Friday, January 30, 2009

Indonesian asks ASEAN to postpone signing FTA agreements with Australia, New Zealand

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

JAKARTA, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- The Indonesian Industry Ministry demanded a postponement of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia, New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to protect Indonesian local industry, said an official here on Thursday.

"In such a critical situation, each country tends to strengthen its national products," the Sindo daily on Friday quoted the Ministry's Head for Research and Development Dedy Mulyadi as saying.

According to Dedy, Indonesian local industry was not competitive yet for foreign market penetration, even for protecting domestic market. "The postponement might have taken one or two years ahead," the official said.

He said that though FTA proceeding is under the authority of the Indonesian Trade Ministry, the Industry Ministry has to propose the postponement, because the country's export will decrease, which will hurt its manufacturing sectors amid global financial crisis.



Japan to give Indonesia $2.1 mln loan for energy co-op

JAKARTA, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Japan will grant the

Indonesian government a loan of 21 million U.S. dollars to improve their

bilateral cooperation in the energy sector and to sustain Indonesia's liquid

natural gas (LNG) export to Japan.

"Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) expect a good cooperation in the

energy sector by providing the loans. Besides, to strengthen bilateral

relationship between the two countries, JBIC demands Indonesia to increase gas

export to Japan," the Indonesian Business daily on Friday quoted an unnamed

source as saying.

According to the source who knew the agenda of the

meeting between JBIC President and CEO Hiroshi Watanabe and Indonesian Vice

President Jusuf Kalla, the two also discussed respective economic prospects in

2009.

Indonesia was the largest gas supplier to Japan in

2006, with an export volume of 13.99 million tons.

Macao's forex reserves reach $15.93 bln in December 2008

MACAO, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- The foreign exchange reserves of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) was preliminary estimated at 127.2 billion patacas (15.93 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of December 2008, the SAR's Monetary Authority announced on Friday.



The reserves for December 2008 rose by 0.6 percent from the revised value of 126.4 billion (15.83 billion dollars) for the previous month, according to the AMCM figures. When compared with the same period last year, the reserves increased by 19.6 percent.

The AMCM also said that the SAR's foreign exchange reserves at end-December 2008 represented 29 times the currency in circulation.

Meanwhile, the trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency's exchange rates against the currencies of Macao's major trading partners, fell by 0.98 points month-to-month but increased by 2.4 points year-on-year to 91.98 in December 2008.

Auto sales in California plunge to 15 year low as economy deteriorates

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- New vehicles sales in California, which is the largest auto market in the United States, plunged to a 15 year low last year as the U.S. economic recession keeps stalling consumer spending, according to a latest trade report.

As measured by vehicle registrations, California's dealers sold1.45 million cars and trucks in 2008, representing a 23 percent drop, compared with the 18 percent decline across the country, the California New Car Dealers Association said in its annual report.

The association's report released on Thursday showed that the severe financial market crisis, global economic slowdown and an increasing unemployment rate had stymied an auto sales rebound last year.

New car sales began falling in late 2007 in California, and showed a year-over-year drop of 19 percent through the first nine months of 2008, before the drop-off plunged to 30 percent during the last three months of the year, according to the report.

Peter Welch, the association's president, said that car dealers business has entered an uncharted territory as there were no signs when the sales slide will end.

If the current economic climate persists, sales could fall an additional 15 percent this year, he said, adding that at least 132California dealerships closed or consolidated last year, with 12 more falling victim this month.

Olympics boost ad spending in China, 2009 outlook gloomy

BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Domestic and overseas firms spent 441.3 billion yuan (64.9 billion U.S. dollars) advertising in China in 2008, up 15 percent year-on-year, according to a market research institute.



Ad spending was buoyed up by the hectic Beijing Olympics last year, said a report released by the CTR Market Research last week. It gave a downbeat forecast for 2009 due to economic slowdown.

With large-scale promotion before, during and after the Olympic Games, the U.S. fast food chain KFC paid the second highest advertising fees in 2008, following the U.S. skin care brand Olay, the report showed.

Monthly ad expenses posted an average annual growth of 17 percent in the January-April period and 16 percent in the June-December period last year. Spending in May only climbed 2 percent year-on-year, impacted by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that struck southwest China on May 12.

Despite the global financial crisis, advertising by the financial industry surged 45 percent in China last year, the highest annual growth among all sectors, said the report.

However, it was almost certain that the global crisis would put a brake on China's ad market growth in 2009 as financial, real estate and auto industries would be further impacted, the report quoted CTR Market research vice president Tony Tian as saying.

Advertisements on TV and those for cosmetic and bath products took the largest market shares last year, accounting for 76 percent and 16 percent of the total ad spending respectively, according to the report.

Two major oilfields in NW China aims output growth

URUMQI, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Developers of two key oilfields in Xinjiang

Uygur Autonomous Region have pledged to further tap oil and gas reserves and

boost their production capacity in the coming years.

Karamay Oilfield is expected to realize an annual crude oil output of 16

million tonnes and 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2015, according to

Chen Xinfa, general manager of Xinjiang Oilfield Company, a subsidiary of China

National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

The oilfield, reporting 28 consecutive years of increase in crude oil

output, produced 12.2 million tonnes of oil in 2008. Natural gas output hit 3.42

billion cubic meters last year, 520 million cubic meters more than that of 2007.



Chen said its company will further explore oil and gas reserves in the area

and adjust and improve production methods to realize the goal.

Another key oilfield of Tahe, being developed by Sinopec, is expected to

produce more than 10 million tonnes of crude oil annually by next year, a huge

jump from last year's output of 6 million tonnes.

Sinopec plans to invest 9.8 billion yuan (1.43 billion U.S. dollars) in the

oilfield this year to produce 6.59 million tonnes of crude oil and 1.21 billion

cubic meters of natural gas.

According to a medium and long-term development plan, Sinopec will strive

to increase the oilfield's combined oil and gas output capacity to 15 million

tonnes annually by 2015. By 2020, the figure is expected to increase to between

20 million and 25 million tonnes.

Both oilfields are located in Xinjiang's Junggar Basin, which stores oil

and gas reserves totaling 10.7 billion tonnes, only 21percent of which has been

ascertained by now.

East China province to boost railway construction

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis



NANCHANG, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- East China's Jiangxi Province is planning to kick off 14 railway

The projects, involving an estimated investment of 116.52 billion yuan (17 billion U.S. dollars), will bring Jiangxi's total rail length to 3,500 kilometers upon completion.

According to a railway construction plan compiled by the provincial development and reform commission late last year, the province is expected to have 4,000 km of railway by 2015 and more than 4,500 km by 2020.

According to the plan, railways are expected to reach all the province's counties, main tourist destinations and key industrial and mining zones as well as economically-developed towns by 2020.





China's steel producers forecast drastic net profits decline for 2008

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis



BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- China's major listed steel companies forecasted a huge drop in net

China's Angang Steel Company Ltd. (Ansteel) reported an estimated 55 percent profit decline. Liuzhou Iron Steel (Group) Company said annual net profit may drop 98 percent, and San steel Minguang Co. Ltd forecasted a 70 to 100 percent slump.

The weak performance mainly resulted from the shrinking market demand and price decline of both steel and raw materials, said there ports.

According to Lgmi. com, a metals information research center in China, price for secondary metallurgical coke dropped 50 to 60 percent from its highest point in the first half of 2008, while steel price dipped about 40 percent.

Chinese Academy of Sciences said domestic steel price will stay at a low level this year in a report on China's economic outlook in 2009 last week.

China's steel market will face both "shrinking supply and demand" in 2009, said the report. However, market demand will revive as the economic stimulus package took effect, and steel companies will see the end of profit decline at the end of 2009.





Economic sentiment drops to new low in EU, euro area in January

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BRUSSELS, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- The economic sentiment indicator (ESI) for the E

The ESI declined by 1.5 points in the 16-nation euro zone in January to 68.9 points and by 3.3 points to 64.9 in the 27-nation EU, the lowest level in both regions since the survey started in January 1985.













Global Job Cuts





,Starbucks to cut 6,700 jobs



,SAP to cut 3,000 jobs



,Intel to cut up to 6,000 jobs



,Caterpillar to cut 20,000 jobs



,Warner Bros. to cut 800 jobs



, Ericsson to cut 5,000 jobs



, Sony to cut 8,000 jobs



, Valeo to cut 5,000 jobs



, Chanel to cut 200 jobs



, Volvo Cars to cut 3,400 jobs



, Credit Suisse to cut 5,300 jobs



, Rolls-Royce to cut 2,000 jobs



, Indonesia to cut 40,000 jobs



,UK finance sector to cut 15,000 jobs



,India IT industry to cut 50,000 jobs



, South Korea to cut jobs in public sector



The drop was much less than in the last three months of 2008, said the Commission, the executive arm of the EU.

