Manila govt to give up PAL stake

MANILA (Philippines): The Philippine government is ready to give up its stake in ailing Philippine Airlines and will not infuse any additional capital if a new investor, possibly Cathay Pacific Airways, comes in. officials said Tuesday.

"Our objective is full privatisation. The government’s policy Is to be out of the company that is being privatised." Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu said.

PAL Is negotiating with Cathay Pacific, which could buy up to 40 per cent of the airline under Philippine law.

Cathay Pacific has said it wants management control of the Philippine flag carrier, which has been mired in debt and labour unrest. A PAL official has said it is willing to give Cathay Pacific management control.

Several Manila newspapers reported Tuesday that Cathay Pacific also is demanding that the government divest its shares in PAL before it will agree to conclude a deal with the airline.

PAL executive vice president Manolo Aquino said there was no such demand, adding that the government's shares in PAL will naturally be diluted once a deal is forged and Cathay Pacific puts in new capital.

President Joseph Estrada said he would agree to any setup In PAL as long as it remains the country’s flag carrier.

S'pore to contract by 1 pc in '99

SINGAPORE: Singapore's economy Is technically in recession and could contract as much as 1 per cent in 1999. the Ministry of Trade and Industry said Tuesday.

'On a quarter-on-quarter basis, (gross domestic product) shrank for the second consecutive quarter, signaling that the economy is in a technical recession." the ministry said.

Two back-to-back quarters of negative growth is generally accepted as the definition of a recession.

The government also revised the economic growth forecast for 1998 to 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent, down from an earlier forecast of 0.5 to 1.5 per cent. It predicted the economy In 1999 will hover between a 1.0 per ceart contractior/’Tind 1.0 per xeu growth.

The governnferft said Singapore's GDP contracted by 0.7 per cent in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier. This is the first time that the economy has shrunk on a year-on-year basis since the first quarter of 1986.

New Japanese plan to end recession

TOKYO: Hoping to pull Japan out of recession, the ruling Srarty and a major opposition orce have agreed on a plan to offer shopping vouchers to eligible consumers, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Mitsuyosi Mizoguchi, of the New Komeito party, said his party and the ruling Liberal Democrats have agreed "in principle" on the plan. The New Komeito is the second largest opposition party.

The idea is to give shopping vouchers to families with children. aged 15 or younger, and to individual senior citizens, as a way to prod tight-fisted consumers to help Japan spend its way out of a nagging economic downturn.

But Mizoguchi said the two parties have yet to narrow differences over whether all people 65 and older should be eligible or even how much to proviae.

ROK to probe into crisis mishandling

SEOUL (South Korea): South Korea's parliament will open a potentially divisive probe next month into alleged mishandling of the country's economic crisis.

President Kim Dae-jung, who leads the ruling coalition, met with Lee Hoi-chang, head of the main opposition Grand National Party. Tuesday and agreed to start the hearing in the single-chamber National Assembly on Dec. 8.

South Korea plunged into financial turmoil late last year while the current opposition party was in power. President Kim. who won election in December. has vowed to punish state economic planners.

The hearing was expected to trigger a heated debate on whether policy failures should be subject to criminal punishment and whether former President Kim Young-sam should be called to testify.

Nasdaq price-fixing settlement okayed NEW YORK. Nov 10: A federal judge approved a 1.03 billion dollar class-action settlement between 37 brokerages and investors who alleged they were cheated by the firms In a price-fixing conspiracy involving Nasdaq-listed stocks, says AP.

The deal, which was brokered last December, is the largest civil antitrust settlement in history. The companies include the biggest names in the securities world such as Merrill Lynch and Co.. Goldman. Sachs and Co. and Salomon Smith Barney Inc.

The firms denied any wrong doing.

— AP reports