from Thursday, sources in the association said.
   The decision was made at a meeting between the association leaders and the fisheries and livestock minister in the ministry on Monday.
   Broiler meat will sell for Tk 125 a kilogram and four pieces of eggs for Tk 26. Broiler meat now sells for Tk 130 a kilogram
   and four pieces of eggs for Tk 30, which are quite exorbitant, the meeting was told.
   The association will sale the meat and eggs from its mobile trucks at different city spots like Mirpur, Mohakhali, Uttara, Jatiya Press Club, Motijheel and secretariat and the programme will continue until the price comes down to a reasonable level.
   The selling programme will begin on January 22 under a plan to sell the poultry meat and eggs in a comparatively low price, said the association president, Syed Abu Siddiqui.
   The initiative will help resist profiteering by the middlemen as now the consumer have to pay much due to long chain of the middlemen, said the association leader.
   The government also has a plan to build some landing stations adjacent to the big city markets where the farmers will able to come with their products and sell them directly to the consumers, Siddiqui said, adding that it would ultimately benefit for the farmers.
   The fisheries and livestock minister, Abdul Latif Biswas, meanwhile, has also assured that he would extend all the required cooperation to the farmers in connection with poultry farming as the development of the sector would create employment for some three million people, said the association secretary general, Monjur Morshed Khan.

The National Board of Revenue chairman, Muhammad Abdul Mazid, on Tuesday said the revenue authority would put more efforts to recover unrealised taxes to meet the government’s revenue earnings target.
   ‘We have decided to focus more on arrears and pending cases this year,’ said Mazid at a view-exchange meeting at the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
   He elaborated that as more than 40 per cent revenue comes from the customs duties, the NBR fears setback in duty collection owing to the worldwide economic meltdown and sharp falls in the prices of commodities.
   Hinting that the government in the near future might not increase tax rates, Mazid said revenue incomes would be raised through widening tax net.
   ‘The government at this moment is not thinking to raise tax rates but widen the tax net to net more eligible tax payers.’
   The revenue boss said his department is rather ready to reduce further the duty on a particular item if it helps creating employment and relieves the consumers.
   He said the NBR also has assigned its officials to workout how customs could be made more effective for smoothening supply of commodities to market.
   He said during the preparation of the next year’s budget the NBR would give emphasis on the item-wise impact of duty structure.
   Chair of the meeting, the DCCI president, Jafar Osman, said the government should make a policy that there will be no fine for the legalised undisclosed money invested in industries.

Grameen Shakti, a member of the Grameen family that provides renewable energy services across the country, won over one million dollar ‘Zayed Future Energy Prize’ at second World Future Energy Summit being held in Abu Dhabi.
   According to a message received in Dhaka on Tuesday, Dipal Chandra Barua of Grameen Shakti received the award from the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces General Sheikh Muhammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
   Grameen Shakti was founded in 1996 as a not-for-profit company to provide solar, bio-gas, improved cook stove and wind energy in remote rural Bangladesh. Till date it has provided two lakh solar units at an affordable cost with easy loan system.
   Principal patronage of the movement, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi opened the World Future Energy Summit in National Exhibition Centre Monday.
   In order to encourage the clean energy movement, the high profile ‘Zayed Future Energy Prize’ has been introduced. Over 200 persons and companies were in the race to win this prestigious award.
   The jury was chaired by Dr RK Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC and the Nobel Peace prize laureate. Stunning the jam-packed crowd at the award ceremony Monday evening, Grameen Shakti was declared as the winner of the prize.

