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International Business News
Philippines to raise minimum wage amid food crisis
AFP, Manila
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said Thursday her gov-emment will raise the country's minimum wage amid soaring food and energy' prices that have pushed inflation to three-year highs.
She said the government, employers and trade unions had agreed in principle to a 20-peso (47 US cents) rise in the minimum weekly wage, which is currently 362 pesos, in the national capital and its surrounding region.
r\ formal announcement was expected shortly, she told reporters.
A 20 peso increase was also approved for the Calabarzon industrial belt south of Manila, Ciriaco Lagunsad, a labour department official said in a radio interview.
Soaring prices of rice, the national staple, and petroleum products which are at all time highs sparked transport strikes in Manila and other urban centers around the country on Monday.
Indonesian poor to get $1.5b to offset fuel price hike
AFP, Jakarta
Indonesia plans to transfer more than 1.5 billion dollars in cash to the poor to offset the cost of a planned hike in fuel prices, reports said Thursday.
The compensation programme would see 14.18 trillion rupiah (1.53 billion dollars) transferred to 19.1 million poor families, the Bisnis Indonesia daily quoted Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie as saying.
The plan, which would reach 76.4 million people, would be distributed in monthly payments of 100,000 rupiah per household, the Jakarta Post reported.
China slow in meeting WTO commitments: US study
AFP, Washington
China has been slow in meeting commitments it made when joining the World TYade Organization (WTO) more than six years ago, according to a US Congress-commissioned report Wednesday.
"Our analysis revealed that China's progress in resolving compliance issues appears to be slowing over time, especially since 2003 and 2004, when most progress was made," said the study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress.
Its analysis identified about 180 compliance issues during the 2002-2007 period spanning nine trade areas.
The areas ranged from specific issues such as China's failure to establish an official publication of all laws and regulations. to broader concerns such as a lack of transparency in quota allocations. Lafarge acquires 66 concrete plants in India
Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Against the backdrop of fast rising construction industry in India, French cement major Lafarge has acquired Indian engineering giant Larsen and Toubro's readymix concrete business at an estimated price of349 million dollars.
The acquisition will give Lafarge accress to Larsen and Toubro's 66 concrete plants in India as also a 25 percent market share in readymix concrete. Some of Larsen and Toubro's concrete plants are located near key consumption centres like Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore.
Lafarge entered in cement-manufacturing business in India in 1999 by acquiring Tata Steel’s cement unit but lagged behind Swiss cement major Holcim which acquired Gujarat Ambuja and ACC's cement businesses.
In 2001, the French company acquired Raymond Cement of the A V Birla group of companies and now has three cement plants in India--two in Chhattisgarh and one in Jharkhand state-with the total production capacity estimated at five and a half million tonnes.
Oil price climbs back above $125
AFP, London
Oil prices rose on Thursday, boosted by weakness of the dollar, as the market shrugged off a downgrade by Opec of global demand growth for crude, analysts said.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, rose 88 cents to 125.36 dollars per barre). It had struck a record high of 126.98 dollars on Tuesday but slumped Wednesday.
On Thursday, London's Brent crude contract for June gained 77 cents to 122.63 dollars.
"Crude futures were a little higher (Thursday) ... recovering from last night's losses, also underpinned by a temporary weakness in the US dollar against the euro on positive German growth data," said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.