"The fall in the ESI for both the EU and the euro area is attributed to a general decline in confidence in all sectors, except for the retail trade sector which remained unchanged," said the Commission. Companies expect more jobs to be cut this year as demand shrinks.

Services, which declined most among all the five sectors, slipped by 4.9 points in the EU and by 4.8 in the euro area, while construction fell by 4.0 and 3.3, respectively.

Confidence declined drastically in Poland (-8.6 points), Britain (-7.4) and Germany (3.1), said the Commission.

According to the Commission, the industrial confidence indicator dropped by 1.8 points in the EU and by 0.4 in the euro area, both to minus 34 points, while consumer sentiment dropped by2.3 points in the EU and by 0.8 in the euro area, both to minus 31.

Financial services managers' assessment of their business situation worsened further and they also expect the demand for their services to deteriorate substantially in the coming months.



HK records financial surplus of 40 bln HK dollars in December

HONG KONG, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Hong Kong has a financial surplus of 40.3 billion HK dollars (5.2 billion U.S. dollars) in December last year, thereby bringing a net surplus of 30.9 billion HK dollars up to the end of December, 2008, official figures released Friday indicated.



Expenditure for the period April to December 2008 amounted to 205.4 billion HK dollars and revenue 236.3 billion, said a spokesman of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

The spokesman said that the surplus in December was mainly due to the receipts of salaries tax, profits tax and investment income on fiscal reserves of 46.4 billion HK dollars from the Exchange Fund.

On the other hand, major one-off expenditure including injection to Mandatory Provident Funds accounts and the Research Endowment Fund had not been reflected in the December figures, he said.

The spokesman added that despite the larger number of holdover cases, revenue from salaries tax and profits tax had been better than expected. The revised estimates for the current financial year will be published along with the 2009-10 Budget on Feb. 25.

Hong Kong's fiscal reserves stood at 523.8 billion HK dollars as at December 31, 2008. (One U.S. dollar = 7.748 HK dollars)

HK stocks close slightly higher, HSBC falls

HONG KONG, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Hoping that the Chinese mainland will have more stimulus measures after the traditional Chinese new year, Hong Kong shares closed slightly higher on Friday.



After opening lower at 12,958.08, the blue chip Hang Seng Index rose 123.78 points, or 0.94 percent to 13,278.21 after falling to an intraday low of 12,899.57. Turnover rose to 44.10 billion HK dollars (5.69 billion U.S. dollars) from 39.16 billion HK dollars (5.05 billion U.S. dollars) on Thursday.

Analysts said that the market's rise Friday was a positive signal as the Hong Kong market didn't track overseas weakness.

Heavyweight HSBC resumed its decline after sharp gains in the previous session, on persistent worries the bank would need to raise more funds and cut its dividend. HSBC fell 2.9 percent to 60. 80 HK dollars.

Another local bank Hang Seng rose 3.89 percent, or 3.55 HK dollars, to 91.25 HK dollars, while Bank of East Asia moved up 1. 69 percent, or 0.26 HK dollars to close at 15.42.

Cathay Pacific Air moved up 3.28 percent, or 0.29 HK dollars to end at 8.85 HK dollars.

Chinese banks and insurers propelled Hong Kong shares higher, Bank of Communications rose 4.7 percent to 5.18 HK dollars, Bank of China climbed 2.48 percent to 2.02 HK dollars and Ping An Insurance jumped 6.0 percent to 34.30 HK dollars. China Life moved up 0.24 percent to 20.75 HK dollars.

ICBC plunged 0.89 percent, or 0.03 HK dollars to 3.38 HK dollars, China Mobile moved up 0.71 percent to 70.00 HK dollars and China UNICOM rose 2.09 percent at 7.17 HK dollars.

Some economists said that there were expectations of Beijing launching more economic stimulus measures, which may include interest rate cuts after the country's producer prices in December fell for the first time in six years and consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in over two years.

Chinese markets are closed this week for the New Year holidays, and will reopen Monday.

Tokyo stocks plunge 3.12% on grim corporate earnings

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis



TOKYO, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Japanese stocks plummeted

Friday to snap a three-day winning streak as a number of leading companies

announced grim earnings projections for the current financial year.

The key 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 257.19

points, or 3.12 percent, from Thursday to 7,994.05. The last time the Nikkei

closed below the 8,000 level was Monday.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues

on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 24.44 points, or 2.99 percent, to 794.03.

Electronics shares were among the notable losers

after a number of industry leaders released worse-than-expected reports for the

financial year through March on Friday and Thursday.

Toshiba, the most heavily traded issue both in value

and volume terms, dropped 67 yen, or over 17 percent, to 318 yen, after the firm

said Thursday it expects its largest-ever group net and operating losses of 280

billion yen each for the current business year, its first loss in seven years.

Sony fell 129 yen, or nearly 7 percent, to 1,780 yen.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant reaffirmed its earlier

projection that it expects to incur a 150 billion yen net loss for the whole of

fiscal 2008 ending March 31, its first annual loss in 14 years.

NEC also fell, slipping 17 yen, or over 6 percent, to

245 yen. It said on Friday it expects to incur 290 billion yen in group net

losses for the current business year due to its struggling chip operations and

dwindling sales of other products. The loss compared with its October estimate

of a 15 billion yen net profit and a year-earlier profit of 22.68 billion yen.

Trading volume on the main section came to 1,965.83

million shares, down from Thursday's 2,142.56 million.

The TSE's Second Section index lost 6.18 points, or

0.33 percent, to 1,891.59 on a volume of 26.96 million shares. On the Osaka

Securities Exchange, the near-term March Nikkei 225 index futures contract was

down 260 points to 7,940.

Myanmar-Thai bilateral trade hit over $2 bln in eight months of 2008-09

YANGON, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Myanmar-Thailand bilateral trade hit 2.21

billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months of the fiscal year 2008-09 ending

March, the local Weekly Eleven journal reported Friday.

Thailand stands first in Myanmar's foreign trade partner line-up, followed

by China, Singapore, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Bangladesh

and Vietnam.

In 2006-07, Thailand and Myanmar bilateral trade including both normal

trade and border trade amounted to 2.7 billion dollars, while in 2007-08 it

reached 3.19 billion dollars.

Thailand exported to Myanmar textile, shoes, marine products, rice, rubber,

jewelry, motor cars, computer and electronic accessories, while Myanmar exported

to Thailand forestry products, marine products, agricultural produces and

natural gas.

The report also said China remained the second among Myanmar's foreign

trade partners with 1.8 billion dollars in the first eight months of 2008-09. In

2007-08, it was 1.6 billion dollars and 1.3 billion dollars in 2006-07.

Statistics show that in the first three quarters (April-December) of the

2008-09, Myanmar's foreign trade volume hit over 8.5 billion dollars up 21.95

percent from the same period of 2007-08 when it registered over 7 billion

dollars.

Of the 8.5 billion dollars' foreign trade, 7.5 billion dollars were gained

through normal trade, while over 1 billion dollars were obtained through border

trade, up 24 percent and 8.32 percent respectively.

Of the three-quarter period's foreign trade, the exports amounted to over

4.5 billion dollars with normal trade and 500 million dollars with border trade,

increasing by 14.3 percent and dropping by 2.88 percent respectively.

Of Myanmar's export items during the period, beans and pulses took over

900,000 tons in quantity, getting 500 million dollars, while rice accounted for

200,000 tons, earning 60 million dollars, the report said.

Under the current status, Myanmar is trading with over 80 countries and

regions through normal trade with Thailand standing top as Myanmar's trading

partner traditionally without change.

Japan's industrial output nosedive 9.6% in December

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

TOKYO, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Japan's industrial output plummeted at the

fastest pace on record in December as global recession deepens and the country's

export suffered serious losses.

The 9.6-percent fall was the second decline for two straight months,

following a revised 8.5 percent fall in November. It is the steepest monthly

fall since February 1953, when comparable figures first became available.

Japanese Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano said it was

"impossible to predict" when the Japanese economy would bottom out.

In the October-December period, output dropped 11.9 percent from the

previous quarter, experiencing a fourth straight quarterly shrinkage for the

first time since 2001.

On Thursday, major exporters including Sony, Toshiba, and NEC Electronics

all reported miserable earnings and intensely gloomy outlooks. Manufacturers

such as Toyota also announced a series of plans to cut production and costs.



ROK central bank vows to pump liquidity into financial system

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis



SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Bank of Korea (BOK) governor Lee Seong-tae said Friday the central bank will more

actively pour liquidity into the financial system when necessary.

"If the intermediary role of the financial market in

making funds smoothly flow is sharply weakened, the BOK will draw up measures to

pump in more liquidity," Lee said.

