The World Health Organisation will send a mission to an eastern Chinese province that has reported two human deaths from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
China says a second person has died of H5N1 in Anhui province, bringing to three the total number of confirmed cases in the world's largest poultry producing nation.
A third person, a nine-year-old boy living in southern Hunan province, recovered. Nearly 70 people have now died in Asia from bird flu since late 2003, while millions of birds have been culled in a bid to prevent the virus from spreading.
The World Health Organisation fears the H5N1 strain of bird flu could mutate into a highly contagious form that triggers the next global human flu pandemic.A mutated bird flu outbreak was blamed for the deaths of as many as 40 million people worldwide in 1918.
www.abcasiapacific.com
Thursday, November 24, 2005
UK business investment growth peters out
Business investment grew sluggishly in the third quarter, official figures showed, confirming survey evidence that British-based companies are cautious about capital spending even though profit levels are high.
The Office for National Statistics reported that the volume of business investment rose by 0.3 per cent in between July and September, compared with the previous quarter. It was 1.9 per cent up on the third quarter of 2004.
The more rapid 1.5 per cent quarterly growth in business investment seen in the second quarter has petered out.
The continued slow growth of business investment will further delay the elusive rebalancing of the British economy from consumers expenditure to investment and net exports. Business investment accounts for roughly two-thirds of total UK investment, the remaining third comprising of private capital expenditure on property and public sector capital projects.
Just as in other European countries, companies have decided to save most of the money they have been making rather than risk investment in new opportunities to generate profit in the future. The reluctance of companies to invest when interest rates are low and the return on the existing capital stock is high has puzzled economists for some time.
The monetary policy committee said in last week’s inflation report that its regional agents had observed a weakening of investment intentions which “may also reflect uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the economy in the face of sluggish consumer spending and higher energy prices”.
It forecast investment would “continue to increase at a moderate pace” over the next two years as “the economy is likely to gather momentum”.
A more worrying possibility has been highlighted by the CBI employers’ organisation and by opposition politicians in recent months.
They have suggested that higher taxes and regulations have contributed to the weakening of business investment intentions in Britain, despite the high returns enjoyed by companies on their past investment.
Gordon Brown, in his last Budget, forecast that the volume of business investment would grow this year by 4.25 to 4.75 per cent. There is no chance that this figure will now be achieved. Given the pattern of business investment over the past seven quarters, a growth rate of about 3 per cent is now much more likely.
Howard Archer of Global Insight said the latest figures were a cause for concern since “corporate profitability seems likely to ease back from the very strong levels seen in the first half of this year”.
The figures will not directly influence the revised third quarter gross domestic product numbers, due to be published on Friday, as they will still largely be based on evidence about output in the economy, not expenditure by households, companies and government.
www.news.ft.com
The Office for National Statistics reported that the volume of business investment rose by 0.3 per cent in between July and September, compared with the previous quarter. It was 1.9 per cent up on the third quarter of 2004.
The more rapid 1.5 per cent quarterly growth in business investment seen in the second quarter has petered out.
The continued slow growth of business investment will further delay the elusive rebalancing of the British economy from consumers expenditure to investment and net exports. Business investment accounts for roughly two-thirds of total UK investment, the remaining third comprising of private capital expenditure on property and public sector capital projects.
Just as in other European countries, companies have decided to save most of the money they have been making rather than risk investment in new opportunities to generate profit in the future. The reluctance of companies to invest when interest rates are low and the return on the existing capital stock is high has puzzled economists for some time.
The monetary policy committee said in last week’s inflation report that its regional agents had observed a weakening of investment intentions which “may also reflect uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the economy in the face of sluggish consumer spending and higher energy prices”.
It forecast investment would “continue to increase at a moderate pace” over the next two years as “the economy is likely to gather momentum”.
A more worrying possibility has been highlighted by the CBI employers’ organisation and by opposition politicians in recent months.
They have suggested that higher taxes and regulations have contributed to the weakening of business investment intentions in Britain, despite the high returns enjoyed by companies on their past investment.
Gordon Brown, in his last Budget, forecast that the volume of business investment would grow this year by 4.25 to 4.75 per cent. There is no chance that this figure will now be achieved. Given the pattern of business investment over the past seven quarters, a growth rate of about 3 per cent is now much more likely.
