Bangladesh needs massive investments in agriculture and agro-processing to attain their higher growth, create employment opportunities and deny possible impacts of the current global recession on this key sector, says the country chief of the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
   Ad Spijkers further suggests arrangement for bringing consumer groups at the doorsteps of the farmers to ensure fair prices of the agricultural produces as incentive for gaining higher farm production and productivity.
   As the still unfolding financial crisis worldwide is set to have negative impacts on Bangladesh’s different sectors including remittances and agriculture, he feels that the country must be adequately prepared with long-term vision to make sure that ‘agriculture is the backbone of the economy.’
   Currently, there are apprehensions that possible decline in remittances earning and exports of jute, jute goods, frozen foods and leather products may deal severe blows — both in terms of prices of products and investments required for farming — to the country’s agriculture, which accounts for approximately 20 per cent of gross domestic product but employs more than 60 per cent of the national workforce.
   ‘Investment and technologies in agriculture is the most important issue to face the future challenges for sustainable agriculture system,’ Spijkers told New Age in an exclusive interview.
   ‘Investment in agriculture is essential for intensification, diversification, sustainability and resilience of the food production system as well as to maximise the role that agriculture can play in promoting economic growth and food security.’
   The Bangladesh chapter of the UN body, which is mainly a technical, specialised agency, is supporting the Bangladesh government, seeking external funds for agriculture, to mobilise development partners, including multilateral financial institutions, to funnel resources to the farm sector, the FAO official said. He referred to his recent talks with the World Bank and Danish, US and British donor and lending agencies in this regard.
   The FAO, having the mandate of giving technical assistance in broader agriculture including livestock, fisheries and forestry, provides assistance for several programmes on food policy, food safety and natural resources management and is directly involved in helping 1.5 million farmers after the twin floods and cyclone Sidr in 2007.
   Dwelling on the dilemma between providing fair crop prices to farmers and keeping food prices lower for the vulnerable groups, Spijkers, who earlier served the FAO in East Asia (Vietnam, China and Cambodia) before the Bangladesh mission in late 2006, expressed his views that input pricing should be efficient and cost-effective while there should be good incentive through fair out prices.
   ‘You have to keep the farmers smiling. Last harvesting season, they got incentive for Tk 28 per kilogram rice price,’ he said also suggesting that Bangladesh could replicate a Netherlands model to link consumers’ groups to the market close to the farm gates to address the huge trade gap between farmers’ level prices and the ones in any kitchen market in the metropolis.
   In this context, the FAO representative favoured pilot project on making crop insurance work because, he pointed out, crop insurance schemes were difficult to design and deliver, especially in fragmented agricultures. He still maintained, ‘Farmers should be kept insured in any way in terms of their production and marketing.’
   He also emphasised the need for promoting strong farmers’ organisations, such as Farmers’ Field School, that had already worked successfully in many countries and in Bangladesh as well. ‘Collective organisation of the farmers is crucial not only for fair pricing but also to protect various interests of farmers in terms of information, technologies, inputs and marketing.’
   The FAO believes Bangladesh has immense scope to attain self-sufficiency in foods and also significantly increase crop production particularly, wheat, maize, potato, pulses, oil seeds and vegetables. Spijkers is for renewed emphasis of high value added products such as vegetables, fruits, pulses, spices, fishery, poultry and livestock.
   He recommended resource endowment in research and extension, education to farmers, diversifying crops, introduction of different crops in changing climatic conditions, cost-effective irrigation and efficient management of water for farming, use of fallow land, and balanced use of fertilisers to improve soil fertility to achieve the goal of exploiting maximum potentials of agriculture.
   The country is also said to have a huge prospective of improving the agro-based industries and of creating employment opportunities and avenues of exports. ‘The future thrust of the agro-based industries depends mostly on advance research and marketing,’ noted the FAO official.
   His suggestions for the government include allocation of more resources, especially increasing revenue budget to invest in the farm sector, apart from encouraging private sector investments in agriculture with proper support and regulation.
   Spijkers maintained that urgent attention should be given to safety nets for the bigger segment of the (rural) poor who are ‘food insecure and do not have the purchasing power to buy adequately the food it needs.’