Since September last year, the central bank has

pumped over 19 trillion won (13.8 billion U.S. dollars) into the financial

system to promote bank loans.







Tokyo stocks open sharply lower on corporate earnings

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis



TOKYO, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Tokyo stocks opened sharply lower Friday after a

number leading companies announced dismal corporate earnings projections

Thursday.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost

234.56 points, or 2.84 percent, from Thursday to 8,016.68.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock

Exchange was down 21.68 points, or 2.65 percent, to 796.79. The Second Section

also lost ground.



Toshiba, NEC in talks to integrate semiconductor business

TOKYO, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Toshiba Corp. and NEC

Corp. have begun talks to integrate their troubling semiconductor operations to

combat plummeting chip prices and dwindling global demand, local media reported

Friday.

Fujitsu Ltd. may also participate in the deal in the

future since it is also looking for a tie-up partner for its semiconductor unit,

which was spun off in March last year, Kyodo News said, citing sources familiar

with the matter.

Industry insiders believe if the three-way

integration realized, it is likely to trigger a major realignment in the

semiconductor industry.

The talks between Toshiba and NEC are also likely to

involve integrating Toshiba's system LSI operations with NEC Electronics Corp.,

a major chip-making subsidiary of NEC, the sources said.

Toshiba and NEC have already formed an alliance to

jointly develop a cutting-edge system LSI.

Toshiba, the world's No. 2 maker of NAND flash

memory, and other major chip-making companies throughout the industry have been

reeling under a global industry-wide slump caused mainly by the spreading global

recession.

On Thursday, Toshiba said it expects a group

largest-ever net and operating loss of 280 billion yen (about 3.09764 billion

U.S. dollars) for fiscal 2008, its first red-ink in seven

years.

S Korea's current account posts $6.41 bln deficit in 2008

SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- South Korea's current

account deficit amounted to 6.41 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, which was the

first annual current account shortfall since 1997, the country's central bank

said Friday.

In 2007, South Korea's current account posted a

surplus of 5.88 billion U.S. dollars, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said.

According to the BOK, the goods balance posted a

surplus of 5.99 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, sharply down from the surplus of

28.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2007. The BOK attributed the decrease of good

balance surplus to soaring oil and other raw material prices.

Customs-cleared exports in 2008 grew to 422 billion

U.S. dollars, up 13.6 percent from a year ago, while imports increased 22

percent to 435.3 billion U.S. dollars, it said.

The shortfall of the service account amounted to 16.7

billion U.S. dollars, slightly down from 19.8 billion U.S. dollars deficit a

year ago, it said.

The income account logged a surplus of 5.11 billion

U.S. dollars last year, up from 1 billion U.S. dollars in the previous year, it

said.

The capital account, on the other hand, posted a net

outflow of 50.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, sharply down from a net inflow of

7.13 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, it said.

The BOK added that the capital account swung to the

shortfall for the first time since it logged a net outflow of 3.39 billion U.S.

dollars in 2001.

The central bank said earlier that the country's

current account for 2009 was expected to swing into the black at around 22

billion U.S. dollars.

Singapore's leading bank says CEO diagnosed with leukemia

SINGAPORE, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Singapore's DBS Bank said its chief executive officer Richard Stanley has been diagnosed with leukemia, local media reported on Thursday .

According to Channel newsasia's report, the bank said Stanley is expected to take three to six months of medical leave and commence medical treatment in Singapore immediately. DBS chairman Koh Boon Hwee will cover Stanley's role in his absence.

The broadcaster said analysts do not expect the bank's business to be affected since the bank has good management structure in place.

The DBS was established in 1968 as the development bank of Singapore. It is now one of the largest financial services groups in Asia with operations in 16 markets.

Indonesia, Malaysia join hands to boost tourism industry

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis





JAKARTA, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to cooperate in tourism industry to lessen the deepening impact of the global economic downturn on the sector, ministers of the countries said here Thursday.



The global financial crisis is predicted to slump tourist spending and flatten the number of foreign visitors to Indonesia this year, the country's Tourism Minister Jero Wacik has said.

Wacik on Thursday met with visiting Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Azalina Othman.

The two countries planned to jointly take steps to boost tourism industry, including cutting some cost of operation by conducting joint promotions and encouraging tourists in their countries to visit each other as well as providing incentive of prices discount for tourists from ASEAN, the two ministers said.

"Basically, we agreed to hold a joint promotion. During the global recession we can cooperate in attracting international tourists and encourage visitors at our countries to visit each other's," said Wacik at his office here.

Azalina said Malaysia welcomes the initiative of Wacik to provide lower prices for ASEAN tourists.

Tourism accounts for about 3 percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product. However some regions, such as the country's tourist industry center Bali, are heavily rely on the sector for jobs and economic growth.

According to Indonesia's tourism ministry, revenue from tourism forecast to decline to 6.5 billion U.S. dollars this year, from an estimated 7.57 billion U.S. dollars last year.

Foreign tourist arrivals are predicted to be at the range of 6.25 million to 6.5 million people in 2009, according to the ministry. Tourist arrivals reached 6.4 million in 2008.



Philippine economy slows down, interest rates cut by 0.5%

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis





MANILA, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- The Philippines' economic growth slowed down to 4.6 percent in 2008 amid the financial crisis which gripped the economies worldwide, pushing the government to cut the interest rates by 50 basis points the second time within two months.



Last year's growth rate was lower than the 7.2-percent hike posted in 2007 when the economy grew at its fastest pace in more than 30 years.

For the fourth quarter 2008 alone, the gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the value of goods and services produced by an economy, grew by 4.5 percent compared with 6.4 percent in the same period of 2007, the country's National Statistical Coordination Board said in a press release.

Government officials said the figures were better than expected, considering the deepening global crisis.

"Despite the global crisis that persisted in the fourth quarter and that has spilled into the Year of the Ox, the local economy has not atrophied," said Romulo Virola, Secretary General of the National Statistical Coordination Board.

Gross national product grew 6.4 percent in 2008 from 8.0 percent in the previous year.

The government expects the economy to grow between 3.7 and 4.7 percent as the global economic crisis is expected to continue this year.

"As the government implements fiscal and monetary policy to mitigate the impact of the crisis, our economy is expected to remain resilient and prepared for the eventual economic rebound," said Ralph Recto, Socio-economic Planning Secretary of the country.

On the same day, the Philippine central bank BSP decided to reduce its key policy interest rates by 50 basis points, bring the overnight borrowing rate to 5.0 percent and the lending rate to 7.0 percent. The BSP cut the rates by another 50 basis points on Dec.18 last year.

The central bank said that Thursday's decision was based on the outlook that inflation will fall within the target range for 2009 and 2010.

The BSP had set an inflation target of 6 to 8 percent for this year and 3.5 to 5.5 percent for 2010.

"The balance of risks to inflation is tilted to the downside due to the softening prices of commodities, the slowdown in core inflation, significantly lower inflation expectations, and moderating demand," the BSP said in a statement.

Given the improved inflation outlook, "there is room for further easing in the monetary policy stance, which should also provide support to financial markets and the real economy," it added.

"Weak conditions in major economies are weighing down on the country's economic performance through their impact on trade, investment and consumption," said the central bank.

"In this regard, monetary policy easing will complement the fiscal stimulus, which includes accelerated infrastructure spending and targeted social programs," it added.



Indonesia to increase stimulus funds for infrastructure

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis





JAKARTA, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- The Indonesian government will increase stimulus funds allocated for the infrastructure sector from 6 trillion rupiahs (about 600 million U.S. dollars) to 10.2 trillion rupiahs (about 1.02 billion dollars) to afford further extension.



"Infrastructure project is not of short term, such as one year accomplishment, but there is always an extension to develop the program further," the Indonesian Sindo daily on Thursday quoted the Head for National Development Planning Board Paskah Suzetta assaying.

According to Paskah, the extension is necessary because the infrastructure sector plays an important role in bolstering the country's economy. The total stimulus funds will be used for 13 projects covering railway and road construction, flood mitigation, water cleaning, public housing and irrigation.

"We have estimated that at least 3 million workers will be absorbed for the construction works only," he said.

The funds, comprised of 6 trillion rupiahs for direct disbursement and 4.2 trillion rupiahs for indirect disbursement, will mainly go to the Public Work Ministry and Transportation Ministry, with the rest spread through other ministries including the ministries of trade, the fisheries and maritime affairs and agriculture.



Tokyo stocks close higher

TOKYO, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Tokyo stocks closed higher Thursday with the key Nikkei index jumping 1.79 percent.



The benchmark Nikkei 225 Average advanced 144.95 points to 8,251.24.

The broader Topix index rose 14.14 points, or 1.76 percent, to 818.47.

On the First Section, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones 1,096 to 495, with 123 others remaining unchanged.