Arab leaders meeting in Kuwait approved a declaration Tuesday calling for steps to accelerate the economic integration of Arab states and confront the fallout of the global financial crisis.
   The leaders also approved a number of economic resolutions, including launching an Arab customs union in 2010, a pan-Arab power grid and a rail network project.
   The Kuwait Declaration called for ‘adopting monetary and fiscal policies to enable Arab nations to face the consequences of the global financial crisis.’
   Arab countries have incurred losses of $2.5 trillion due to the financial and economic turmoil, Kuwait’s foreign minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah said last week.
   The leaders also announced the establishment of the Arab Development Fund with capital of two billion dollars to provide loans and assistance for Arab joint projects.
   The declaration urged ‘necessary steps to uplift the living standards of Arab citizens and to give priority to promoting inter-Arab investments.’
   The Arab League, comprising 22 member states, estimates Arab capital invested at home is less than 20 per cent of funds invested by Arab nations and businessmen in the United States and Europe.
   ‘Despite progress made by some Arab nations, the Arab world is still facing many challenges... especially poverty, unemployment, poor inter-Arab trade and migration of Arab capital and brains,’ the declaration said.
   It also called for ‘strengthening the role of Arab funds and financial institutions by boosting their resources and easing restrictions on providing loans.’
   The customs union will be completed in 2015 as a prelude to establishing an Arab common market in 2020, according to one resolution.
   Arab countries launched the Pan-Arab Free Trade Area about three years ago but it did little to boost commerce among member states, which remained at just between 10 per cent and 12 per cent of total Arab trade.
   The summit also approved a resolution calling for measures that would halve the regional unemployment rate, which topped 14 per cent last year, in the period between 2010 and 2020.
   The leaders approved another resolution calling for the implementation of an Arab programme for the reduction of poverty, which exceeds 40 per cent in at least seven Arab nations.
   They also approved a resolution calling for improved water security, one of the most acute problems facing the Arab world, where the desert makes up 68 per cent of its area.
   Although the Arab world occupies 10 per cent of the world’s land and has five per cent of its population, its water resources are just a meagre 0.59 per cent of the world’s, according to the Arab League.

The industries minister, Dilip Barua, on Tuesday said the government was actively considering setting up an industrial database in keeping with the planning for building ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021.
   ‘With the establishment of the industrial database, local and international entrepreneurs will find easy access to information for investing in small-, medium- and large-scale industries,’ he said at a meeting with the leaders of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries at his ministry office.
   ‘Without industrialisation, the “Vision-2021” cannot be realised through making the country into market for foreigners.’
   He said the Awami League-led government would undertake extensive efforts for industrialisation upholding the interests of owners and workers both.

BMW said on Tuesday that 26,000 of its workers across Germany would have their hours cut from February, as the Bavarian luxury carmaker battles with the worldwide slump in the car industry.
   Four BMW factories would be affected, with the worst hit being Dingolfing in Bavaria, where 15,000 workers will be placed on part-time contracts until March.
   The emergency measures will secure jobs in the currently ‘difficult’ climate, Manfred Schoch, head of BMW’s works council said in a statement.
   On January 9, BMW said that in December the number of vehicles that it had sold had slumped by more than a quarter compared to the year-earlier period.

Shubhankar Saha was promoted as general manager (special studies cell) of the Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday.
   Previously he was working as deputy geneal manager in foreign currency inspection and vegelance department of the bank.
   He joined the Bangladesh Bank in 1984 as assistant director and worked in different disciplines in the bank. He also took part in different banking cources in different countries.

Thailand’s new cabinet has approved a package of tax cuts worth 10 billion baht ($286b) in a further attempt to boost the economy, finance minister Korn Chatikavanij said Tuesday.
   The package comes on top of a 115-billion-baht economic stimulus package which was passed by the cabinet a week ago to counter the economic slowdown after months of street protests against the previous government.
   ‘The tax measures proposed in the cabinet meeting today will affect tax incomes worth around 10 billion baht,’ Korn said in a statement issued by the finance ministry.
   ‘The measures will help relieve the burden of the cost of living and aid small and medium business operators... and also help to stimulate the real estate and property businesses.’
   Korn said the tax cuts would also boost the tourism industry and help create employment in a sector that has been devastated by protests that closed down Bangkok’s two airports for a week in November-December.
   The tax cuts would come into effect immediately, he said.
   The measures include extending tax-deductible allowances for people with annual incomes of up to one million baht, and extending an exemption period for small and middle-sized business operators until 2010.
   Other measures include individual tax exemptions of up to 3,00,000 baht for people who buy a house within the coming year.
   New prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was elected by parliament on December 15 after a court dissolved the former ruling party, has said that boosting Thailand’s stuttering economy is his priority.
   The economy is estimated to grow at just zero to two per cent this year.
   A Bank of Thailand study earlier this month estimated that the country lost 290 billion baht during the airport blockade.

