January 28th , 2008 - IFCCI -

Late Suharto remembered as strong leader despite 'less than desirable' human rights record

JAKARTA : sia-Pacific leaders recalled former Indonesian president Suharto's strengths, praising him after his death Sunday for modernizing his country and for promoting regional unity - despite a "less than desirable" human rights record.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Suharto played a critical role in building the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, the 10-country bloc that has increased the region's influence in global politics.

"As one of the founding fathers of ASEAN, President Suharto was among those who had the pioneering vision of establishing a more peaceful, progressive and prosperous Southeast Asian region founded on respect and understanding," Arroyo said in a statement from Dubai, where she was traveling.

Arroyo also said Suharto helped negotiate a peace pact between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group in the Philippines' volatile southern area of Mindanao.

"The Filipino people join me in offering deepest sympathies and condolences on the demise of former President Suharto," Arroyo said.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also said Suharto was influential in ASEAN's successful development, as well as that of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, or APEC, a major international body that promotes world trade.

Suharto "presided over the government of what is the world's fourth most populous country and its largest Islamic nation," Rudd said in a statement.

"Until the catastrophic Asian financial crisis of 1997, he oversaw a period of significant economic growth and modernization at a time when Indonesia faced fundamental political, social and economic challenges," he said.

Former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said that, despite a "less than desirable" human rights record, Suharto had worked to build strong ties between the two nations, which are neighbors.

"He was always very civil in my dealings with him and very responsive to building a relationship between Australia and Indonesia," Downer said.

A procession of regional leaders, including several of Suharto's contemporaries, came to visit him after he was hospitalized on Jan. 4 with multiple organ failure.

Finance Minister rejects calls to revise state budget

JAKARTA : Despite the fear that a possible U.S. recession could hurt the country's economic growth, the government says it will maintain the 2008 state budget assumptions.

"Basically, a state budget is made to direct a country's economy. It is not possible to change the state budget (assumptions) every time the country is facing economic uncertainty," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Thursday.

She was speaking in response to calls by some economists that the government change its budget assumptions on fears a possible U.S recession would severely impact the country's economy.

On Tuesday, stock markets across the globe tumbled because of the fear of a U.S. recession. The Jakarta Composite Index fell the most in five years, plunging by 7.7 percent to close at 2,294.52, while the rupiah fell to Rp 9,475 against the dollar.

Chartered flight business promising, says a player

JAKARTA : Publicly listed chartered airline company PT Indonesia Air Transport is upbeat about business prospects in the country, amid an intensified drive by the government to boost oil production.

President director Roekman Prawirasastra said Thursday that because most of the industry's clients were oil and gas companies, the government's campaign to boost investment and exploration in the oil and gas sector boded well for the chartered flight business.

Roekman was speaking after the signing ceremony for a US$50 million leasing contract with a consortium of three oil and gas companies.

"The consortium of ConocoPhilips, Star Energy and Premier Oil has agreed to rent three helicopters, type EC155B1, for the next five years, which will operate on their exploration sites in West Natuna," he said.

The company owns 22 airplanes that are available for charter.

"We are optimistic that we can increase revenue to up to Rp 240 billion this year," Roekman said, adding that the company booked total revenue of Rp 219 billion (US$23.3 million) and a net profit of Rp 4.4 billion in 2007.

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street's stunning comeback

TOKYO : Asian markets were mixed Thursday as a stunning comeback on Wall Street overnight left some investors heartened but failed to completely allay concerns about the U.S. economy.

Markets in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapre and the Phillippines all rose for a second day, helping them erase losses from their steep slide earlier this week that was driven by fears of a recession in the U.S., a vital export market.

But trading was volatile in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng index gave up early gains on news that French bank Societe Generale will make a large writedown for subprime-related assets. The index finished down 2.3 percent.

India's Sensex fell 2.2 percent after rising at the opening. China's Shanghai Composite Index gained just 0.3 percent, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 2 percent to 13,092.78.