Value leader Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained 450 yen, or more than 13 percent, to 3,810 yen while volume leader Mizuho Financial Group was up 12 yen, or more than 5 percent, to 245 yen.

Trading volume on the main section expanded to 2,142.56 million shares from 1,902.64 million Wednesday.

The TSE's Second Section index increased 1.62 points, or 0.09 percent, to 1,897.77 on a volume of 22.77 million shares.

On the Osaka Securities Exchange, the near-term March Nikkei 225 index futures contract went up 90 points to 8,200.

S Korea's manufacturing sentiment up in February

SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- South Korean business survey index (BSI) posted 49 in February, up from a record low of 44 in January, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Thursday.



"A set of rate cuts and economic stimulus plans helped lift manufacturers' confidence for February," said Chang Young-jae, a BOK official.

Chang said, however, the rebound came like a reflex as the index for January severely worsened, adding that manufacturers' sentiment is expected to remain weak amid the deepening economic downturn.

Meanwhile, the BSI for the export outlook came in at 60 for the next month, up from a record low of 59 in January.

The BOK said the low figure reflects companies' expectations that exports will be dented further amid the deepening global slump.

The BIS index, a proxy of manufacturers' confidence, below 100 indicates that pessimists outnumber optimists.



EU experts to help improve Myanmar marine products export quality

YANGON, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Experts of the European Union (EU) will examine Myanmar's marine products to help improve quality of export products for the European market, the local Yangon Times quoted the Myanmar Fisheries Products Producers and Exporters Association as reporting Thursday.



Invited and proposed by the association, the EU experts will visit Myanmar early next month to inspect the export quality of fishery products from 22 fisheries-related cold storages.

Myanmar's marine product exports amounted to 353 million U.S. dollars in the first three quarters (April-December) of the fiscal year 2008-09 ending March, a drop of 30 million dollars from 2007-08's 387 million dollars correspondingly, according to earlier local report.

The report attributed the fall to the impact of the global financial crisis.

Myanmar's fisheries Department revealed that purchase order from abroad was down by 50 percent compared with normalcy, while domestic purchase power fell by 40 percent.

Along with the reduction of foreign market demand, price of fish also dropped in the domestic market, the report added.

Of Myanmar's marine exports through both normal trade and border trade, fish, prawn and crab are leading.

In 2007-08, Myanmar exported 352,652 tons of marine products, gaining 561 million U.S. dollars, according to official statistics.

In Myanmar's marine export country line-up, China stood atop, followed by Thailand, Japan and Singapore.

The country's fishery sector remained as the fourth largest contributor to the gross domestic product and also the fourth largest source of foreign exchange earning during the past five years.

Brazil's industrial production in fourth quarter hits decade-low

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Brazil's

industrial production in the fourth quarter of 2008 hit decade low, according to

a study released Thursday by the National Industry Confederation (CNI).

The index for the industrial production in the quarter

was only 40.8 points, 17 points less than the third quarter of 2008 and

18.2 points lower than the figure for the same period of 2007.

When the index comes under 50 points, it indicates a

reduction in the industrial activity.

The fourth quarter's utilization of the industry's

installed production capacity also fell to 74 percent from the third quarter's

78 percent.

According to the CNI, the decrease in the country's

industrial activity was a consequence of the global financial crisis.

The employment in the sector also saw a drop from

54.4 percent in the third quarter to 44 percent in the fourth quarter, which

means that companies not only have stopped hiring new staff but also started

dismissing, according to the CNI.

According to CNI's prediction, as most of the

businessmen in the industrial sector expected falls in the demand for their

products in the first half of 2009, the industrial activity level was likely to

witness a larger fall at the beginning of the year.



Wall Street tumbles on economy worries

NEW YORK, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Wall Street tumbled on Thursday as a series of economic data and earnings reports suggested the economic conditions are deteriorating.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of continuing unemployment benefit claims increased 159,000 to 4.78 million during the week ending Jan. 17, the highest on records since 1967 and much worse than economists' expectations of 4.65 million.

Meanwhile, the number of initial jobless benefit claims in the week ending Jan. 24 was only 1,000 lower than the 26-year high of 589,000 reached in late December.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday that new orders for durable goods dropped by 2.6 percent last month, worse than the 2 percent decline economists expected.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that new home sales fell 14.7 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 331,000, from a downwardly revised November figure of 388,000. It was the lowest on records dating back to 1963.

Earnings reports added to the recession worries. Ford Motor Co. posted a fourth-quarter loss of 5.9 billion U.S. dollars. Ford announced its decision to cut about 20 percent of the workforce in its credit unit, which means 1,200 jobs.

Eastman Kodak Co. also decided to slash 3,500 to 4,500 jobs, or14 to 18 percent of its workforce, as its quarterly loss topped 137 million dollars due to slumping sales of photography products.

Shares of financial companies declined sharply after Wednesday's rally on "bad bank" proposal.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 226.44 points, or 2.70 percent, to 8,147.97. The Standard Poor's 500 Index lost 28.95 points, or 3.31 percent, to 845.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 50.50 points, or 3.24 percent, to 1,507.84.

Crude prices retreat on gloomy economic data

NEW YORK, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Crude prices retreated on Thursday as gloomy economic data stirred concerns on energy consumption.

The International Monetary Fund predicted global economic growth will slow down to just 0.5 percent in 2009, a sharp decline of 1.7 percentage points from its November prediction of 2.2 percent.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of continuing unemployment benefit claims increased 159,000 to 4.78 million during the week ending Jan. 17, the highest on records since 1967 and much worse than economists' expectations of 4.65 million.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday that new orders for durable goods dropped by 2.6 percent last month, worse than the 2 percent decline economists expected.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell 72 cents to settle at 41.44 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, the March Brent contract rose 43 cents to 45.33 dollars on the ICE Futures exchange.

U.S. new home sales drop to lowest level on record

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- New home sales in the United States plunged 14.7 percent in December 2008 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 331,000 units, the lowest level on record, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The December sales were 44.8 percent below the year-earlier level.

Regionally, new home sales fell by 28.2 percent in the Northeast last month and were down 20.2 percent in the West. In the Midwest, meanwhile, sales dropped by 5.6 percent. Sales in the South also declined by 12.1 percent.

The median price of a new home, a typical market price where half of new homes are sold for more and half sold for less, dropped by 6.0 percent in December from the year-ago level to 206,500 dollars, the lowest level since December 2003.

A good news was that inventories of unsold new homes in December fell by 10.1 percent to 357,000 units, the lowest level since September 2003.

In light of weak demand, that still represented a supply of 12.9 months at the current sales rate, the highest since 1963.

For all of last year, new home sales dropped by 37.8 percent from the previous year.

The weak showing for new home sales showed that the country is still in the grips of the severe housing slump, which many analysts believe will last for some time, given the difficult sales environment.

U.S. durable goods down for fifth straight month

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods tumbled 2.6 percent in December 2008, the fifth straight monthly decline, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The December decline in orders for durable goods, big-ticket items expected to last at least three years, followed a 3.7 percent plunge in November and was bigger than the expected 2 percent decrease.

However, demand for transportation equipment, which accounts for more than one quarter of total durable goods orders, rose by 0.6 percent in December, rebounding from a 9.8 percent plunge the previous month.

While orders for commercial aircraft and parts, a very volatile category, plummeted 43.6 percent in December and demand for autos and parts also dropped 5.2 percent, that for defense aircraft and parts surged 16.4 percent.

Excluding volatile transportation demand, orders for durable goods would have dropped 3.6 percent last month, compared with November's 1.7 percent decline in orders outside transportation.

Demand for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched guide to business investment plans, declined 2.8 percent last month, in contrast to the 1.7 percent gain in November.

For all of 2008, durable goods orders fell 5.7 percent, the second biggest drop on record, exceeded only by a 10.7 percent plunge in 2001.

Starbucks to cut 6,700 jobs, 300 stores









Pedestrians walk pass a Starbuck coffee shop in Washington on Jan. 29, 2009. Starbucks said Wednesday it was slashing 6,700 jobs and closing 300 stores in a further belt-tightenting by the coffee house giant to cope with a rapidly weakening global economy.(Chinese media/AFP Photo)





Pedestrians walk pass a Starbuck coffee shop in Washington on Jan. 29, 2009. Starbucks said Wednesday it was slashing 6,700 jobs and closing 300 stores in a further belt-tightenting by the coffee house giant to cope with a rapidly weakening global economy.(Chinese media/AFP Photo)
Photo Gallery



BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese medianet) -- Coffee shop retailer Starbucks will close 300 stores and eliminate 6,700 jobs as the premium coffee outlet finds it hard to thrive in the struggling economy, the company said Wednesday.



