An unconventional product is being added to Bangladesh’s export basket very soon as the country’s lone crocodile farm is going to export crocs by December this year.
   ‘We are very much hopeful of exporting 50 to 60 frozen crocodiles from our farm to Europe by December this year,’ Mushtaq Ahmed, managing director and CEO of Reptile Farm Ltd, told the news agency Wednesday.
   He said they are expecting that the maiden export of crocodiles from Bangladesh would fetch $100,000, ushering in a new hope in the croc business in the country.
   Mushtaq said the farm, situated at Hatiber under Bhaluka in Mymensingh, has now 825 saltwater crocodiles. Of them, 67 are big size (average length 14 feet) and the rest are small to medium size (9 inches to four and a half feet), he added.
   After the end of this year’s breeding season (July-September), he said, 411 baby crocodiles were born at their farm, which was 240 in last year and 140 in 2007.
   Narrating his experience in croc business, Mushtaq, a university graduate, said he had tested different professions, including doing a job in the UNHCR, but could not settle anywhere.
   ‘I had been in search of a profession with somewhat a difference and at last my choice landed in a commercial crocodile farm at Bhaluka, the first such project in the Southeast Asian region,’ he said.

The Asian Development Bank Tuesday raised its regional growth outlook for this year but warned that recovery signs were not yet strong enough for Asian governments to remove the stimulus prop.
   Despite a positive outlook for major economies in Asia the outlook for most of the countries in South Asia including Bangladesh was poor. The growth for Bangladesh was projected at 5.2 for 2010 from 5.9 in 2009.
   The Manila-based bank said that a huge dose of spending put Asia on course to lead the world out of its economic slump, updating its 2009 forecast for gross domestic product to 3.9 per cent growth from 3.4 per cent in March.
   It also upgraded its 2010 estimate to 6.4 per cent from 6.0 per cent.
   ‘Despite worsening conditions in the global economic environment, developing Asia is poised to lead the recovery from the worldwide slowdown,’ said ADB chief economist Jong-Wha Lee.
   The region’s growth prospects were enhanced by ‘firm action by many governments and central banks, the relatively healthy state of financial systems prior to the global crisis’ and a quick turnaround in ‘larger, less export-dependent economies,’ the report said.
   Lee added that economic activity in the larger developing Asian economies had rebounded and output looked set for a so-called V-shaped comeback.
   However, he cautioned central governments and banks against any hasty withdrawal of stimulus packages.
   ‘This is not the timing for implementation of exit policy,’ Lee told a press conference in Hong Kong.
   The economist also warned against reliance on external demand as the global recovery ‘is still very slow.’
   He said Asian economies should instead focus on domestic demand and encourage intra-regional trade by removing trade barriers and protectionist policies on the labour force.
   The report looked at prospects for countries stretching from the former Soviet states of Central Asia to some of the tiny Pacific islands, excluding developed countries such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
   The ADB said it boosted China’s GDP outlook by 1.2 percentage points to 8.2 per cent this year thanks to huge pump-priming in the world’s third-biggest economy.
   Beijing has targeted growth of 8.0 per cent to keep unemployment at bay and avoid social unrest. The ADB has forecast 8.9 per cent growth next year, up from 6.5 per cent projected in March.
   It highlighted a $585b stimulus late last year, a massive surge in bank lending in the first half of this year and ‘aggressive monetary easing’.
   Export-dependent China announced its huge spending policy last year to boost domestic consumption and infrastructure projects, as key overseas markets in the United States, Japan and the eurozone went into recession.
   The move led to a surge in imports, which in turn helped regional exporters.
   India was tipped by the ADB to grow 6.0 per cent in 2009, up from a previous forecast of 5.0 per cent. Next year the ADB estimates the South Asian giant will expand seven per cent, 0.5 percentage points up from March’s estimate.
   The report said despite weak exports and a poor agricultural outlook, ‘adroit economic management’ by New Delhi had minimized the impact of the global downturn.
   The improved economic outlook is reflected in stock markets regionally, which have surged from troughs recorded in March, just weeks before the last ADB report.
   It said a strong financial sector had helped Asia through the downturn, while high savings rates and low household debt meant consumers were also able to absorb some of the shock.
   But the heavily export-reliant economies of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan were expected to shrink sharply this year as demand for their goods stays quiet and their markets only slowly regain strength.
   The ADB said despite a positive outlook for Indonesia and Vietnam, a deteriorating path ahead for Malaysia and Thailand had forced it to cut Southeast Asia’s outlook to 0.1 per cent growth, from 0.7 per cent in March.
   Central Asia, which is grappling a banking crisis and a fall in the price of its key export oil, is seen growing just 0.5 per cent now, compared with a previous forecast of 3.9 per cent.