"Markets will remain very volatile" in the near-term, said Song Seng Wun, chief executive of CIMB-GK Research Pte. Ltd. in Singapore. "We are in a situation where we still really don't know if the U.S. is going to pull us down or not."

It has been a tumultous week for global markets, plagued by worries about a slowdown in the U.S. economy, which has been hurt by a housing slump and credit crisis.

Asian markets plunged sharply Monday and Tuesday, then rebounded Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by a unprecedented three-quarters percentage point in an attempt to support the American economy.

Worries about fallout from the U.S. mortgage market woes were reawakened in Hong Kong on news that Societe Generale said it will write down an additional euro2.05 billion (US$2.99 billion) in assets related to sub-prime exposure and fraud related to a rogue trader will result in a euro4.9 billion (US$7.14 billion) loss.

"This is putting salt on the wounds, as this signals how bad credit conditions are," said Castor Pang, a strategist at Sun Hung Kai & Co. in Hong Kong.

The territory's Hang Seng index had soared 10.7 percent Wednesday after sliding 13.7 percent the previous two days.

Still, many Asian investors were encouraged by the remarkable comeback on Wall Street on Wednesday, when the Dow Jones industrial average sank as much as 323 points before bouncing back to rise 298.98 points, or 2.5 percent, to 12,270.17.

The 631.86 point turnaround in the Dow was the largest for a single day in more than five years - and reflects the intense volatility that has gripped global markets amid investor uncertainty.

That volatility looked set to continue in New York trading Thursday as early indicators pointed to a drop when the market opens. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 81 points, or 0.63 percent, to 12,191, while Standard & Poor's 500 index futures were down 6.8 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,334.7.

Some traders are betting that the Fed will cut its fed funds rate another 50 basis points when it meets next Tuesday and Wednesday. Rate cuts are designed to stimulate borrowing and, in turn, business activity and the overall economy.

Still, some analysts warned that the United States faces serious problems that interest rate cuts alone can't fix, and many economists still predict a U.S. slowdown that could drag on global growth.

"At this juncture, we are still taking our cues from Wall Street in the financial sector," said Song of CIMB-GK. "If the U.S. financial sector crisis were to expand to the real economy ... then that crisis of confidence will translate to slower real economic activity in Asia as well."

Oil prices rise to near US$88 a barrel after steep drop overnight

SINGAPORE : Oil prices rose in Asian trading Thursday after slipping more than US$2 a barrel overnight amid concerns that crude inventories in the United States are growing even as the economy andfuel demand are cooling.

Traders were awaiting the release later Thursday of this week's U.S. inventory report by the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.

The report was expected to show U.S. oil inventories grew last week 1.8 million barrels, according to the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 81 cents to US$87.80 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by late afternoon in Singapore.

The contract fell US$2.22 to settle at US$86.99 a barrel on Wednesday.

Gasoline inventories on average were forecast to have gained 1.6 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 18, while distillates were expected to have grown 100,000 barrels.

Global stock markets have been turbulent in recent days on fears that the U.S. economy is close to entering a recession, if it hasn'talready. Energy investors, who often view stocks as a proxy for economic growth, fear a slowdown would curtail demand for oil and petroleum products such as gasoline and heating oil.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision Tuesday to slash its benchmark fed funds rates by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5 percent has done little to limit declines in oil prices. While the Fed is widely expected to cut rates further next week, many investors remain worried about whether the cuts will stave offrecession.

Investors are also concerned that high energy prices may be contributing to the economic slowdown.

Oil rose to a record US$100.09 a barrel earlier this month before falling back on economic concerns.

Heating oil futures added 2.29 cents to US$2.446 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices rose 1.53 cents to US$2.2661 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 8.9 cents to US$7.710 per 1,000 cubic feet.

March Brent crude futures rose 89 cents to US$87.51 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In Brief ...

Africa keeps giving opportunity to the increasement of Indonesian Export Products, wich some of them are

vehicle industrial, plastic product, vegetable oil, etc.

More news...

FURNITURE & FURNISHING EXPORT CALENDAR :

http://www.apsmediagroup.com/Calendar.htm