Some 200 of the store closures will take place in the United States with 100 more facing closure overseas, said the Seattle-based company, which estimated that the cuts will save it 500 million U.S. dollars this year.

The move comes after the company announced the closing of more than 600 stores in July.

The job cuts coincided with an earnings report which saw its quarterly revenue fall 6 percent to 2.6 billion dollars, with same store sales falling 9 percent. Profit plunged to 64.3 milliondollars from 208 million in the same period a year earlier.

Demand for Starbucks' pricey drinks has plummeted in the economic downturn as customers turn to cheaper alternatives offered by companies like McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts. As of the end of last year, Starbucks still operated more than 11,500 storesin Americaand 5,000 more internationally.



(Agencies)









Global Job Cuts





,Intel to cut up to 6,000 jobs



,Caterpillar to cut 20,000 jobs



,Warner Bros. to cut 800 jobs



, Ericsson to cut 5,000 jobs



, Sony to cut 8,000 jobs



, Valeo to cut 5,000 jobs



, Chanel to cut 200 jobs



, Volvo Cars to cut 3,400 jobs



, Credit Suisse to cut 5,300 jobs



, Rolls-Royce to cut 2,000 jobs



, Indonesia to cut 40,000 jobs



,UK finance sector to cut 15,000 jobs



,India IT industry to cut 50,000 jobs



, South Korea to cut jobs in public sector

Chinese automaker aims expansion despite industry growth slowdown

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis





SHENYANG, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Brilliance Auto, the seventh largest

automaker in China in terms of sales, aims to double its sales revenue to reach

80 billion yuan (11.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2010, the company said Thursday.



Qi Yumin, board chairman of the company, said Thursday that the automobile

industry would see opportunities in light of the government-planned stimulus

measures to boost the ailing sector.

The government will lower the purchase tax on cars under 1.6 liters from 10

percent to 5 percent from Jan. 20 to Dec. 31 and earmark 10 billion yuan as a

special fund in the coming three years to support auto companies to upgrade

technologies.

It will also provide one-off allowances to farmers to upgrade their

three-wheeled vehicles and low-speed trucks.

"The home brands will benefit a lot from these measures," Qi said.

The company sold more than 285,000 vehicles last year and saw a sales

revenue of 41 billion yuan. It expects to sell 500,000 vehicles and 500,000

engines in 2010.

The company began the construction of a factory, which would be able to

produce 150,000 vehicles annually, with an investment of 3 billion yuan last

week in Shenyang, capital of the northeastern Liaoning Province.

The factory alone is expected to add 15 billion yuan to the company's sales

revenue every year, according to Qi.

Chinese automakers reported a 6.7-percent rise in sales in 2008 compared

with the previous year, the lowest rise in 10 years, according to China

Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The industry group expected the growth rate of auto sales to drop to 5

percent this year as consumer confidence waned with a slowing economy.

Cotton prices rebound in China on state purchases

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis





BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- China's cotton prices continued tore bound in

December as state purchases offset the impact of a weaker textile industry on

cotton demand, said the country's top economic planner Thursday.



The average price of un-ginned cotton sold on the Chinese mainland market

rose to 4.78 yuan (70 U.S. cents) per kilogram at the end of December, up 0.4

yuan from the lowest point in November, said the National Development and Reform

Commission (NDRC).

The price had seen consecutive declines from 5.76 yuan per kilogram at the

beginning of September till mid-November.

Cotton demand has decreased since the second half of last year as China's

textile industry bore the brunt of the global financial crisis.

The NDRC attributed the price rise to the government's massive purchases of

cotton from farmers since October.

In order to support domestic cotton prices and reduce farmers' losses, the

NDRC announced plans in October and December to buy 2.72 million tons of cotton

from growers as state reserves.

By the end of December, 53.4 percent of the planned purchases had been

completed, said the NDRC.

China's textile and garment export climbed 8.2 percent year-on-year to

185.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, customs data show. The growth was 10.7

percentage points lower from the 2007 rate.

As a result of reduced foreign demand, Chinese textile firms saw profits

for the first 11 months of 2008 fall 1.77 percent from the same period of 2007,

to 104.2 billion yuan, official figures show. It was the first decline in ten

years.

Dutch pension funds hard hit by financial crisis

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BRUSSELS, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Pension funds in the Netherlands have been

hard hit by the financial crisis, with the coverage ratios of big pension funds

falling below the government-required target, Dutch media reported on Thursday.

The Dutch Association of Industry-wide Pension Funds said most pension

funds are not expected to keep pace with inflation and wage increases this year.

Some pensions will have to raise premiums and lower pension payments.

The four biggest Dutch pension funds said on Thursday that their buffers

have been eroded by falling stock prices and interest rates and they no longer

meet the obligatory 105-percent coverage ratio. All four funds are freezing

pensions this year.

A ratio of 105 percent would ensure that pensions can meet more than their

pension obligations.

The civil service pension fund ABP, one of the biggest pension fund in the

world, said its coverage ratio had fallen by over a quarter to 90 percent in the

final quarter of last year.

The fund wrote off 22 billion euros (29 billion U.S. dollars) because of

the financial crisis. "This crisis is the most serious ever to hit ABP," said

chairman Elco Brinkman.

Health service pension fund Zorg en Welzijn, which has some 2.1million

clients, lost 16 billion euros in the financial crisis. Its coverage ratio

dropped from 126 percent to 92 percent in the fourth quarter.

Light engineering fund PME said it is to hike premiums by 1 percent.

The Association of Industry-wide Pension Funds on Thursday called on the

Dutch central bank to give pension funds more time to get their investments in

order.



House prices down by 13.5% in Britain

LONDON, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- House prices in England and Wales fell by 13.5 percent in 2008, according to one of the most authoritative market guides in the country on Thursday.

The average house price fell by 2 percent in December over November to 158,846 pounds (about 227,150 U.S. dollars), the Land Registry's figure showed.

The Land Registry figures are based on sales completions and so lag behind those supplied by mortgage lenders.

The most up-to-date figures from the Registry revealed that in October, the number of completed house sales in England and Wales fell to 41,123, down 60 percent from 102,597 in October 2007.

In London, only 4,604 home sales were materialized, compared with 13,354 in the same month a year before.

However, Nationwide, which uses prices agreed by its mortgage customers, put the average house cost at 150,501 pounds (215,229 U.S. dollars), down from 153,048 pounds a month ago and 35,543 pounds (about 50,826 US dollars) below the peak of October 2007.

Nationwide said the rate of price falls in January had eased slightly when compared with December's 2.5 percent slide, which took the annual rate of fall in house prices to 16.6 percent, from15.9 percent in December.

Nationwide said the housing market was unlikely to improve until the economy stopped shrinking, with continued restrictions of credit reducing the amount of people taking out mortgages.

The UK economy is now deemed to be in recession having recorded two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The Bank of England has been cutting the base rate sharply in recent months in an effort to stimulate the economy.

German software giant SAP to cut 3,000 jobs

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese medianet) -- The world leader in

professional software, Germany's SAP, said Wednesday it will cut more than 3,000

jobs this year to save up to 350 million euros (460 million U.S. dollars) as

demand slumps.

The company, following the lead of

many others as the global downturn bites deeper, said the job cuts will allow it

to "adjust to difficult market conditions."

SAP employs 51,000, according to its website.

It added that it would not be making forecasts for

this year because of "the limited visibility" in the business.

The company said its 2008 net profit fell 2.0 percent

to 1.88 billion dollars as sales rose 14 percent to 8.46 billion euros.

(Agencies)









Global Job Cuts





,Intel to cut up to 6,000

jobs



,Caterpillar to cut

20,000 jobs



,Warner Bros. to cut 800

jobs



, Ericsson to cut 5,000

jobs



, Sony to cut 8,000

jobs



, Valeo to cut 5,000

jobs



, Chanel to cut 200

jobs



, Volvo Cars to cut

3,400 jobs



, Credit Suisse to cut

5,300 jobs



, Rolls-Royce to cut

2,000 jobs



, Indonesia to cut

40,000 jobs



,UK finance sector to

cut 15,000 jobs



,India IT industry to

cut 50,000 jobs



, South Korea to cut

jobs in public

sector

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

China's foreign sales of furniture grow steadily

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- China sold abroad 24.12 billion U.S. dollars worth of furniture in the first 11 months of 2008, a growth of 21.7 percent on the same period of 2007, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.



In November alone, the foreign sales stood at 2.52 billion U.S. dollars, up 13.8 percent year-on-year.

Foreign-funded companies made up 51.9 percent of China's total furniture exports. They sold 12.53 billion U.S. dollars worth, up 11.5 percent.

The United States and the European Union were the major target markets of Chinese-made furniture.

Between January and November, China sold 9.08 billion U.S. dollars worth of furniture to the United States, up 8.5 percent, and 5.57 billion dollars worth to the European Union, up 25.3 percent.