ACI will double its poultry business capacities, especially the productions of infant chicks and poultry feeds.
   One of the company’s partners hinted the expansion might move more than Tk 150 crore investment. India’s Godrej partners ACI in agribusiness.
   ‘We plan to inject funds of around $12-13 million along with our partner in fiscal year 2009-10 into the company [ACI Godrej Agrovet] to expand capacity,’ Godrej Agrovet’s managing director BS Yadav told reporters in Mumbai on Friday.
   BS Yadav said the company planed to expand its animal feeds capacity from the present 1.2 lakh tonnes annual capacity to 2.5 lakh tonnes. This expanded capacities would go into operation within 6-months, he said.
   ‘We also intend to raise the production of chicks from 1-million per month to 2-million per month,’ added Yadav hinting time-frame for this in between 12-18-months.
   ACI Godrej Agrovet Private Limited is a joint venture company formed by 50:50 stakes of ACI Limited of Bangladesh and Godrej Agrovet Limited of India.
   The company went into operation at the end of the year 2004 with poultry feed. In 2007, it entered into fish feed, hatchery and breeding farm operations and last year, it diversified its product portfolios by introducing shrimp feeds and cattle feed.
   With group turnover at Tk 736 crore, last year, ACI Limited, which is a major player in production and marketing of pharmaceuticals, textile chemicals and foods and operation of a chain of retail superstores, has plans to expand it all agribusiness portfolios extensively within next few years.

Microsoft Corp is developing a small tablet-style PC to rival a similar product that may be launched by Apple Inc, technology blog Gizmodo reported on Tuesday.
   The booklet-shaped device, called Courier, is in the ‘late prototype’ stage of development, Gizmodo reported, without identifying the source of its information.
   Microsoft did not immediately answer a request for comment.
   The Courier device has dual seven-inch screens that are touch sensitive and can be used in conjunction with a stylus, Gizmodo reported.
   Apple has long been expected to launch its own tablet PC, essentially a large version of its iPhone.

The euro rose to a one-year high above 1.48 dollars on Tuesday as investors sold safe-haven assets such as the US unit on the back of rising economic optimism.
   The European unit rose as high as 1.4821 dollars, its strongest since last September, before settling at 1.4792 dollars at 2100 GMT, compared with 1.4676 in New York late on Monday.
   The dollar also fell to 91.10 yen compared with 91.99.
   The dollar faced broad pressure as investors moved into commodities and other riskier assets amid growing optimism over a global economic recovery.
   ‘The brief respite that the dollar enjoyed over the past few sessions has seemingly come to an end for now with commodity and equity prices higher as well as risk appetite increasing,’ said Jon Gencher at BMO Capital Markets.
   Gencher said the impetus for this move ‘seems to be coming on the back of the Asian Development Bank stating that the regional economies will expand faster than initially forecast this year.’
   The euro is considered a riskier currency than the dollar, which is seen by dealers as a safe haven in unstable economic times.
   Traders meanwhile were positioning for the conclusion Wednesday of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting following by a summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 key developed and developing countries.
   Camilla Sutton at Scotia Capital said most expect the Fed to maintain its base rate of zero to 0.25 per cent and that this will be ‘a dollar negative.’
   The G20 meanwhile ‘will provide an opportunity for a discussion of exit strategies and general dollar weakness,’ she said.
   ‘We would expect currencies to play a background role, however we think there will be event risk leading into the weekend, which could see some dollar shorts pare their positions later this week.’