The government will take renewed initiatives to make Employment Bank effective in distributing loans among women and ensure that commercial banks disburse loans at lower interest rates to female entrepreneurs, a gathering of businesswomen was informed on Sunday.
   The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, said the government would seriously try to work out ways and means to give female entrepreneurs collateral-free loans so that women could be mainstreamed further in the process of economic empowerment.
   ‘We are trying to reactivate the Employment Bank, which lost momentum recently, by simplifying rules and regulations for distribution of loans for job creation,’ he told the launching ceremony of ‘Women’s National Business Agenda 2009’, floated by Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
   Employment Bank, a specialised bank formed by the previous Awami League government for promoting entrepreneurship of unemployed youths across the country, ‘has not been properly utilised and its role is downplayed on political considerations’ said the home minister, Sahara Khatun, addressing the function presided over by the chamber president, Selima Ahmad.
   She called upon the businesswomen to come up with ventures and take loans from the Employment Bank and advised them to fight social evils that stood in the way of women’s well-being.
   However, a number of female entrepreneurs, who came from different parts of the country to attend the gathering at Bangladesh Diploma Engineers’ Institution, complained that the banks did not provide them easy access to financing required for initiating new ventures.
   ‘It is really tough to change the mindset of the male-dominated society,’ the finance minister said adding that he would welcome a national debate on how to remove the social impediments to the empowerment of the women.
   The Bangladesh Bank governor, Salehuddin Ahmed, said the central bank was planning to make binding obligation for distribution of loans among women at lower interest from the Bangladesh Bank’s refinancing scheme in line with an earlier circular.
   ‘Unless it is made part of CAMELS [Capital, Asset, Management, Earning, Liquidity and Sensitivity] rating, banks are not bound to follow it. We are thinking about it and will also monitor and take compliance measures to ensure that banks distribute loans among the women,’ he said.

Representatives of some edible oil companies at a press conference in Chittagong on Sunday alleged that free style import of refined edible oil by a section of mill owners had resulted in an uneven competition and a threat to the local refineries.
   They also alleged that 90,000 metric tons of refined palm oil were imported in the past two months by some mill owners taking advantage of a ‘faulty duty structure’ when the country’s requirement of this oil was found at 1.5 lakh metric tons.
   ‘The duty structure is faulty as it imposes equal duty on both crude and finished products. So a section of mill owners in the name of raw-materials are importing refined oil in bulk quantity to make quick bucks’, said Abdus Samad Labu, vice chairman of S Alam Group. ‘The government must come forward to stop it. Otherwise, edible oil refineries may face closure’, he observed.
   They urged the government to immediately restructure the custom’s duty slabs against the import of crude and refined oil to ensure protection to the local edible oil refineries providing jobs to thousands of workers.
   S Alam Group chairman Saiful Alam Masud, SA Group managing director Shahabuddin Alam, Nurjahan Group managing director Jahir Ahmed Ratan, Rubaiya Vegetable oil mills managing director Harunur Rashid and MEB Group director Shoeb Riyad also spoke at the news conference.

Unnayan Shamannay, a non-government organisation, has demanded increase of tax on tobacco items by 15 per cent in the next fiscal budget.
   It made the demand in a pre-budget discussion with the revenue board on Sunday to discourage the abuse of tobacco. It also wanted the revenue board to impose Tk 2 specific tax on sales of bidi, local version of cigarette, and imposition of higher Value Added Tax on other related items such as chewing tobacco.

The industries minister, Dilip Barua, on Sunday said the price of sugar would not see further hike in next 90 days and the government would strictly monitor the ‘sensitive’ issue.
   ‘I can assure you all that price of sugar will be kept stable in the next 90 days and it will be sold across the country following government-fixed price,’ he said.
   Barua said the government would form a monitoring cell within 15 days so that none could create any artificial sugar crisis like that of fertiliser.
   The industries minister came up with the government plan while talking to the reporters after a meeting with the Bangladesh Sugar Refiners’ Association at his office in the afternoon.
   Replying to a question, Barua said there might be an attempt to create artificial sugar crisis in the market like that of fertiliser but the government is conscious about it.
   The minister said the government had fixed sugar price at Tk 33 per kilogram at mill gate. The price will not cross Tk 35 per kg adding the carrying charges and dealers’ commission.
   Defending the sudden rise in sugar price, he said the demand of sugar had increased in recent times while three sugar mills became inoperative due to technical fault.
   Earlier, the BSRA leaders placed a set of recommendation before the minister to keep the price of sugar stable apart from resolving the prevailing crisis in sugar industries.
   They urged the industries minister to form a joint monitoring cell to monitor the market of sugar.