The Asian Tiger Capital recently hosted a pharma sector strategy meeting on ‘challenges and opportunities for the pharmaceutical sector in Bangladesh’ with a view to explore how Bangladesh can take advantage of the globally changing pharmaceutical environment.
   Bangladesh ha a successful generic pharmaceutical manufacturing has with 12 per cent average growth over the past five years while the pharmaceutical sales have crossed Tk 4,000 crore (about $50 million) but still the total sales fall short of the total importation of raw material which is over $100 million, said a press release.
   The managing partner of the Asian Tiger Capital Partners, Ifty Islam, and senior adviser Iqbal Hussain believe that with a stable government and good governance Bangladesh can achieve significant growth and can be a destination for oversees investments by institutions and affluent non-resident Bangladeshis.
   Managing directors and chief executive officers of all top pharmaceutical companies attended the meeting held in Dhaka.

Visiting Chinese commerce minister Chen Deming said in Luanda on Monday that China-Africa trade volume hit an all time high in 2008, reaching a historic new level of $106.8 billion.
   In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Chen said the past eight years have witnessed a super fast growth of 30 per cent since China-Africa trade volume reached more than $10 billion in 2000.
   He added that in recent years, especially since 2006 when China hosted the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Chinese-African friendly relations have been further consolidated and strengthened which has given an impetus to the fast growth of China-Africa economic relations and trade.
   He said the past few years have also seen a steady development of China’s investment in the African continent. ‘By the end of 2008, China has invested a total of over 5 billion dollars in African countries,’ he added.
   Referring to the ongoing world financial crisis, Chen said, it has no doubt slowed down the pace of world’s economic development and a special attention must be paid to its side effects towards the developing countries and underdeveloped countries.
   He said many African countries have, relatively speaking, weak economic foundation and rely heavily on foreign investments and aid. These African countries are now facing financial difficulties following the big cut in the price of crude oil in the world market.
   ‘We hope China and African countries can work together to further strengthen multilateral cooperation to face the tough challenges brought about by the ongoing world financial crisis,’ he said.
   Chen and his delegation members were scheduled to leave Angola for home on Monday to end his three-nation African work visit which also brought him to Kenya and Zambia.

Troubled Indian software outsourcer Satyam Computer Services has been approached by potential buyers, a newly appointed board member, Tarun Das, said on Tuesday.
   ‘All I can say, we have been approached by potential buyers,’ Das told reporters but gave no details.
   Satyam, India’s No 4 software services exporter, was plunged into crisis after founder Ramalinga Raju resigned as chairman earlier this month, revealing profits had been falsified for years and $1 billion of cash on the books did not exist.

Home loan specialist Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation Limited has recently launched DBH Property Services to provide professional and risk-free service for individuals interested in selling or buying properties.
   Prospective buyers will also be eligible for home loans under the DBH guidelines, said the corporation’s managing director, QM Shariful Ala.
   ‘Many buyers and sellers of property have been cheated by some brokers who lack professional ethics. At DBHPS, buyers and sellers can be rest assured that their interests are protected,’ he added.