A majority of high street banks in the EU deliberately hoodwink retail customers with hidden fees, dodgy advice and obstructive tactics, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
   In a detailed report into charges for current accounts across the 27 European Union member states, the commission said two thirds of all banks were guilty of failing consumers.
   Two out of three banks across Europe publish account fees and charges in such a confusing way that even the commission’s experts had to chase clarifications, it said.
   They throw ‘gobbledegook’ at customers, according to one official involved in drawing up the report, and resort to ‘legal jargon’—often only confirming fees orally, refusing to send them by email or fax.
   However, British banks that are fighting off court claims for refunds of up to one billion euros in charges were effectively exonerated as top European Commission officials disagreed on the scope of the report’s findings.
   The report issued only recommendations, and no prospect of legislative action. Apart from a threat to report offending financial institutions to national authorities, Brussels’ recommendations rested on action to ‘stimulate’ banks to improve the presentation of fees on their websites.
   Average annual fees for normal usage of a current account ranged from 27 euros ($40) in Bulgaria or 46 euros in the Netherlands at one extreme, to 253 euros in Italy or 154 euros in France at the other, the report said.
   Problems were also identified in how banks publicize contractual small print and what advice they give.
   The low rate of consumers switching between providers — just nine per cent, against 24 per cent for auto insurance — was further seen as a bad sign for the state of pan-European competition in the banking market.
   EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva outlined her concerns in excerpts from a speech she was due to give to a conference of European Savings Banks in Brussels.
   Citing a loss of consumer trust since the economic crisis took root, her speech pointed to people losing their homes all across Europe as proof of the damage caused by hidden small print.
   Her office wants banks to publish their fees structure in the same format across EU borders, and target bonus payments for staff in bank branches that create ‘temptation’ to sell harmful products.

The dollar continued to fall in Asian trade Wednesday amid increasing investor risk appetite and growing optimism over the prospects for a global rebound, analysts said.
   The dollar changed hands at 90.81 yen in Singapore afternoon trade, down from 91.10 in late US trade Tuesday. Markets in Japan are closed for public holidays and will reopen Thursday.
   The euro rose to 1.4802 dollars from 1.4792 in late US trade Tuesday. The European unit had moved as high as 1.4821 dollars Tuesday, its strongest since September 2008.
   Against the Japanese unit, the euro traded at 134.42 yen compared with 134.95 Tuesday.
   ‘We won’t try and say too much more than the obvious fact that risk appetite remains buoyant and the US dollar is the easiest whipping-boy,’ analysts from Societe Generale said in a commentary.
   ‘Until investors give up on selling the US dollar at better levels, new lows for the dollar index and highs for other currencies lie ahead.’
   The dollar is usually under pressure when risk appetite improves as investors seek to put their money into riskier assets that offer higher yields than the US currency.
   ‘The brief respite that the dollar enjoyed over the past few sessions has seemingly come to an end for now with commodity and equity prices higher as well as risk appetite increasing,’ said Jon Gencher at BMO Capital Markets.
   Meanwhile, traders are waiting for the conclusion later Wednesday of a Federal Reserve policy meeting although most are bracing for the US central bank to maintain its current monetary policy stance.
   Camilla Sutton at Scotia Capital said most expect the Fed to maintain its base rate of zero to 0.25 per cent and that this will be ‘a dollar negative.’
   Against other Asian units, the dollar fell to 1,194.45 South Korean won from 1,203.75, to 32.355 Taiwan dollars from 32.360, to 47.42 Philippine pesos from 47.61, to 33.52 Thai baht from 33.68 and to 1.4109 Singapore dollars from 1.4145.
   The greenback rose to 9,705.00 Indonesian rupiah from 9,695.00.

India, home of the world’s cheapest car, urged German auto and parts makers Tuesday to pitch their world-class wares to one of the toughest and potentially biggest markets on earth.
   Managers of brands such as Audi, BMW and Bosch were warned however that the fast-growing class of young Indian consumers and partners were tough customers that wanted the best, at a fair price.
   Automakers worldwide are focused on emerging markets like those in Brazil, China, India and Russia since sales in Europe, Japan and the United States are forecast to drop next year as government subsidises taper off.
   With an average age of around 25, Indian consumers are more educated, wealthier, tech savvy, have more choices and ‘are not loyal,’ said Wilfried Aulbur, vice-president of the Indo-German chamber of commerce.
   ‘It’s a pretty difficult animal to handle,’ he concluded during a seminar on the country’s auto sector at the Frankfurt motor show.
   Aulbur, also managing director and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz India, told German business leaders to expect ‘very interesting discussions’ on price and value.
   India produces the world’s cheapest car, the $2,055Tata Nano, and the country is now the 11th largest auto producer worldwide, said India’s ambassador to Germany, Sudhir Vyas.
   All major auto manufacturers have a presence in the country of nearly 1.2 billion people, where car sales rose in July for the sixth month running.
   Suzuki of Japan plans to build a new Indian plant in 2011 and Volkswagen opened one in March while estimating the market at more than two million vehicles by 2014.
   There are presently between seven and eight cars for every 1,000 inhabitants there, compared with around 500 in Germany.