China buys less edible oil from abroad in Jan.-Nov. 2008



BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Edible oil arrivals in China declined 3.9 percent year-on-year to 7.41 million tonnes in the first 11 months of 2008, as domestic demand weakened upon international financial crisis, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

The imports were valued at 8.47 billion U.S. dollars, up 50.5 percent over the year-earlier level.

Palm oil claimed a 60.5-percent share of China's total edible oil arrivals with an import volume of 4.13 million tonnes, up 1 percent. The growth rate was 6.1 percentage points below the year-earlier level.

Approximately 63.4 percent of the edible oil imports, or 4.7 million tonnes, came from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members, up 0.7 percent.

Foreign-funded companies accounted for 46.7 percent of China's total edible oil imports. They bought 3.46 million tonnes, down 17.2 percent.

China's cotton imports down upon ebbing demand in Jan.-Nov. 2008

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis







BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- China imported less cotton in the first 11 months of 2008, as the international financial crisis impacted the country's textile industry and slashed demand, the General Administration of Customs said Wednesday.



From January to November, China bought imported 1.94

million tonnes of cotton, a decline of 9.1 percent from the year-earlier level.

The imports were valued at 3.24 billion U.S. dollars.



Since the second half of 2008, China's cotton imports have decreased each month. In October, imports plummeted 29.8 percent to 96,000 tonnes. That figure slid by 25.2 percent to 76,000 tonnes in November.

Most of cotton imports came from the United States and India.



China imports less paper pulp in November 2008



 BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Arrivals of paper pulp in China declined in November 2008, thanks to more imports of waste paper, which can be used as substitute for paper pulp, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

In November 2008, China bought 572,000 tonnes of paper pulp from abroad, a decrease of 25.3 percent on the same month of 2007.The imports were the lowest on monthly term since the beginning of2007.

By contrast, the country imported 2.14 million tonnes of waster paper in September 2008, up 21.2 percent, and 1.99 million tonnes in October, up 27.7 percent.

The growth rates were 14.1 percentage points and 15.7 percentage points, respectively, higher than the year-earlier level.

The import price of paper pulp was 658.5 U.S. dollars per tonne in November, down 4.6 percent from a year ago.

Customs sources attributed the price drop to lowered production cost for paper pulp, which was driven down by price slump for energy products on international markets.

In the first 11 months of 2008, China's paper pulp imports amounted to 8.83 million tonnes, up 12.8 percent on the same period of 2007.

Most imports came from the United States, Canada, Brazil and Chile.

New York gold futures close below 900 dollars

CHICAGO, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- The gold market in New York clearly disappointed the bull camp with its action on Wednesday. Gold fell for a second straight day despite rising oil futures and the moderately softened dollar.

Apparently investors' appetite for higher risk portfolios like stocks undermined the gold market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 200.72 points, or 2.5 percent, to 8,375.45. As usual, strong gains in the equity market siphoned off money from the gold market.

Surprisingly the sharp slide in Treasuries late in the trading session failed to inspire the gold bulls. Market continued to see profit taking off the recent highs.

Gold futures for April delivery fell 11.40 U.S. dollars, or 1.3percent, to 890 dollars an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract closed at 910.70 dollars on Jan. 26.

Crude prices rebound on U.S. stimulus plan

NEW YORK, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Crude prices rebounded on Wednesday as the U.S. House of Representatives was expected to approve an 816-billion-U.S.-dollar economic stimulus plan.

The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories jumped 6.2 million barrels from the previous week, almost twice what was expected.

U.S. crude stocks have increased by more than 44 million barrels in the past four months, the biggest four-month rise since1990, according to the data.

However, distillate stocks dropped 1 million barrels last week as cold weather hit the U.S. Northeast, the world's top heating oil market, and gasoline supplies declined 100,000 barrels.

Oil prices received a boost from remarks by President Obama that he is confident that an economic stimulus bill will be approved. The House is expected to approve the economic stimulus plan late Wednesday.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 58 cents to settle at 42.16 dollars a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling more than 4 dollars on Monday.

In London, the March Brent contract climbed 1.17 dollars to settle at 44.90 dollars on the ICE Futures exchange.

Xinjiang to invest heavily in rural highways

URUMQI, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is planning to invest 3.5 billion yuan (512 million U.S. dollars) this year in its rural highways, the regional transport department said Thursday.



The money will be used to build and upgrade 11,000 km highways in rural areas, enabling 80 towns to have access to asphalt roads and 400 villages to be connected in the highway network, the department said.

Xinjiang invested 3.2 billion yuan in rural highways last year, and about 2 million herdsmen and farmers benefited from that.

The region has invested 13.4 billion yuan in building and upgrading 55,000 km of rural highways during the past decade. However, many villages in this vast region still have no access to highways.

Xinjiang plans to spend another 120 billion yuan and build more than 50,000 km of highways in the coming five years.

China's policy stimulus to spur car sales in year of ox

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

SHANGHAI, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Due to bigger-than

expected cut in fuel prices at the end of 2008 and halved car purchase taxes in

effect just before the Lunar New Year, China's auto industry can expect the

policy stimulus to make the year of the ox a bullish one for sales growth, which

was in a ten-year low in 2008.

"With the recent policy changes on fuel price, car

purchase tax and fees, I can save more than 8,000 yuan (1,170 U.S. dollars) to

have a car," said Wang Yong, who just bought a new POLO sedan produced by

Shanghai Volkswagen Co. Ltd.

Like many other auto makers, the company offered

discounts of 5,000 yuan for POLO and LAVIDA models during China's Lunar New Year

to woo the young working class. The prices for the cars are a little higher than

100,000 yuan, which is generally considered affordable for wage earners in

China.

More than 3.1 million small-sized cars were sold in

China last year, accounting for 61.54 percent of the total 9.35 million units of

vehicles sold in the period, when the year-on-year growth slowed to 6.7 percent,

the lowest in ten years, according to statistics with the China Auto Industry

Association.

Ye Sheng, an auto industry analyst said that China's

auto market is far from saturated -- especially for private vehicles.

He expected the government's stimulus would boost the

market sentiment this year.

Ye said that the global financial pinch shrank the

demand for business cars, and drove up the cost for auto production. However,

China's auto demand continues to growth with the increase of personal wealth.

Tourism revenue of quake-hit province up 20% in 2008

XI'AN, Jan. 27 (Chinese media) -- Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, one of the worst-hit provinces in the massive earthquake last year, recorded tourism revenue of 60.7 billion yuan (8.9 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008, up 20 percent year-on-year despite the affects last winter's harsh winter, the earthquake and the global financial crisis.

More than 90 million domestic travelers visited Shaanxi last year, up 13 percent year on year. The revenue from domestic tourism was 56.1 billion yuan, up 22.5 percent than the previous year, according to the provincial tourism bureau.

More than 1.25 million foreign tourists visited the province last year. The number of foreign tourists increased 2.1 percent from 2007's figure. The revenue was 660 million U.S. dollars, up 8percent than the previous year.

The province has held tourism promotions in 15 countries and regions in 2008, including Australia, the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan.

China home appliance giant Haier's profit up 20.6% in 2008

JINAN, Jan. 27 (Chinese media) -- Haier, China's largest maker of home appliances, saw its net profit up 20.6 percent last year thanks to the central government's initiative to subsidize purchases by rural residents.

The group's turnover increased 8 per cent to 122 billion yuan (17.8 billion U.S. dollars) last year.

The achievement came from effective control of inventory levels as well as trade and bill receivables, said its CEO Zhang Ruimin.

The Qingdao-based Haier has taken lessons from the 1997 Asian financial crisis and is preparing to respond to crisis every day, Zhang said.

Sales in overseas markets rose 9.8 percent year on year.

Zhang said the key to the growth in China was the fast-growing rural market.

Haier is benefiting from the central government's subsidy scheme to spur domestic consumption that began its trial run in December 2007. The second round of the scheme began on Dec. 1 last year.

The scheme entitles each of the 180 million rural households to a 13 percent government rebate on purchase of one home appliance item. These include televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, mobile telephones, air conditioners, water heaters, computers and motorcycles.

Haier sold 1.2 million units of home appliances, generating revenue that made up 42 per cent of the country's whole sales through the first round of the scheme .

It has 21,000 outlets in Chinese townships and 73,000 sales points in villages. Some 230,000 people have got jobs from Hai'er countryside strategy.

Albania cuts interest rates to 4.75%

TIRANA, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Albania's central bank cut on Wednesday its interest rates by half a point for the first time in two years, local media reported.