The European Union’s most thrifty finance ministers sought on Tuesday to rally their EU counterparts behind the cause of budget discipline as government deficits blow out in the face of recession.
   ‘A crisis that arose out of (too much) debt cannot be fought by creating more debt over the long term,’ Austrian finance minister Josef Proell said as he arrived for a regular monthly meeting with colleagues in Brussels.
   Facing one of the worst recessions of the post-war period, EU governments are plowing billions into their economies as tax revenues dwindle in the face of slumping economic activity, causing gaps in their budgets to ballon.
   Czech finance minister Miroslav Kalousek, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said that member states must rapidly return to cutting their deficits.
   ‘We must voice a pledge to go back to consolidating public deficits as soon as possible,’ Kalousek said as he arrived to chair his first meeting with EU counterparts since Prague assumed the bloc’s presidency on January 1.
   With governments pumping billions into their economies and financial sectors, the European Commission forecast on Monday that the combined EU budget shortfall would reach 4.4 per cent of output in 2009.
   That would be more than double the 2.0 per cent estimated for 2008.
   In normal economic times, EU member states are supposed to keep their public deficits to less than 3.0 per cent of gross domestic product, but the commission forecast that 12 countries would be over the limit this year.
   Finance ministers from the 16 countries using the euro vowed at a meeting on Monday not to give up on trying to cut their government deficits in the face of recession.
   ‘We are not abandoning our intention of consolidating our public finances,’ Luxembourg finance minister Jean-Claude Juncker told journalists after chairing the meeting.
   According to a document obtained by AFP, the Czech EU presidency is to urge finance ministers at their meeting to follow up on concerted economic stimulus plans with a coordinated effort to cut public deficits.
   The 27 nations agreed in December on plans to put a combined 200 billion euros ($259b) into their economies in the hope of warding off what is turning out to be one of the worst recessions on record.
   ‘After a coordinated fiscal stimulus, also a coordinated (budget) consolidation should follow,’ the Czech EU presidency said in the document to be submitted to ministers for their opinions.
   In particular, the document asks ministers whether they agree the current increase in spending should be followed with a ‘credible’ effort to restore fiscal discipline over the medium-term and if so, with what timeframe.
   ‘We are reaching the peak of the crisis and concerted and clear actions are needed,’ said Proell for one.
   German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck said that joint debt rules would be ‘advantageous’ but added that ‘each country is sovereign in its decisions.’
   Steinbrueck has been deeply sceptical about spending billions in order to get Europe’s biggest economy moving again, but has recently become more open to the idea as the scale of the downturn became apparent.
   ‘I have the impression that this is one of the worst crises’ since the end of World War II, he acknowledged.
   ‘We will not be able to prevent this recession but we must contain it,’ he said.

Japan said Tuesday its economy was ‘worsening rapidly,’ downgrading its assessment for a fourth straight month as output, exports and consumer demand weaken amid the global downturn.
   The Japanese consumer confidence index slumped to a fresh all-time low in December as the economic crisis triggers a wave of layoffs in Asia’s largest economy, a separate survey showed.
   ‘The worsening trend is likely to continue for some time, and there are concerns that a rapid drop in production may lead to a drastic adjustment in employment,’ the Cabinet Office said in a monthly report.
   The economy faces risks from an escalation of the global financial crisis, a world recession and turmoil on world financial markets, it said.
   The government downgraded its assessment of exports, production and consumer demand, following a raft of gloomy snapshots of the world’s number two economy.
   The government said its consumer confidence index fell to 26.2 in December, down from 28.4 in November and the lowest level since comparable records began 26 years ago.
   ‘The direct impact of global financial system problems on Japanese households is muted, but it appears to have led to a confidence shock,’ noted Richard Jerram, chief Japan economist at Macquarie Securities.
   ‘There is not a lot that the government can do to directly turn around confidence, although the current chaos on economic policy probably does not help,’ he added.
   Many Japanese companies have reported drops in profit, or even warned of losses, and announced restructuring plans including thousands of high-profile job cuts, mostly among temporary workers.
   Meanwhile, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has warned the nation’s economy faces the toughest year since 2000, pledging a range of measures aimed at curbing the downturn, state media said Tuesday.
   ‘This year is the most difficult year for China’s economic development so far this century,’ Wen told a meeting of the State Council, or cabinet, held on Monday, the Xinhua news agency reported.
   ‘We must turn around the downward trend of economic growth as soon as possible,’ he said at the gathering, called to discuss a draft government work report to be made public when the legislature meets in March.
   Wen urged officials at all levels to prioritise job creation and help disadvantaged groups to ensure social stability, highlighting concerns that the jobless situation could lead to growing unrest.
   More steps should be taken in the first quarter to reverse the economic slowdown, Wen said, according to Xinhua.
   Government agencies should speed up and flesh out the implementation of an economic stimulus package announced in November as well as measures to boost major industries announced recently, he said.