As the global economic storm abates, banks are being told to save more for the next potential deluge, a demand with striking consequences for the sector and the world’s economy.
   At the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh later this week, leaders from the world’s largest economies will discuss new rules dictating how much banks must stash in their vaults versus the amount they are putting to work.
   The fact that presidents and prime ministers will discuss apparent financial sector minutiae could be an indication of its importance across the economy.
   ‘We just had a massive financial meltdown because banks did not have an equity cushion,’ said Simon Johnston, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
   According to Johnston, new rules should triple the amount of capital that banks need to hold in reserve.
   Johnston and others hope such tough rules would prevent a repeat of the current economic crisis, in which banks had woefully inadequate reserves to deal with a sharp drop in the value of their assets, in this case dodgy debt derivatives.
   The resulting turmoil led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and made borrowing difficult, stalling infrastructure projects, shuttering businesses and requiring governments to stump up trillions of dollars in bailout money.
   But critics argue that a knee-jerk reaction could stall the economic recovery, and slash profit of the big four American banks by as much as 30 per cent, according to one Wall Street Journal analysis.
   That has the potential to substantially reduce the clout of the financial sector, seen as the motor of economic growth over decades.
   Still, in the last year momentum has been steadily growing for governments to act, and they now appear to be on the cusp of doing so.
   In April, the Financial Stability Board—a group tasked by the G20 to monitor systemic risks to the economy, and one likely draftee of any final deal—warned banks must now save more in good times.
   It recommended that countries adjust rules so ‘the quality and level of capital in the banking system increase during strong economic conditions and can be drawn down during periods of economic and financial stress.’
   However, this week’s meetings are unlikely to set out detailed rules, and it is far from clear what form new regulation might take, leaving markets guessing.
   European countries are calling for implementation of the 2004 Basel II agreement, which has been implemented in the European Union but will not be expected to enter into force in the United States before 2011.
   The agreement calls on banks to hold capital ratios of eight per cent of their asset base.
   US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has called on G20 leaders to go beyond that deal.
   ‘There is a host of competing statements and intentions out there,’ said Nancy Bush, founder of NAB Research, which focuses on the financial sector.
   ‘There are so many things that we are all just shrugging our shoulders at the moment,’ she said, citing a slew of new regulation in the offing.
   While share prices for big American banks have so far ‘performed heroically,’ according to Bush, she sees trouble ahead when the stock market starts to internalize the breadth of changes on the cards.
   ‘There is going to be, for the next few years, historically high levels of capital,’ she said, adding that would have an impact on the profitability of banks and their ability to lend.
   Edwin Truman, a former economist for the Federal Open Market Committee—which sets US interest rates—and now a fellow of the Peterson Institute think tank, is not so pessimistic.
   While Truman acknowledged that economic growth might be clipped thanks to a shrinking financial sector and a ‘higher cost of (obtaining) funds,’ it is unlikely that the tentative recovery would be severely stymied, he said.
   The economy might grow more slowly, but it would be more stable, he added.
   According to Truman, the architecture of the agreement matters less than ensuring that the bar is not set so high that China and other emerging markets do not sign up.
   ‘If you take the four largest Chinese banks, where do they come in, maybe the top 20, or now the top 10 in the world. Are the Chinese going to limit the size of their banks? The answer is no,’ he said.