Howard Archer of Global Insight said the latest figures were a cause for concern since “corporate profitability seems likely to ease back from the very strong levels seen in the first half of this year”.
The figures will not directly influence the revised third quarter gross domestic product numbers, due to be published on Friday, as they will still largely be based on evidence about output in the economy, not expenditure by households, companies and government.
www.news.ft.com
FTME dreams of making Dubai a technology driven financial hub
About 15 hours from the successful launch of the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) Khaleej Times caught up with Jignesh Shah, the entrepreneur vice-chairman of DGCX as he was giving final touches to a new global venture soon to be launched from Dubai.
The new business initiative Financial Technologies Middle East (FTME) is targeted at making Dubai a technology driven financial hub.
The project encompasses creation of new generation automated equity, commodities and currency exchanges, trading platforms and a fully automated banking and financial services industry. A formal announcement on the plans of the company is awaited soon. Shah wants make Dubai the global platform for Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL). "It has to be Dubai." Shah said his choice comes from his global research and experience.
"We had the technology to build a fully automated exchange and scouted around the world for a location. In the process we talked with various government entities, financial free zones and tax heavens, but from the moment we began talking to the authorities here, we knew it has to be Dubai. If not for the promptness of Dubai, it would not have been possible to set a global exchange in such short time frame."
A pioneer in the development of Indian commodity markets; Shah is credited with conceptualising and establishing the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), which crossed Rs 100 billion daily turnovers in 3 years. In 1999 he founded Financial Technologies (India) Limited in 1999, as an IT 'Products' organisation with the objective of owning and licensing financial technologies. Today, FTIL command more than 80 per cent of the market share in Indian capital markets, while the company is valued at $1.5 billion.
FTIL wants to give a global twist to its success story in Dubai and make the city a platform for its Global ambitions.
FTIL transformed the Indian capital and commodity markets, which stands second in terms of number of transactions, which makes them the second in the world after the US. Shah wants to create a similar model on a global scale for Dubai. "Dubai has the political will, the regulatory framework and the infrastructure. It is time the city became a new generation business hub of the world." Shah believes that Dubai stands a better chance than many other business centres around the world to become a technology savvy global financial hub.
"Older generation business hubs will have to give way for the new ones. Dubai has all ingredients to become a global hub. If the fully automated international financial exchanges in commodities, forex and global stocks can operate from a free economy with higher operating efficiency and savings, nothing will prevent global traders from doing business here."
www.khaleejtimes.com
The new business initiative Financial Technologies Middle East (FTME) is targeted at making Dubai a technology driven financial hub.
The project encompasses creation of new generation automated equity, commodities and currency exchanges, trading platforms and a fully automated banking and financial services industry. A formal announcement on the plans of the company is awaited soon. Shah wants make Dubai the global platform for Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL). "It has to be Dubai." Shah said his choice comes from his global research and experience.
"We had the technology to build a fully automated exchange and scouted around the world for a location. In the process we talked with various government entities, financial free zones and tax heavens, but from the moment we began talking to the authorities here, we knew it has to be Dubai. If not for the promptness of Dubai, it would not have been possible to set a global exchange in such short time frame."
A pioneer in the development of Indian commodity markets; Shah is credited with conceptualising and establishing the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), which crossed Rs 100 billion daily turnovers in 3 years. In 1999 he founded Financial Technologies (India) Limited in 1999, as an IT 'Products' organisation with the objective of owning and licensing financial technologies. Today, FTIL command more than 80 per cent of the market share in Indian capital markets, while the company is valued at $1.5 billion.
FTIL wants to give a global twist to its success story in Dubai and make the city a platform for its Global ambitions.
FTIL transformed the Indian capital and commodity markets, which stands second in terms of number of transactions, which makes them the second in the world after the US. Shah wants to create a similar model on a global scale for Dubai. "Dubai has the political will, the regulatory framework and the infrastructure. It is time the city became a new generation business hub of the world." Shah believes that Dubai stands a better chance than many other business centres around the world to become a technology savvy global financial hub.
"Older generation business hubs will have to give way for the new ones. Dubai has all ingredients to become a global hub. If the fully automated international financial exchanges in commodities, forex and global stocks can operate from a free economy with higher operating efficiency and savings, nothing will prevent global traders from doing business here."
www.khaleejtimes.com
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