ASEAN to team up to boost textile industry

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

JAKARTA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Textile producers in ASEAN countries agreed to set up an alliance to boost up competitiveness, the Jakarta Post reported Thursday quoting a senior official.

Conveying the results of a recent ASEAN economic ministers meeting in Siem Reap Cambodia, Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said Wednesday that the commitment was aimed at promoting the textile and garment industry in the region.

One of the conclusions is that we will concentrate on the textile and garment industries. We need to work on to boosting the industries in the region, the report said, quoting Mari.

The ASEAN governments would soon invite the ASEAN Federation of Textile Industries (Aftex) to bring about the plan, she added. Textile and garments export from ASEAN region stood at over 30 billion U.S. dollars last year

Earlier reports said that Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam would set up a full service alliance by the end of the year. They have been regarded the top three textile manufacturing countries in the region.

Indonesian Textile Association (API) Deputy Chairman Ade Sudrajat said that the alliance was expected to boost up the inter regional textile and garment trade and cut buyers' costs by integrating orders from upstream to downstream products.

In the future, he said, buyers would no longer need to open offices in countries where their orders were processed.

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Jaguar aid talks with British government near collapse

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

LONDON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Jaguar Land Rover, a British automobile brand owned by India's Tata Group, will either have to cut its jobs and investment or turn to its parent company for help, as talks between the carmaker and the British government on financial support are nearing a collapse.

The carmaker received what it was told was a final offer from the business department on Friday, which it has not formally rejected, but is understood to feel that the tough conditions demanded in return for guaranteeing a loan are unacceptable, according to a BBC report late Wednesday.

If no financial help is provided, jobs and important investment could be cut, the report said.

The government is understood to want a right to veto management decisions, appoint its own chairman and have a say in any future redundancies at the company which employs 14,500 people.

Jaguar is said to have viewed the proposal as backdoor nationalization -- and is minded to turn the offer down.

The dispute centers on financial support from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and conditions the UK government is imposing in return for guaranteeing the loan.

At the heart of the dispute is the degree of control the UK government would be given in return for putting taxpayers money at risk by guaranteeing the EIB loan, the BBC said.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) insisted the government was "prepared to help, although not on any terms."

Thai cabinet approves 2nd phase of economic stimulus packages

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BANGKOK, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Thai weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday approved the country's second phase of the economic stimulus packages worth of 1.4 trillion baht (39.78 billion U.S. dollars) to shore up the country's sluggish economy, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said.

The budget will cover several investments in transportation, irrigation, education and public health projects from this year to 2012, the minister said.

It is estimated the investments will create jobs for two million people and the country's long-term competitive advantages will also be boosted, Korn said.

The investment projects will kick off after the House of Representatives approves a loan borrowing plan to finance this second phase packages.

Korn said the loan sources will be mainly from the domestic market amid the ample liquidity.

Although the budget allocation might result in the country's higher public debt, the government's financial status will remain strong, said Korn.

It is estimated the country's public debt will rise to 60 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 from the current 40 percent of the GDP, said Korn.

The return of the investments, however, will be worthwhile, are port of the local media Bangkok Post quoted Korn as saying.

Korn estimated the country's public debt would start leveling off in 2014 and should stay at 47 percent of the GDP in 2018.

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Dutch banker: global financial crisis far from over

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A top European central banker on Wednesday cautioned against optimism that the global economy will recover soon, saying the situation is far from true.

The market should not read too much into slight improvements in some economic indicators when in fact there were still immense challenges such as access to credit, Nout Wellink, president of the central bank of the Netherlands, said in his keynote address at the Asia Regional Forum on Policy and Regulation of Financial Inclusion.

Challenges in this area (global financial system) are just as relevant as they were last November, maybe they are even more relevant nowadays, he said.

Although the crisis may have left the microfinancing institutions relatively unaffected but they were also experiencing increased pressure, he said.

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ADB President: A/H1N1 flu could derail Asias economic recovery

Special Report:World tackles A/H1N1 flu


Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

The President of the Asian Development Bank says the A/H1N1 flu has the potential to set back Asia's fragile economic recovery if it takes hold in the region.

ThePresidentoftheAsianDevelopmentBanksaystheA/H1N1
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Haruhiko Kuroda says an influenza pandemic would hit the region's tourism and aviation industries first. But he remains confident that Asian governments are well prepared.

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