Beijing is pressing for a bigger voice in the International Monetary Fund and says Group of 20 leaders at their Pittsburgh summit should start making good on promises to give developing countries more IMF votes.
   The G20 has agreed in principle but could face an obstacle: European governments, which hold a big share of the IMF board seats and are reluctant to accept changes that might reduce their own status in the IMF.
   ‘For many of them, it’s the only way they can do some grandstanding globally,’ said Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, the centre of the 27-nation European Union. ‘They don’t even want to talk about it.’
   The agenda at the Sept 24-25 summit includes possible curbs on financial industry pay, joint economic policy and whether to start winding down stimulus spending. But for China, the prize is greater representation in the IMF, which Beijing sees as a way to influence global economic policy. Working through such a multilateral body could help to allay unease abroad about rising Chinese economic and political power.
   Agence France-Presse adds: Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh called Wednesday for a ‘strong message’ against protectionism from world leaders as he set out for the G20 summit of wealthy and emerging nations.
   Singh also said he would press for ‘a return to trend growth’ and stabilisation of the financial sectors in developed economies—steps he said are vital to trade, capital inflows and investment in emerging nations.
   India would ‘like to see a strong message to emerge from Pittsburgh against protectionism in all its forms, whether trade in goods, services, investment or financial flows,’ Singh said in a message released as he left for the US city.
   The global economy has shown ‘distinct improvement’ since the global financial crisis erupted but ‘we are still not out of woods,’ he added in the statement.
   India with its mainly domestically focused economy approaches the G20 summit ‘with a sense of confidence,’ he said.
   ‘Our growth is primarily driven by domestic demand, our savings rate is robust and the external sector has exhibited resilience,’ he said.
   Capital cash flows have also started picking up and India is an ‘attractive investment destination,’ he said.
   India forecasts ‘six per cent plus’ growth this year, lower than the 6.7 per cent the country logged last year, and sharply down from the annual nine per cent levels it clocked during the three previous years.
   But private economists expect India’s growth to start gaining steam next year.

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday the global financial crisis could impair economic growth for at least seven years, and suggested structural reforms could help limit the damage.
   ‘Typically, banking crises have a long-lasting impact on the level of output although growth eventually recovers. Lower employment, investment, and productivity all contribute to sustained output losses,’ the IMF said.
   IMF economists drew those conclusions in a chapter of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report, released in advance of the institution’s annual meetings in Istanbul in early October.
   The IMF economists looked at 88 banking crises over the past four decades in a wide range of countries.
   ‘The medium-term output losses following banking crises are substantial. Seven years after the crisis, output has declined relative to trend by close to 10 per cent on average,’ they said, noting substantial variation across countries.
   The enduring effect of banking crises resulted from a decline in economic output at the beginning of the event, then a weakening in investment and in overall unemployment.
   ‘Output per capita does not recover to its precrisis trend because capital per worker, the unemployment rate, and productivity do not typically return to their precrisis trends within seven years after the crisis,’ the economists said.
   ‘For the most part, the implications of our analysis are sobering for the medium-term output prospects in economies with recent banking crises.’
   The associated losses in capital, employment, and total factor productivity could be long-lasting, ‘leaving an enduring imprint on the productive capacity of these economies,’ they wrote in the chapter.
   The full WEO report, including economic growth forecasts, will be published on October 1, ahead of the IMF annual meeting in Istanbul on October 6-7.
   The IMF economists said the results of their analysis suggest that proactive domestic macroeconomic policies in the short term may mitigate medium-term output losses.
   ‘There is also some evidence of the beneficial role of structural policy reform and favourable global conditions. However, there is still much to learn about the processes and interactions that lead to strong growth performance,’ they said.
   The 186-nation institution called for stepped-up reforms to offset the gross domestic product losses and capacity building.
   ‘The combined output of economies currently in the midst of a banking crisis comprises close to one-half of real GDP for the advanced economies and one-quarter of world GDP. This suggests that real output in advanced economies is unlikely to rebound to its precrisis trend, which was the experience of emerging economies following the 1980s debt crises,’ it said.
   The chapter was released ahead of a two-day summit of the Group of 20 key developed and developing countries that opens today.

The World Bank has announced $4.3 billion in loans to India, including 2.0 billion for the banking sector, to help strengthen its economy amid the global economic crisis.
   The World Bank said on Tuesday its executive board approved loans for projects in five countries, with the loans for India by far the largest.
   The four projects worth $4.3 billion to India are ‘designed to support the government’s infrastructure agenda and bolster its economic stimulus program,’ the Washington-based development lender said.
   The bank noted that after a period of high economic growth — which reached 9.7 per cent in 2006-07 — the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008 saw a decline in India’s growth rate to about 5.0-6.0 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008-2009.
   The bank projected a ‘realistic’ growth rate of between 5.5 and 6.5 per cent for 2009-2010 for Asia’s third-largest economy, after Japan and China.
   ‘This is a crucial time to support India,’ Roberto Zagha, World Bank country director for India, said in a statement.
   ‘While the worst of the crisis seems to be behind us, doubts linger about the strength of the comeback, partly because the strength of the global recovery is uncertain. Today’s support will help maintain credit growth and continued infrastructure investments,’ he said.
   Zagha said supporting infrastructure development was crucial to ‘lay the foundations for stronger future growth.’
   The World Bank said it had extended a two-billion-dollar loan to support the banking sector, in response to a request from the Indian government to support stimulus measures to counter the worst global downturn in six decades.
   ‘This will help maintain the confidence of the public in the banking sector, prevent shortages of capital from leading to a slowdown in credit growth, and provide a capital buffer to public sector banks to absorb the possible increase in non-performing assets resulting from the global financial crisis and its impact on India’s economy,’ it said.
   The loan is for 30 years and includes a five-year grace period in which India is exempt from repayments.
   A 28-year loan of $1.195 billion was aimed at increasing the availability of long-term financing for the India Infrastructure Finance Company to provide public-private financing of infrastructure projects.

