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The Financial Sector Restructuring Authority of Thailand will allow investors more flexibility in purchasing assets at the March 10 business loan auction, writes The Bangkok Post.
Montri Chenvidyakarn, FRA acting secretary-general, said bidders could purchase assets through a new revenue-sharing scheme, where gains and expenses from servicing loan assets are split among investors and creditors of the 56 closed finance companies.
The FRA plans to auction 231 billion baht worth of business loans on March 10. The Asset Management Corporation, a state agency set up as a ``bidder of last resort'', will also participate in the auction.
SBP's watch over forex outflow
The State Bank of Pakistan is intensifying its watch over the foreign exchange market to ensure that malpractice on the part of portfolio investors or brokers does not result in creating uncalled for liabilities for the banking system, writes The Dawn.
SBP is working on a plan to minimise the outflow of foreign exchange in the shape ofillegal transfer of shares purchased by foreign portfolio investors. Sources said the move to ask the banks acting as custodians for foreign investors to report key data to State Bank on movement of the shares held by foreign investors was the first part of this plan.
Funds for farm loans
The Agricultural Development Bank (ADBP) is expected to raise the necessary funds on its own for advancing loans to the farmers of the country during the financial year of 1999-2000, which will be to the tune of Rs 35 billion, reports The Dawn.
The bank will pull off this feat without depending on the federal government, according to ADBP chairman Syed Fazal Mabood. He added that the available funds of ADBP would be disbursed as loans for next fiscal year's crops.
The chairman further stated that Pakistan would need onelakh (100,000) tractors for the farmers during next three years through ADBP loans and a scheme was being prepared to make the tractor scheme more effective.
Dubai hotel capacity tosoar
The number of hotel rooms in Dubai is projected to exceed 6,500 within five years, but occupancy rates are expected to dip before rising again, according to The Gulf News. Estimates presented recently by Arthur Andersen's Hospitality and Leisure Division at the Henry Stewart's Marketing Briefing on the Future of the Middle East Hotel Market indicate that in the longer term another 10,000 rooms will be added, bringing the total to 16,529 by 2010.
Dubai now has more than 5,000 hotel rooms, second only to Cairo which has more than 10,000. ``Dubai will lead the way in supply growth with 16,529 rooms planned for development, excluding the Emaar properties' development,'' said Timothy Hansing, the company's director in charge of real estate and hospitality for the Middle East and Africa.
S'pore millennium celebrations
Singapore has revealed ambitious plans for 18 months' worth of millennium celebrations that include street parties, new banknotes and expeditions to Antarctica, writes TheBangkok Post.
Half a million people are expected to throng five street parties on the night of December 31, according to Singapore's information and arts ministry.Another highlight of the celebrations will involve two Singaporean teams in Antarctica, one to trek to the South Pole and the other to climb the continent's highest mountain, Vinson Massif. Both teams plan to reach their destinations on January 1.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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