The cut, from 6.25 percent to 5.75 percent, came amid the global financial crisis and was meant to stimulate the country's economy, central bank governor Adrian Fullani told reporters.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha has said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that his country's exports would be "severely affected" by the crisis, appealing other countries not to implement protectionism.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development cuts Albania's GDP growth to 4 percent from 5 percent in 2009, while it sees the country's economic growth at 6.1 percent in 2008.

Spain enters recession for first time in 16 years

MADRID, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- The Spanish economy is in recession for the first time since 1993 after its gross domestic product (GDP) contracted during the final two quarters of 2008, according to figures released by the Spanish central bank on Wednesday.

The Spanish GDP fell 1.1 percent in the final quarter of 2008, following a 0.2 percent decline in the previous three-month period, the Bank of Spain said.

The traditional definition of recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

"According to available data, the weakening of the Spanish economy intensified in the fourth quarter of 2008," the bank said.

Spain's economy, the fifth-biggest in Europe, had been one of Europe's big successes in recent years after having posted a remarkable GDP growth rate of 3.7 percent in 2007.

But it has been fiercely hit as the global financial crisis affected its construction sector, the mainstay of Spain's economic growth for over a decade.

The government on Friday forecast a fall of 1.6 percent for its GDP this year, slashing its previous forecast of a 1.0 percent growth.

"2009 will be a year with economic difficulties, especially in terms of employment, but there will be encouraging signs of improvement in the second half of the year," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, told a press conference last month.

On Jan. 16, the Spanish government predicted a 15.9 percent unemployment rate for 2009. The current unemployment rate is 13.9 percent, already the highest in the EU.

The Spanish GDP increased by 1.1 percent on an annual basis in 2008 but it was a sharp slowdown from the growth rate of 3.7 percent in the previous year, the bank said.

Amsterdam airport to cut up to 25% workforce

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis





BRUSSELS, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, one of the top five airports in Europe, announced plans on Wednesday to slash its workforce by 10 to 25 percent by the end of 2010.



"A strong decline in traffic and increasing international competition have forced Schiphol Group to implement organizational adjustments," the airport operator said in a statement.

The staff reduction will be achieved through natural attrition, outsourcing and job cuts, the group said, adding that it will draw up a redundancy program with the trade unions in the short term.

Schiphol is the biggest airport operator in the Netherlands with 2,200 employees. It also operates airports in Rotterdam, Lelystad and Eindhoven.

Schiphol has already announced that it plans to delay some investments.

The group said earlier this month that it expects a sharp decline in passenger and cargo traffic this year as a result of the global financial crisis and the new air passenger tax introduced by the Dutch government last July.

Last year, the number of passengers traveling through the Amsterdam airport dropped 0.8 percent to 47.4 million and cargo traffic fell 1.4 percent to 1.59 million tonnes. It is Europe's fifth largest airport by passenger numbers and third largest by freight volume.

German business confidence unexpectedly increases in January

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis



BERLIN, Jan. 27 (Chinese media) -- German business confidence has slightly increased in January, the Ifo institute in Munich said on Tuesday, out of the expectation of experts.



The Ifo institute said German business confidence increased to 83 in January from 82.7 in December, ending the falling trend since June 2008, as the influence of global financial crisis becomes more and more serious, but this data can not be taken as a cyclical turnaround.

The Ifo said the firms in manufacturing and exports continue to expect a very unfavorable business development, while the wholesalers and retailers regard their present situation as well as their outlook less negatively than in December.

Economists expected German business confidence will fall to 81,the median of 37 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey shows.

The unexpected rise may have been caused by the European Central Bank lowering its interest rates and the government doubling its economic stimulus package to fight the recession, according to the local media.

The Ifo began calculating German business confidence from January 1991, based on a survey of 7,000 executives.



EU economy commissioner cautious about "bad bank"

BRUSSELS, Jan. 27 (Chinese media) -- The European Union's

chief economy official said here on Tuesday that it was too soon to start work

on a "bad bank" to remove toxic assets and reactivate lending.

Joaquin Almunia, Economic and Monetary Policy

Commissioner, urged EU member states to coordinate at EU level on what the 'bad

assets' need to be dealt with and "what is the best way to value them" before

rushing into creating it.

"The recent announcement of huge losses by some

European banks has shown us that we are not out of the woods yet," Almunia told

af inancial services conference, referring to the financial crisis that has hit

hard the global economy.

"We are hearing widespread reports of businesses

being denied access to bank credit," he said, "Specific problems have been

identified in financing large-scale infrastructure projects and for financing

international trade."

He warned a breakdown in the credit market channel

could make the current economic "slowdown even deeper."

Several member states were now considering how to

solve the problem of toxic assets, which would continue to undermine confidence

and hamper leading so long as they have remained on bank's balance sheets, he

noted.

"Needless to say, this solution (of creating a bad

bank) is not free of problems and it is just one among several possible

avenues," Almunia said.

Britain proposed last week to create a 'bad bank' to

buy up the toxic assets to restore trust and kickstart lending.

"But I believe that before rushing into the 'bad

bank' debate we have to coordinate at EU level our views on first, what are the

'bad assets' that we need to deal with, second, what is the best way to value

them, and only then to address the issue of what is the best way to manage

them," said Almunia.

At the same time, he stressed "at this point that any

further aid to the banking sector must be based on the principle of

transparency".

"If governments are to continue putting taxpayers'

money into financial institutions, they must know from the outset the situation

of that institution: its exposure to various risks, the quality of its asset

portfolio and the sustainability of its business model in the long term," he

warned.

EU states have so far recapitalized 300 billion euros

in financial groups in an attempt to stabilize financial markets and help banks

lend.

Almunia said banks had to be open about the risks

they are holding if they are seeking any more government help.

Shell to help harness Nigerian energy potential

LAGOS, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) has said it has the technology to develop the integrated offshore and onshore gas projects necessary to harness Nigeria's full energy potential.

Chike Onyejekwe, managing director of SNEPCo, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at the Offshore West Africa Conference taking place at the International Conference Center, reported the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday.

He said Nigeria has enormous reserves of clean-burning natural gas estimated at about 185 trillion cubic feet, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Onyejekwe added that if successfully developed, these reserves will help improve power supply and energy security to Nigerian households and the industries.

According to him, when exported as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) they can diversify Europe and North America's gas supply, increasing their energy security and reducing their vulnerability to supply disruptions.

"When used abroad in modern gas-fired power plants, that gas will provide more sustainable, lower-emission electricity compared to conventional coal-fired plants common in Europe and North America," he added.

He explained that high on the list of government priorities is the need to increase the supply of power to Nigerian homes and the industries.

"That will raise living standards and help support sustainable economic development and shell fully supports these goals," Onyejekwe said.

Backgrounder: World Economic Forum

Special Report: Premier Wen's "trip of Confidence" to Europe



BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Geneva-based non-governmental international organization committed to promoting the world's economic cooperation and exchanges.



The forum, initially known as the European Management Forum, was founded by Klaus M. Schwab, a business professor in Switzerland, in 1971.

In 1987, the European Management Forum changed its name to the World Economic Forum.

The foundation, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, is also called "Davos Forum."

The forum, aimed at improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas, brings together top business leaders, international political leaders as well as selected intellectuals and experts.

With the international situation constantly changing, issues addressed by the forum have gone far beyond the scope of economy. Its agenda now includes the most pressing problems facing the world, ranging from political, military and security concerns to bilateral and regional issues.

The forum has more than 1,000 members currently, all of which are major companies driving the world economy forward. A typical member company is a global enterprise with more than 5 billion U.S. dollars in turnover, though the latter varies by industry and region.

The forum also forges strategic and industry partnerships with its selected members. It sponsors international economic seminars each year jointly with state governments or enterprises worldwide.

With an increasing global influence, the forum has been hailed as the "top-level non-governmental global economic forum."

It has also become the world's most important non-governmental gathering where international political leaders, business leaders as well as leaders of civil and social organizations could exchange views on global economic issues.

Some 2,500 people turned up at the annual Davos meeting on Jan.23-27, 2008. The participants included some 27 state or government leaders, over 110 ministers and many well-known business and political leaders.

Under the theme of "The Power of Collaborative Innovation," the2008 Davos Forum held discussions and debates on a variety of issues such as financial market turmoil, economic uncertainties, the climate change, energy situation and food security.

The forum invited the first Chinese delegation to Davos in 1979. In June 2006, the forum opened its regional office in Beijing.

Survey: CEO confidence plummets to new low

Special Report: Premier Wen's "trip of Confidence" to Europe



Special Report:Global Financial Crisis



DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Battered by

recession, CEO's confidence about future prospects for business has plummeted

and they expect only a slow, gradual recovery over the next three years,

according to an annual survey released on Wednesday.

Worldwide, just 21 percent of CEO's said they were

very confident of revenue growth in the next 12 months, down from 50 percent in

last year's survey, said the 12th Annual global CEO Survey conducted by

PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The survey, released by the British accounting firm

at the 2009 World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, said more than a

quarter of business CEOs were pessimistic about prospects for the coming year.

