Madagascar cancels Seoul land plan

Madagascar cancels Seoul land plan

By Tom Burgis in Antananarivo and Javier Blas in London

Published: March 19 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 19 2009 02:00

South Korea's project to transform Madagascar into its breadbasket, branded by some as neo-colonial, came to an abrupt end yesterday when the Indian Ocean island's new president said he would shelve the plan.

Daewoo Logistic's deal to lease a huge tract of farmland, half the size of Belgium, to grow food crops to send back to Seoul was a source of popular resentment that contributed to the fall of Marc Ravalomanana, the former president.

Andry Rajoelina, who was declared president by the military and constitutional court after months of demonstrations and who will be formally sworn in on Saturday, said that Daewoo's plan was "cancelled".

"We are not against the idea of working with investors, but if we want to sell or rent out land, we have to change the constitution, you have to consult the people," Mr Rajoelina said in Antananarivo, the country's capital. "So at this hour the deal is cancelled."

The revelation of the plan was the catalyst that turned smouldering dissatisfaction with the rule of Mr Ravalomanana into the rebellion that ousted him on Tuesday.

Once early prospecting of land became public, outrage at the president's perceived use of political office to further his own business interests changed gear, said a well-connected Malagasy, who asked not to be named. "It was the news that said Daewoo expected to pay nothing for the land that accelerated the [political] trouble," he added.

Mr Rajoelina's announcement came hours after Daewoo officials said they would press ahead with the project regardless of the political situation. Richard Shin, an official at Daewoo, said the company was surprised by the growing political risks in the Indian Ocean island and by the drop in agricultural commodities prices, but added: "We want to continue the project, whether the government changes or not."

Daewoo's plan became the most high-profile of several similar smaller foreign agricultural investments in Africa. The race to outsource production is a sign of how countries, particularly in the Middle East but also in Asia, are seeking food security after last year's food crisis, which saw record prices for staples such as wheat and rice, and the imposition of export restrictions.

The South Korean company initially said it had secured a lease for 99 years for about 1.3m hectares and expected to pay nothing as a rent, although it later said it was still in negotiations with Mr Ravalomanana's former government.

The company floated the plan in January to lease 900,000 hectares of land with infrastructure investments worth $2bn (€1.5bn, £1.4bn). The plan suggested Daewoo could create up to 45,000 jobs.

Seoul's long-term target was to import up to half its corn needs, cutting its dependence on the US, Argentina and Brazil. South Korea is the world's fourth largest corn importer.

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China to send more patrols to Spratly Islands

BEIJING, March 19 – China may convert more navy ships into fishery vessels to patrol the South China Sea, the China Daily reported, as Beijing seeks to extend its reach over disputed islands that straddle key Asian shipping lanes.

”China will make the best use of its (retired) naval ships and may also build more fishery patrol ships, depending on the need,” Wu Zhuang, director of the Administration of Fishery and Fishing Harbor Supervision of the South China Sea, told the newspaper.

China earlier this week sent its largest fishery patrol ship, Yuzheng 311, to the waters around the Spratly Islands, a cluster of islets and atolls that lie north of Borneo island, an area rich in fisheries with significant oil and gas deposits.

”Faced with a growing amount of illegal fishing and other countries’ unfounded territorial claims of islands in China’s exclusive economic zone, it has become necessary to step up the fishery administration’s patrols to protect China’s rights and interests,” the China Daily quoted Wu as saying.

The Spratlys are claimed in full or part by China, as well as Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Several of them have moved to bolster their own claims recently.

The Philippines passed a law last week laying claim to part of the Spratlys. Malaysia’s Prime Minister on March 5 landed on Swallow Reef and Ardasier Reef, also in the Spratly archipelago, to assert his country’s claim.

Immediately prior to the Yuzheng 311 mission, the United States assigned an escort to its naval survey vessel Impeccable, which was harrassed by five Chinese boats last week in waters that China claims as its exclusive economic zone.

U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told Congress on Tuesday the Chinese had become assertive in staking claims to international waters around economic zones and were ”more military, aggressive, forward-looking than we saw a couple of years before” in Southeast Asia and the South China Sea.

The shortest route between the Pacific and Indian oceans, the South China Sea has some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Over half the globe’s oil tanker traffic passes through the sea, which is also said to hold valuable fishing grounds, and as-yet unexploited oil and natural gas fields.

In a sign of China’s growing global clout, Beijing in December sent three naval vessels to help tackle piracy off Somalia in the country’s biggest blue water operation outside of the region.

Beijing’s opaque but quickening military build-up has contributed to a sense of unease in parts of Asia, especially Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as its own and has vowed to bring under mainland control, by force if necessary.