More than five lakh Chinese people were thrown out of work in the last three months of 2008 as the impact of the global financial crisis deepened, the government said Tuesday.
   As of December 31, 8.86 million urban residents were registered as jobless, up 5,60,000 from the end of the third quarter, ministry of human resources spokesman Yin Chengji told a news conference.
   ‘It shows the impact of the international financial crisis on China’s employment situation,’ he said.
   Partly as a result of the fourth-quarter jobless spike, the unemployment rate in Chinese cities rose in 2008 for the first time since 2003, according to data from the ministry.
   The urban jobless rate stood at 4.2 per cent at the end of last year, up from 4.0 per cent from the end of 2007, Yin said.
   The rise reflected an economy slowed down by the financial crisis, said Tang Min, deputy secretary of the China Development Research Foundation, a think-tank linked to the State Council, or Cabinet.
   However, the actual jobless population may well be much bigger than the official figure because it does not include millions of migrant workers and university graduates, Tang said, according to Xinhua news agency.
   ‘The figure looks all right, but the real situation could be much more serious,’ he said.
   Beijing has unveiled numerous measures to maintain and create jobs, including financial aid to companies and orders to state-run firms to ease on job cuts, after President Hu Jintao warned of a ‘grim’ jobs situation in 2009.
   Despite the measures, the government has scaled down its ambitions, targeting the creation of nine million jobs this year, one million fewer than last year, said Yin.
   He told reporters that the government had decided to set an unemployment target of 4.6 per cent for this year, up from 4.5 per cent in 2008.
   ‘We have taken into consideration the financial crisis’ impact on the real economy while (deciding) this year’s unemployment rate target,’ he said.
   According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, an unemployment rate of 4.6 per cent would be the worst since 1980, records show.

Russian natural gas began flowing into Europe on Tuesday after a nearly two-week cut-off that left large parts of the continent shivering and underscored its vulnerability and dependence on Russia’s energy.
   But a higher price Ukraine now has to pay for the Russian gas will further cripple an economy badly hurt by the financial crisis and could set the stage for another gas dispute with Russia. The office of Ukraine’s president has already criticised the deal, saying it hurt the nation’s interests.
   Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom began pumping gas into Ukraine at around 10:30am Moscow time (0730GMT), spokesman Boris Sapozhnikov said by telephone from the Sudzha metering station on the border with Ukraine. Ukraine’s Naftogaz state gas company confirmed gas flowed through Sudzha, Pisarevka and other gas metering stations on the border.
   Several hours later, Slovak Economics Minister Lubomir Jahnatek said Russian gas started flowing into his country through the Velke Kapusany station on the border with Ukraine.
   It could take longer for other European customers to begin receiving the Russian gas via Ukraine, which is the size of France, and reach European customers. Europe gets about a fifth of its natural gas from Russia.
   Russia halted the supplies on January 7 as it argued with Ukraine argued over 2009 gas prices and allegations that Ukraine was stealing gas destined for Europe.
   More than 15 nations in the Balkans and Eastern Europe were left scrambling for alternative energy sources; factories shut and millions of people shivered in unheated homes. Bulgaria and Slovakia, in particular, rely almost entirely on Russia for gas.
   Many questioned whether Russia and Ukraine could be reliable energy suppliers.
   Late Monday, the two countries resolved their dispute and Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko signed a deal brokered by heads of Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftogaz.
   The dispute had been complicated also by geopolitical struggles over Ukraine’s future and over lucrative export routes for the energy riches of the former Soviet Union.
   The new agreement calls for Ukraine to receive gas at a 20 per cent discount from this year’s average European price, which Russia says is $450 per 1,000 cubic meters. Gazprom said Ukraine will pay $360 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas in the first quarter - compared with last year’s price of $179.5 — and prices will be revised on a quarterly basis.
   European gas prices are expected to fall sharply this year, due to the reduction in oil prices. By midsummer, Ukraine could be paying as little as $150 for 1,000 cubic meters, said Ronald Smith, a strategist at Moscow’s Alfa Bank.
   Ukraine’s presidential energy adviser, Bohdan Sokolovsky, predicted Ukraine would end up paying an average 2009 price of $235-$240.
   The higher prices will be a challenge for Ukraine, which needs a huge amount of Russian gas to run its outdated, energy-hungry factories and heating systems. Ukraine was struggling to pay for Russian gas at last year’s price as it faced a currency collapse, falling exports and a shaken banking sector.