CEOs worldwide were also gloomier about longer term

growth as well, predicting a slow recovery, said the survey, which was based on

interviews with 1,124 CEOs in 50 countries during the last quarter of 2008.

Only 34 percent of CEOs said they were very confident

of growth over the next three years, down from 42 percent last year, when CEOs

were just beginning to recognize the full impact of the credit crisis on the

global economy.

"The speed and intensity of the recession has rocked

the psyches of CEOs and created a global crisis of confidence," said

PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global CEO Samual DiPiazza, Jr..

"CEOs are most concerned about the immediate survival

of their companies. Even in once rapidly emerging economies, companies are now

coping with issues like unavailable credit, sluggish capital markets, and

collapsing demand," he said.

The impact of the recession in the world's major

economies, cited by 85 percent of survey respondents worldwide, continued to

dominate concerns of CEOs and was the only risk factor to increase among CEO's

concerns, the survey said.

Other major risk factors included disruption in the

capital markets, cited by 72 percent, over-regulation, 55 percent, energy costs,

50 percent, and availability of key talent, 46 percent, it added.



Singapore Airlines to reduce flights amid downturn

SINGAPORE, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Singapore Airlines said Wednesday it will cut some regional and long-distance flights to better match capacity with demand.

According to an announcement by the carrier at the Singapore Exchange, flights to be reduced include services to Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi of India, Bangkok of Thailand. Frequency on the all-business class flights to Los Angeles and Newark airports of the United States will be reduced. There will also be fewer options to London and Zurich.

However, the company said it will commence four times weekly services to Kuwait, via Abu Dhabi, from March 15. It will also increase flights between Singapore and Cairo from three times a week to four from March 12.

The company said the adjustment is to ensure the service capacity to be carefully allocated to match demand across the global network, adding that further adjustments could be made according to the market demand.

Over 10,000 Malaysians lose jobs since Jan. 1



Special Report:Global Financial Crisis







KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- More than 10,000 Malaysia have lost their jobs since Jan. 1, Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) Executive Director Shamsuddin Bardan said here on Wednesday.



More were expected to be jobless in the days ahead as companies, particularly in the manufacturing sector, struggle to keep their businesses afloat, he said.

In an urgent appeal to the government, it was of utmost importance for the second stimulus economic package to be released fast so that companies could know clearly where they stood, he said.

The Malaysian government released a 7 billion ringgit (19.55 billion U.S. dollars) economic stimulus package last month and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had promised a second package soon.

The economic downturn this time was much worse than the one in 1997 because it was more widespread and involved the major parts of the world, Shamsuddin said.

The situation was more critical as almost 600,000 local new jobseekers were flooding the job market every year, he said.

This comprised of university graduates, diploma holders, skilled workers and fresh school leavers.

Another factor that added to the woes of the jobless was the presence of 1.5 million to 2 million illegal foreigners who were also vying for the same jobs.

The MEF believed that the economic condition would take almost one to two years to improve, he said.

"In the meantime, it would be best for the government to assist businesses and jobless Malaysia to tide over this bad times," he added.



Indonesia to host int'l palm oil conference

JAKARTA, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, is to hold international palm oil conference here on May 27 to 29, the committee of the conference said on Wednesday.



Over 1,000 producers, the government officials in charge on palmoil industry and others stakeholders from several countries will share their experiences, opinions and ideas in dealing with the productivity and market shares of the commodity, said a member of the committee Witjaksana Darmosarkoro.

"This is a forum for sharing," he told reporters here.

Scores of international experts of the commodity will also present at the conference, said Darmosarkoro.

Besides, the forum will also discuss the current issues faced by the industry of the commodity and the projection of the future of the business.

The producers of palm oil had enjoyed raising demand and pricesof crude palm oil before the global financial rout started in September last year, but then the global recession sapped demand and prices of the commodity. Indonesia is heavily rely on its overseas sales.

Over 2,000 Thai workers loss jobs in January

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis





BANGKOK, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- As many as 2,863 Thai workers have reportedly lost their job in January this year and the country's higher number of unemployed is expected, according to the Thai Ministry of Labor Wednesday.



The 2,863 laid-off workers were the outcome of the closure of some 50 private firms, said director-general Amporn Nitisiri of the Department of Labor Protection and Welfare, the website by the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

Moreover, some other 102 companies, which had been affected by the global economic downturn, were also expected to lay off workers, the website said.

These 102 companies have a combined workforce of 68,122, while it is expected that of this total number, some 23,296 workers are likely to be laid off and some other 44,826 might be asked to reduce working hours.

Earlier, Thailand's National Statistical Office (NSP) reported that in December of 2008 alone the country's unemployed rate edged up, to stand at about 540,000, or 0.6 percent higher year-on-year. Of this number, some 150,000 people were new graduates.

The Thai cabinet on Wednesday agreed to extend the unemployment compensation period for laid-off workers from six months to eight months, the website quoted Deputy Government Spokesman Phutthipong Punnakan as saying.

During the 1997 economic crisis, the Thai unemployment rate was 4.4 percent or up to 1.4 million.



Indonesian gov't prioritizes investment in three sectors

JAKARTA, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman M. Lutfi has said that the investment should be prioritized on medium and long-term projects in infrastructure, energy and food sectors amid the difficult times, the Jakarta Post reported on Wednesday.



BKPM believed that the three sectors are crucial for Indonesia's economy, because the infrastructure and energy sectors can both create multiplier economic effects, while the food sector has a great contribution to controlling the inflation rate.

According to BKPM, investing in food crops and plantations will remain lucrative as commodity prices are relatively stable, with a trend towards greater stability. Indonesia had 100.8 million hectares of land available for farming in 2007, more than 50 percent of its 188 million hectares total land area.

Meanwhile, Indonesia had 600 million ton of oil reserves or 0.4 percent of world's total, with a production capacity of 47.4 million tons annually. With sufficient investment to maximize the production, it will be enough to sustain domestic and international demand.

In regard to the infrastructure sector, the investment is still relatively low and badly needed to increase food production and energy exploration in Indonesia. BKPM said in the period of 2004-2005, the state budget only allocated 17 percent of the needed amount, which was 145 billion U.S. dollars.

Lutfi said Indonesian would see its investment grow between 10.7 percent and 11.2 percent this year amid global economic downturn, despite the 20.5 percent growth in 2008, when the country secured 20.36 trillion rupiahs (about 1.8 billion dollars) in domestic investment, down 41.6 percent year on year; and 14.87 billion dollars in foreign investment, up 43.8 percent year on year, respectively.

Moody's forecasts S Korean economy to shrink 2% in 2009

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis





SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- South Korea's economy is expected to contract 2 percent this year, Moody's Investors Service said on Wednesday.



In an interview with South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, Tom Byrne, a senior vice president at the Moody's Asia-Middle East regional credit office, said Moody's early prediction in November last year that South Korea's economy might grow 2 percent in 2009 was made on data and trends evident as of September 2009 and was a bit on the pessimistic side.

Byrne added that if the global economy does not regain some stability in the second half of 2009, the growth could be lower.

Moody's downgrade are in line with a growing number of think tanks and research groups which already trimmed their 2009 projections for South Korea's economy.

The Switzerland-based UBS predicted the economy to shrink 3 percent for this year, and JP Morgan and Chase Co. expected 2.5 percent contraction.

Fitch Ratings expected a minus 2.4 percent while Standard Poor's recently lowered its outlook to zero percent.

Meanwhile, the Korea Development Institute, South Korea's state-run think tank, predicted the nation's economy grow to 0.7 percent in 2009.

All the figures are far lower than the South Korean government's growth target of 3 percent for this year and compares with the previous year's 2.5 percent expansion.



Philippines San Miguel sells brewery assets

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis





MANILA, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Southeast Asian beverage giant San Miguel Corp. is selling its local beer brands as well as its related assets to its subsidiary, San Miguel Brewery, Inc. (SMB), the company said Wednesday.



In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), San Miguel said its directors approved the sale of the company's beer brands, its intellectual property rights and the brewery know-how to SMB for 32 billion pesos (681 million U.S. dollars).

San Miguel said it is also selling the lands used in its beer operations to SMB for 6.8 billion pesos (145 million U.S. dollars).

The rest of the properties used in beer-making will be sold to the SMB retirement plan for 239 million pesos (5 million U.S. dollars).

SMB confirmed the transaction in a separate filing at the PSE.

"The board of directors has approved the company's purchase of San Miguel Corp.'s domestic beer brands and its related intellectual property rights and know-how," SMB corporate information officer Ferdinand K. Constantino said.

The sale on San Miguel's side and the purchase on SMB's side are still subject to regulatory approval.