Janata Bank approved its audited financial statements for 2008 showing operating profit of Tk 700 crore at its 83rd board meeting held in Dhaka on Wednesday.
   Chairman of the board Suhel A Chowdhury chaired the meeting.
   The audited accounts also shows net profit Tk 319 crore, provision Tk 1,005 crore, capital adequacy Tk 1,012 crore and equity Tk 906 crore, a news release said.
   The board decided to issue, in this context, bonus share of Tk 115.61 crore out of retained earnings of Tk 229 crore.
   Board chairman Suhel Ahmed Chowdhury and directors Chowdhury Abdul Quayum, and Jamaluddin Ahmed, signed the audited accounts on behalf of the board while CEO and managing director SM Aminur Rahman signed on behalf of the bank.

Professor Ayesha Shireen Rahman has joined Southeast Bank Foundation as its project director.
   She has been appointed in the position to work for corporate social responsibility activities of the bank through the foundation, a news release said.
   Professor Shireen was an assistant scientific adviser at the ministry of science and technology. She served as an additional director of Women and Children Affairs Department.
   During her service period, Professor Shireen took part as a national delegate in a number of missions abroad.

Md Shaheen Ahmed and Md Abdul Hai have been elected chairman and general secretary respectively of the Bangladesh Tanners’ Association.
   The biannual general election of the association was held recently at its office at Hazaribagh in Dhaka, said a news release.
   Shamsul Huda and Faruk Ahmed were elected vice-chairmen while Shakhawat Ullah treasurer of the association.
   The executive members are Md Harun Chowdury, Md Mozaffar Rahman, Md Mojibur Rahman Moju, Md Mosharraf Hossain, Shahrukh Ahmed Manik, Md Anwar Hossain, Md Mizanur Rahman, Md Monir Hossain, Md Jamal Chowdury, Md Bellal Hossain and Md Mejbah Uddin Titu.

The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, on Sunday played down the chances of a new global stimulus package being agreed at the G20 summit in London this week.
   Rudd said that since the last G20 meeting in Washington in November, countries had agreed to take economic stimulus steps equivalent to two percent of global gross domestic product, and they should be allowed to take effect.
   ‘There is a great, disproportionate emphasis on disagreements around the margins when, in fact, much has been concretely achieved with a mechanism for the future,’ he told BBC television.
   ‘Governments around the world have agreed in calendar year ‘09 on action already equal to about two percent of global GDP.
   ‘What does the IMF tell us about the impact of that? That action alone... means supporting nearly 20 million more jobs than would otherwise be the case, in other words global unemployment in these economies would be 20 million worse.
   ‘And I think it is absolutely important that we recognise the consistency in that.’
   Rudd will attend Thursday’s summit of the Group of 20 most developed and developing economies which will discuss measures to tackle the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.

Asian currencies ended the week mainly up against the dollar but the yen lost ground, with analysts awaiting the results of the Bank of Japan’s quarterly ‘tankan survey this week for guidance.
   The yen eased against the dollar after rallying in response to the US Federal Reserve’s decision to buy more government debt.
   The Japanese currency stood at 97.96 against the dollar in New York late Friday, down from 95.90 against the dollar a week earlier.
   It stood at a week’s low of 98.85 to the dollar at one point on Friday on growing optimism about an easing in the US recession. But buying by Japanese exporters ahead of the end of the fiscal year on March 31 brought the yen back.
   The New Zealand dollar finished Friday at 57.57 US cents, up from 55.79 cents the previous week.
   The yuan ended at 6.8325 to the dollar on the over-the-counter market Friday, compared with Thursday’s finish of 6.8320, and a closing price of 6.8277 to the dollar the week before.
   The central bank had set the yuan central parity rate at 6.8317 to the dollar Friday, compared with 6.8321 on Thursday.
   The rupiah ended at 11,505 to the dollar, up from 11,780 a week earlier.
   The dollar was at 1.5078 Singapore dollars Friday from 1.5121 the previous week.

Janata Insurance
   In response to a DSE query, the company has informed that there is no undisclosed price sensitive information of the company for recent unusual price hike.
   
   Phoenix Finance and Investments
   As per clause 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the company has informed that the 155th meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on March 31, 2009 at 3:00pm to transact the following businesses, along with others — fixation of venue, date, time and record date of 14th AGM and recommendation of dividend.
   