The British media balked at the cost of another rescue package for Britain’s banks Tuesday, but acknowledged it was necessary to get credit flowing and predicted nationalisation would be the next step.
   The package unveiled Monday, which included an insurance scheme to protect banks from so-called toxic assets, ‘is intelligent, yet leaves us a long way short of anything approaching normal service,’ the Guardian said.
   ‘If this strategy does not work, ministers may need to move to outright nationalisation,’ the newspaper added.
   Majority government-owned Royal Bank of Scotland is most likely to face this fate, following the 66.57 per cent crash in its shares Monday after it forecast an annual loss of up to 28 billion pounds — a British record.
   The Times welcomed prime minister Gordon Brown’s efforts to get banks struggling with the credit crunch to begin lending again, but expressed concern at the ‘staggering commitment of taxpayer funds.’
   To prevent any further injection of public money into RBS without any noticeable effect, ‘it looks increasingly likely that it (the government) will have to take the logical next step of wholesale nationalisation without delay.’
   The Independent also lamented ‘another colossal slice of taxpayer support being sent in the direction of the very institutions whose reckless lending precipitated this disaster in the first place. But we must be realistic.’
   The Daily Mail expressed outrage at RBS former chief executive Fred Goodwin for his management of the bank, but it also urged traders to ‘stop talking down bank shares and give this bail-out a chance. It may be the last one we have.’
   This line was echoed in the Sun, which said in an editorial: ‘We as a country are in danger of allowing ourselves to be talked into a ruinous economic slump. The recession is bad but Britain isn’t bankrupt.’

Mobile phone operator banglalink recently signed a corporate agreement with the Flora Limited under its ‘Enterprise’ package.
   Under the agreement, Flora Limited, a leading IT firm, will enjoy special tariff plan and value added services from banglalink.
   Mustafa Shamsul Islam, managing director of Flora Limited, and Nasar Yousuf, national corporate sales manager of banglalink, singed the deal for their respective organisation, said a press release.
   Other high officials from both the organisations were present at the signing ceremony.

