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Vol. 2 ::
No. 09 August, 2000 (Shrawan-Bhadra) |
World Brief
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World Brief |
American oil and gas giant Unocal Corp has discovered Bangladesh’s largest single site of natural gas holding up to six thousand billion cubic feet, according to reports.
The site, in Bibiyana in northeastern Sylles district, is estimated to raise the country’s proven recoverable gas reserves by almost 50 percent to 19 thousand billion cubic feet. Unocal has however said that it will not start developing the gas field for production until it has an assured market.
The Titas gas field was the biggest gas site until the latest discovery. Bangladesh has altogether 20 gas fields out of which 10 are active, seven listed as non-producing while productions in three have been suspended.
A>ccording to Malaysia’s central bank, the commercial banks as well as finance companies there have agreed to raise deposit rates by 25 basis points in a bid to boost the country’s saving rate.
While total deposits in June rose 2 percent year-on-year, deposits in May fell 1 percent compared to the same month last year, it was made known.
The central bank said that the hike would be immediate.
The he British bank Standard Chartered reported pre-tax profit increase by 31 percent in the first half of the year to 356 million pounds (US$ 536.9 m).
The bank, which operates mainly in Asia and employs about 36,000 people, also announced 6,000 job cuts, adding a plan to create 1,000 new jobs to increase productivity.
The cut is expected to cost 400 million pounds over three years, and the bank had taken a charge of 200 million pounds this year.
In May, Standard Chartered had acquired Grindlays from ANZ for 1.35 billion dollars thus making it the leading bank in South Asia.
Korean Telecom Co., its financial report revealed, made an upward rise in profits by an unbelievable 464 percent in the first half of the year on its way to becoming one of South Korea’s most profitable companies.
The report said that the telephone company had made a net profit of 596 billion won (US$ 532 m) in the first six months on sales of 5.09 trillion won, up, in comparison to last year, by 8.5 percent. Consequently, the company’s debt-to-equity ratio dropped from 118.6 percent last year to 72 percent.
The company made known that while the revenue from fixed line phone services fell 0.3 percent year-on-year to 4.02 trillion won, sales of Internet and high speed leased line services jumped 60 percent to 964.6 billion won.
The company, for the full year, has expected its net profit to rise by 654.6 billion won from 383 billion won in 1999.
Japan’s major retailer Seibu Department Stores Ltd. is planning to consolidate operation with collapsed Sogo Co. Ltd. to give birth to Japan’s largest department store chain. This was reported in Japanese business daily, Nikon Keiza Shimbun.
According to the report, the chain would have annual revenue of 1.7 trillion yen (US$ 1.6 billion) exceeding the annual revenue of 1.1 trillion yen of Takashimaya Co. Ltd., thus becoming the country’s biggest store chain.
Founded in 1942, Seibu is a core company of the Seibu group and has 24 stores in Japan.
Sogo, which collapsed and sought court protection on 12 July, had been burdened with debts resulting from heavy expansion.
The Indian government has announced the opening up of domestic long distance telephone service to private firms.
The government said that there would no limit to the number of private operators allowed in the sector. It however, stipulated an entry fee of IRs 1 billion (US$ 30 million) for each firm. The operators will also to allowed foreign equity celling of 49 percent, and will need a minimum paid up capital of IRs 2.5 billion, a statement from the government said.
Long distance telephone services in India, uptil now, were in the hands of the state-owned Department of Telecommunication under which distance calls were amongst the costliest in the world. With private sector involvement, tariffs are expected to fall by as much as 20 or 25 percent.
General Parwez Musharraf, the military ruler in Pakistan, is set to sell the national airline Pakistan International Airlines as part of a privatization plan which is estimated to bring in around US$ 4 billion. The report was carried by the daily, The News.
Including the national carrier, the report also carries the government’s decision to sell its stakes in 49 entities during the next two years in a bid to boost the depleted coffer and help pay off debts.
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