   Uttara Bank
   There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the bank today following its corporate declaration.
   
   Southeast Bank
   Trading of the shares of the bank will remain suspended on record date scheduled toady for AGM and EGM.
   
   Trust Bank Limited
   Khan Abu Rawshan Mohammad Mostafa Kamal, one of the directors of the bank, has reported his intention to buy 10 qualification shares of the bank at prevailing market price through Stock Exchange by April 27.
   Central Insurance
   Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume today after record date and there will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the company for the same day.
   
   Standard Bank
   Trading of the shares of the bank will remain suspended on record date scheduled today for AGM and EGM.
   
   Eastern Bank
   Trading of the shares of the bank will remain suspended on record date scheduled toady.
   
   Shahjalal Islami Bank
   The board of directors has recommended stock dividend at 22 per cent for the year 2008. Date of AGM: May 21, 2009, time: 9:00am, venue: Bangladesh-China Friend-ship Conference Centre, Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka. Record date: April 16, 2009.
   
   AB Bank
   The board of directors has recommended cash dividend at 15 per cent and stock dividend at 15 per cent for the year 2008. The bank has also informed that an EGM of the bank will also be held on the same day. Date of EGM and AGM: June 29, 2009, time of EGM and AGM: 11:00am and 11:30am respectively, venue of EGM and AGM: Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre, Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka. Record date: May 28, 2009.

The eurozone’s key interest rate is set to hit an all-time low of 1.0 per cent this week, with speculation growing that the bank might be preparing unconventional policies to tackle recession.
   ‘There is a compelling case for the ECB to cut its key policy rate’ by a half point on Thursday from the present level of 1.50 per cent, IHS Global Insight’s chief economist Howard Archer said.
   He pointed to ‘extremely weak’ manufacturing activity and eurozone exports ‘being hammered by the substantial slowdown in global economic activity.’
   On Friday, the European Union’s Eurostat data agency said industrial orders had fallen in January for the sixth straight month to a level that marked a one-year drop of 34.1 per cent.
   The eurozone is in its first recession since the formation of the single currency and EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia has warned a recovery will only take hold in 2010, and not later this year as previously forecast.
   On March 5, the ECB surprised markets when it slashed its 2009 eurozone growth forecast to a contraction of 2.7 per cent, but since then analysts have said it could shrink by up to 4.0 per cent.
   And with the ECB’s key rate nearing zero, economists want the bank to announce unorthodox measures to jumpstart the economy.
   ‘Pressure on the ECB to adopt further unconventional policy measures in order to encourage banks to lend more is likely to grow,’ Capital Economics European economist Ben May said.
   The US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan have unveiled schemes costing hundreds of billions of dollars to buy government and corporate debt and high-risk, mortgage-backed securities.
   Such policies are often known as quantitative easing, and amount to printing money, albeit electronically, to increase the flow of money and encourage economic activity.
   Eurozone business financing is handled by commercial banks on a much greater scale than elsewhere, and the ECB has focused on them by providing unlimited amounts of loans at its fixed benchmark rate for up to six months.
   Many observers expect ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet to announce on Thursday a lengthening of that period, with UniCredit’s Aurelio Maccario saying: ‘Our bet it that they will extend it until the one-year maturity.’
   The ECB might also hint at a readiness to begin buying corporate debt, but it is prohibited from buying government bonds directly, and even indirect purchases raise the delicate issue of which state’s debt to buy.
   ‘The ECB is likely to leave the door open for outright purchases of (corporate) securities in secondary markets: however nothing will probably be made official,’ Commerzbank analysts said in a research note.
   The head of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn suggested Friday that the ECB might follow the lead of its counterparts down the path to unconventional policy.
   Trichet stressed on March 5 that the ECB’s ‘hands are not tied; I am ruling nothing out’ with respect to ‘non-standard’ measures to boost the economy.
   Trichet also said the ECB governing council saw ‘a number of drawbacks associated with a zero rate level,’ which suggested the interest rate was unlikely to fall much below 1.0 per cent.
   Some analysts nonetheless believe it will reach 0.50 per cent around mid year and that an ECB version of quantitative easing, which Trichet calls credit easing, would kick in around then as well.