Tiny Singapore’s population is expected to decline by 2,00,000 as companies lay off a massive number of foreign workers during a worsening recession, Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse said.
   The job cuts, which would include highly-paid expatriates and permanent residents, will hurt domestic consumption and help push the economy into its sharpest decline since independence in 1965, said the report received by AFP on Tuesday.
   A loss of 2,00,000 jobs would amount to more than four per cent of the population.
   Credit Suisse said the economic slowdown in the trade-sensitive city-state had so far been driven by a sharp decline in exports, while domestic demand held up.
   But for this year, ‘consumption growth should also slow, in part because of our expectation that Singapore’s population will potentially drop by 2,00,000 by 2010’ due to job losses, it said.
   ‘Historically, Singapore’s foreign population has tended to expand during high growth periods and contract during recessionary periods,’ the report said.
   ‘Given the strong foreigner population growth in recent years, this trend is unlikely to change in this downturn.’
   Of the 8,00,000 jobs created from 2004 to the third quarter of last year, Credit Suisse estimated that more than 5,00,000 were filled by foreigners and permanent residents.
   About 2,00,000 of those jobs were in manufacturing and almost another 2,00,000 were in the financial and business services. Most of these jobs were filled by expatriate workers who earn more than the average Singaporean, it said.
   As of mid-2008, Singapore had a population of 4.84 million people, including 3.64 million citizens and permanent residents, Statistics Department data showed. The rest, more than one million, are foreign workers and their families.

The pound tumbled to a near seven-year low against the dollar and an all-time nadir versus the yen in Asia on Tuesday, hit by mounting fears about the British economy.
   The euro was the weakest in almost six weeks against the dollar as traders braced for a worsening of the banking sector woes across Europe.
   Renewed fears about the financial crisis threatened to overshadow the inauguration of US president-elect Barack Obama, who inherits an economy facing its worst crisis in decades, dealers said.
   The British pound slid to as low as $1.4132, the weakest since March 2002 and well below the 2.0-dollar level above which it had traded as recently as July. The pound fell to 127.48 yen, a new record low.
   'Players have recently focused on the European and UK economies, as we know already that the US economy is in bad shape,' Saburo Matsumoto, a senior dealer at Sumitomo Trust and Banking, told Dow Jones Newswires.
   The euro tumbled to $1.2993, down from 1.3157 in London late Monday, when US markets were closed. The greenback was flat at 90.16 yen while the euro fell to 117.16 yen from 118.93.
   Worries grew about the problems of Europe's banks after Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland estimated that it had lost up to 28 billion pounds ($40b) in 2008.
   'It's just very hard to look on this news calmly,' said Jun Kato, a senior dealer at Shinkin Central Bank. 'This is not just about RBS. Other European banks like ABN Amro are going to take hits too.'
   Britain's biggest corporate loss ever came as London expanded its bank rescue programme, including an insurance scheme to protect against so-called toxic assets,
   but the announcement failed to calm investor worries.
   'At first sight, Britain's bailout programme may have seemed positive, but the fact that it needed additional measures worried markets,' Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp strategist Daisuke Uno said.
   The gloom in Europe risked dousing market optimism over Obama's plans to revive the US economy after he takes office on Tuesday, dealers said.
   The new president is expected to push through a massive new stimulus package of up to $825 billion to kick start the US economy.
   The dollar rose to 11,233.95 Indonesian rupiah from 10,999 a day earlier, to 1.5044 Singapore dollars from 1.4886 and to 1,374.50 South Korean won from 1,366.95.
   It climbed to 47.35 Philippine pesos from 46.94 and to 33.66 Taiwan dollars from 33.48, while hold-
   ing steady at 34.95 Thai baht.

World oil prices fell in Asian trade Tuesday afternoon in a market plagued by weak global demand, analysts said.
   New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February delivery, plunged $2.43 to $34.39 a barrel in afternoon trade.
   Floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) was closed Monday for a holiday.
   Brent North Sea crude for March delivery dropped 33 cents to 44.17.
   A large stockpile of oil in the United States has caused the New York contract to 'become disconnected' from the rest
   of the market, said Victor Shum of Purvin and Gertz international energy consultants in Singapore.
   'The Nymex has been under a lot of pressure because stockpiles in Cushing, Oklahoma, are very high. Storage is almost full,' he said. Cushing is the delivery point for light, sweet crude.
   Shum added that the higher March Brent price was more representative but said the weak global economy was having a negative impact.
   The inauguration of Barack Obama as US president later Tuesday might have a positive but short-term effect, Shum added.
   'I think any Obama bounce may be short-lived. Equity markets may react positively for a day or two,' he said.