Russia is to embark on a new programme of privatisation, two-and-a-half years after its last major sale of state assets, officials were quoted as saying on Wednesday.
   After the chaotic asset sales of the 1990s under the Boris Yeltsin presidency created a class of super-rich oligarchs and a major public backlash, the government has lately preferred to increase its stakes in firms.
   But the financial crisis has blown a major whole in the Russian budget, with the deficit predicted to be around 8.0 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009 and 6.9 per cent in 2010.
   Finance minister Alexei Kudrin told the Vedomosti financial daily that with the income from privatisation, Russia could reduce its use of reserve funds and cut the volume of planned bond issues needed to make up the budget shortfall.
   ‘In other words, the sum (from privatisation) will go to reducing the deficit,’ he added.
   But Vedomosti quoted government sources as saying that a new privatisation drive would be also aimed as much at improving the image of Russia, which is still criticized by the West for having excessive state control of the economy.
   ‘It’s clear that for the most part we are not talking about additional budget income—now is not the best economic time for sales—but about image, to show the world the liberalism of the government,’ a government source said.
   First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, a key ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, told Bloomberg TV in an interview that ‘now is the time that we can return’ to privatisation.
   He said the government had ‘good assets’ to offer, saying that stakes in 5,500 state-owned enterprises could be up for grabs.
   The whirlwind privatisations of the 1990s masterminded by Anatoly Chubais become notorious for selling state assets at knockdown prices to a select group of insiders but also sought to jolt Russia towards a market economy.
   ‘Shuvalov has finally reached the moment when he can carry out a new privatisation manoeuvre,’ another government source told Vedomosti. ‘We will see if Shuvalov becomes another Chubais.’
   Russia’s last major asset sale was the May 2007 privatisation of 22.5 per cent of its second largest bank, state-owned VTB, which raised eight billion dollars.
   Russia in July 2006 sold 15 per cent in state-owned oil giant Rosneft which raised 10.4 billion dollars for the state coffers. Shuvalov said a further portion of the government’s stake could be sold off in the new privatisation.
   ‘We understand that discussions on the matter (the sale of a further stake in Rosneft) are at a very preliminary stage,’ analysts at Renaissance Capital said in a note to clients.
   ‘We do not think that the government will agree to lose control over Rosneft but given the state currently holds 75 per cent of the company, privatisation of up to 25 per cent may be discussed.’
   Officials have said the state either directly or indirectly has a 45-50 per cent share of the Russian economy compared to a 30 per cent average worldwide, a fact that still puts off Western investors.

General Motors Co (GM.UL) said on Tuesday it planned to restore about 3,000 jobs at US assembly plants and related facilities and is getting set to raise North American production by up to 45 per cent next year.
   GM said it would add shifts at three assembly plants as the automaker consolidates production from plants that are closing or retooling, a process that would not add immediately to its production schedule for 2009.
   But GM expects to increase North American production to about 2.8 million vehicles in 2010, up about 40 per cent to 45 per cent from 2009. GM had sharply curtailed North American production around its government-guided reorganization.
   GM said it would add shifts at three US assembly plants next year, restoring 2,400 jobs, and expected to restore 600 jobs at related facilities across the United States that produce engines, transmissions, stampings and castings.
   The addition of shifts at plants in Kansas, Indiana and Michigan comes at a time when US auto industry sales are thought to have hit bottom and manufacturers are raising production to restore depleted vehicle inventories.
   US dealer inventories were trimmed sharply after the federal government’s ‘cash for clunkers’ program lifted sales in July and August with incentives of up to $4,500 to turn in gas-guzzling vehicles and buy new more fuel-efficient models.
   GM has been addressing severely low inventories resulting from a combination of the ‘clunkers’ program that ran from late July through the first three weeks of August and production cutbacks around its government-funded reorganization.