Sales of luxury and leisure vessels are on the rocks in the Middle East, where owning a boat for cruising, entertaining or fishing is seen as a status symbol, industry officials say.
   Marine consultant Mike Derrett estimates that boat sales in the Middle East will halve in the next one to two years, down from 1,200 boats sold last year and 1,500 sold in 2007, due to the global economic downturn.
   Despite the market hitting the doldrums, however, the effects of the credit crunch will be gentler in the Middle East than in the United States or Europe, where sales are expected to plunge by 75 per cent, he predicts.
   ‘Things are more likely to bounce back here ... There is a lot more growth potential here and in Asia,’ Derrett told the AFP.
   Luxury boats showcased at a recent international boat fair in Dubai drew amazement from spectators, but few were persuaded to dig into their pockets and splash out.
   ‘Haven’t you heard? There’s a financial crisis going on,’ Max Wilchefski, 30, an Australian construction design manager, told the AFP at the Dubai International Boat Show — the biggest annual boat show in the Middle East and one of the top five in the world.
   ‘We’re dreaming. We’d love two of these ‘Out Of Limits’ racing boats,’ said Wilchefski’s friend Rick Vinantuono, 38.
   Both said however they would stick to just ‘looking around’ — which exhibitors said had been the gloomy refrain of this year’s show.
   After enjoying years of rapid growth as a business and tourism hub, Dubai, one of the seven emirates forming the United Arab Emirates, has been the hardest hit in the region by the global financial crisis.
   At this month’s boat show, 721 exhibitors from 50 countries displayed more than 400 boats on a sprawling space of 85,000 square metres, the size of about 17 football pitches.
   However, the number of exhibitors was 11 per cent down on the 810 who pitched up in 2007, according to show organisers, who added that around 26,000 people visited the exhibition this year, down from nearly 27,500 last year.
   Saeed Harib, the chief executive officer of the Dubai International Marine Club which hosted the event, acknowledged that the global credit crunch had affected sales.
   Among those who did attend, however, were a number of boat-loving royals from the UAE and neighbouring Gulf countries but whether they splurged out or not has not been revealed.
   Glitzy leisure craft ranged from luxury yachts to speed boats, including the ‘Quantum of Solace’ — the power boat featured in the latest James Bond movie of the same title.
   Watersports and leisure crafts are popular in Dubai, which boasts year-round sunny weather and sandy beaches overlooking the azure waters of the Gulf.

India’s diamond industry has shed 50 per cent of its labour force as export orders dry up with the global financial crisis crippling demand for precious stones, trade officials say.
   Eight out of 10 of the world’s diamonds are processed in the busy trading city of Surat where diamond cutters work round the clock sorting, cutting and polishing stones to meet export orders from Europe and the United States.
   But the biggest global economic slump in decades has forced mass layoffs in Surat’s multi-billion-dollar diamond trade that employed about a million workers directly or indirectly before the crisis hit.
   ‘Diamonds aren’t a necessity,’ said Rohit Mehta of the Surat Diamond Association, a body that oversees the diamond trade in this city in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
   ‘They’re a luxury and the first thing people stop buying when times get tough,’ Mehta added.
   Some 5,00,000 workers in the trade have been laid off and half of the 5,000 processing units have shut down as demand has plunged amid a wider slump in India’s exports, according to the Gujarat Hira Bourse, a diamond exchange.
   Mehta, of the Surat Diamond Association, gave a similar estimate of the numbers laid off, adding that ‘another 50,000 skilled diamond cutters are expected to be laid off if we find no new markets to sell our diamonds.’
   ‘I was 14 when my father started teaching me how to hold a diamond and cut it in a way that it shines from all sides. All my life, I worked hard and mastered the art, said 45-year-old diamond cutter Ramveer Dharan.
   ‘Now I clean a diamond merchant’s car and ensure it shines from all sides too,’ Dharan told the AFP by telephone.
   Since 1960, the port city of Surat has been renowned as a low-cost hub for processing rough diamonds imported from African nations, Australia, Russia and more recently from Dubai.
   The gems are turned into dazzling stones using imported laser machinery by migrant craftsmen often working in dim and shabby units in narrow back streets.
   More than 90 per cent of these diamonds are exported, while the rest are purchased by Indian jewellery retailers.
   ‘Everything was perfect until September 2008’ when the usual Christmas orders came in, said Param Patel of Evershine Diamonds, a Surat diamond export firm.
   ‘People were buying and there was a steady flow of income but suddenly orders started declining and now they’ve vanished,’ he said.
   In March, Patel was forced to shut down four of his six diamond processing units which employed 4,000 workers when exports were humming. He had to ask many of his craftsmen and 750 of his labourers to leave.
   ‘The diamond business runs on trust,’ said Patel. ‘Our employees are like our family members. It’s painful to ask them to go.’
   Many of the unemployed workers are heading back to their villages — some say they have received help from their employers to do so.
   But others have stayed in the city to work as household servants or tea stall vendors to support their families.
   The Surat Diamond Workers’ Association, which claims 1,00,000 members, has asked the government for assistance.
   ‘With elections round the corner, politicians come to meet us but no one promises us employment and money,’ said association secretary Ramnik Santosh.
   India goes to the polls in general elections that kick off in April.
   ‘The diamond merchants never gave us a fixed salary, job security or insurance,’ Santosh said. ‘In good times they paid us and now in tough times they’re throwing us out.’

More than 26,000 people have lost their jobs in Malaysia so far this year as the economic slowdown forced employers to cut back, state news agency Bernama reported Sunday.
   Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardan told Bernama he expected further job losses in the coming weeks.
   He said a $16.2-billion stimulus package unveiled earlier this month had not provided immediate incentive for companies to retain their workers.
   The government has slashed its work permit approvals for foreign workers by almost 70 per cent so far this year and cancelled work visas for 55,000 Bangladeshi workers after unions said the situation for Malaysians was bleak enough.
   In January, the government also banned the hiring of new foreigners in the manufacturing and services sectors after a report forecast 45,000 Malaysians would lose their jobs in the next few months.
   Malaysia is one of the Asia’s largest importers of labour and has an estimated 2.2 million foreign workers, who are the mainstay of the plantation and manufacturing sectors.

BRAC Bank has sponsored a workshop on ‘Emotional intelligence for professional women’ at BRAC Centre Inn on the occasion of International Women’s Day recently.
   The objective of the workshop was to enhance level of confidence among professional women in dealing with professional environment, a news release said.
   BRAC Bank head of human resources Tahniyat Ahmed Karim closed the session with vote of thanks to all the participants. The participants, including women entrepreneurs and professionals, also shared their experiences.
   Professional & Occupational Women’s Association for Empowerment & Rights organised the workshop, supported by bdjobs.com and JCI Bangladesh, Dhaka central.

The AB Bank Limited inaugurated first of its SME centres at the bank’s principal branch at Dilkusha in Dhaka on Sunday.
   AB Bank president and managing director Kaiser A Chowdhury inaugurated the SME centre while senior officials of the bank were present at the programme.
   The AB Bank, to provide better banking services to the small and medium enterprises, has taken up plans to set up SME centres in eleven of its branches.

Berger Paints (BD) Limited opened five new ColorBank outlets in Narayanganj recently.
   Berger Paints managing director Rupali Chowdhury inaugurated the outlets — Sheetala, Saptarang, Ram Prasad Paint Supply, and Tanha Paint & Hardware — at Kalir Bazar and No-2 Rail Gate in the town.
   Through ColorBank, Berger offers customers with more than 5,000 shades that can be produced in 5 minutes, a news release said.

Japan’s Toshiba Corp plans to take a 100 per cent stake in its struggling liquid crystal display (LCD) joint venture with Panasonic Corp, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
   Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology, currently owned 60 per cent by Toshiba and 40 per cent by Panasonic, is the world’s second-largest maker of small and midsized LCD panels used in cell phones, car navigation systems and other devices.
   Toshiba has decided to buy Panasonic’s 40 per cent stake for several billion yen, the source said, confirming an earlier report in the Nikkei business daily.
   No one at Toshiba or Panasonic, formerly named Matsushita Electric Industrial, was immediately available for comment.
   The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been made public.
   Hit by falling prices and sluggish demand, Toshiba Matsushita Display is expected to post an operating loss of 30 billion yen on sales of 270 billion yen for the financial year ending this month.
   Despite the earnings downturn, Toshiba still views the small and midsize display business as an important business and taking a 100 per cent stake will allow it to accelerate decision-making and restructuring, the source said.
   Toshiba is planning to cut costs by 300 billion yen in the next business year from April as it braces for its worst-ever annual loss in the year ending this month.
   At the same time the deal should allow Panasonic, the world’s top maker of plasma TVs, to focus more of its resources on large displays, though it will still hold 25 per cent in another small and midsized LCD venture majority-owned by Hitachi Ltd.