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Aston Martin owner retreats from stake sale

By Anousha Sakoui

Published: March 18 2009 15:12 | Last updated: March 18 2009 15:12

Investment Dar, the Kuwaiti investment group, will not sell luxury car maker Aston Martin or its stake in a prestigious London property in a bid to raise cash but instead will sell stakes worth around £600m (KD250m) in banking and industrial sector assets.

The company has told creditors that it had determined some banking and smaller industrial assets as non-core, to be sold to fund near term cash flow needs. The company also put forward a proposal to creditors to roll over and extend the repayment deadline on some of its outstanding £2.4bn (KD1bn) shariah-compliant debt over five years, a person close to the fund said.

Its lenders have three weeks to consider the plan. The investment group had received several expressions of interest in a stake in Aston Martin as part of the company’s plans to restructure its debt but market conditions were considered too difficult and the interest too speculative. Investment Dar had also received interest in the sale of a stake in a prime Park Lane development, the Grosvenor House Apartments, but it will keep hold of that asset too, the person said.

Investment Dar was started in 1994 by a group of leading Kuwaiti businessmen and shareholders. It told creditors its assets were now valued at between £2.9bn and £4.3bn (KD1.2bn-1.8bn).

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Gulf sees a chemical future

By Robin Wigglesworth in Abu Dhabi

Published: March 19 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 19 2009 02:00

In the US film The Graduate, a family friend offers the protagonist, played by Dustin Hoffman, some simple career advice: "I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Plastics."

It is counsel the Gulf states have heeded. Seeking to capitalise on their comparative advantage - abundant and cheap access to hydrocarbons, the building blocks for many petrochemicals - governments have invested heavily in domestic industries.

The credit crunch, however, has thumped the chemical industry in recent months. A collapse in global manufacturing has sent the price of plastics, synthetic rubber and other petrochemical products tumbling - and with them, the profits of the industry.

The two largest chemicals producers in the Gulf, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and Industries Qatar, saw their fourth-quarter profits plummet 95 per cent and 93 per cent respectively. With stocks of petrochemical products building up in warehouses across the world, analysts forecast prices will remain stagnant for some time.

Khadem Al Qubaisi, managing director of International Petroleum Investment Company, Abu Dhabi's state-owned hydrocarbon and chemical investment arm, admits "2009 will be a tough year; a year for restructuring".

The picture may appear gloomy, but analysts and industry experts say that, aside from near-term pressures on margins, the crisis may be the making of the Gulf's chemicals industry.

"The situation doesn't look great right now, but the future still looks good for the Middle East petrochemical companies," says Ankit Gupta, a senior analyst at Securities and Investment Company, a Bahraini investment bank.

Chiefly this is because of easy and cut-price access to gas and oil. The average price of 1m British thermal units of energy is $7-$8 in the US but just 75 cents in Saudi Arabia, according to a KPMG report published in December.

Seeking to capitalise on this advantage, governments have thrown cash at their petrochemical industries in recent years, expanding total output to €46bn ($59.6bn) and an annual growth rate of more than 9 per cent since 1997, the consultancy says.

Seemingly undeterred by the credit crunch, several Gulf countries are pressing ahead with expansion plans, with only limited delays where financing is still to be organised, says Mr Gupta.

In the Middle East, $79bn of investments in petrochemicals is planned in the 2007-11 period, according to KPMG. Abu Dhabi is building a $20bn chemicals city called Chemaweyaat, and Saudi Arabia plans a $26bn refinery and petrochemicals complex at Ras Tanura. Both states, along with Qatar, have identified the industry as an integral component in diversifying their economies and creating jobs.

Ipic, which is involved in the Chemaweyaat development, is "not stopping any projects, as they are the backbone of our economy", says Mr Qubaisi. "Chemicals represents the future for us. It will create a lot of jobs for Abu Dhabi and put us on the petrochemical map."

A further 53 new plants are due to come online in the Middle East by 2012, and the regional industry will grow nearly 10 per cent a year until 2020, more than twice the global average, according to KPMG.

The Gulf focuses mostly on basic petrochemicals such as ethylene, poly-olefins, polyethylene and polypropylene, but will soon be able to produce a wider array of chemical products. It is already a leading manufacturer of fertilisers.

But analysts say acquisitions may be a swifter and now cheaper way of moving up the supply chain. The credit crunch has made even the world's largest chemicals producers available to the larger Gulf companies.

Sabic bought GE Plastics for $11.6bn in 2007, giving it a downstream plastics producing capability, but has since had to cut 10 per cent of its acquisition's workforce because of the credit crunch. However, the Saudi company is undeterred and remains on the hunt.

"The company is working to increase its market share in international markets and looking for opportunities to buy assets within these markets and to set up joint ventures," Sabic said in its annual report. "It will take advantage of the big decline in international production among high-cost producers."

Mr Gupta says Sabic has more than $13bn of cash available and is likely to look primarily for Asian chemicals companies situated close to the important markets of India and China.

Ipic, which controls Borealis, a plastics company, recently bought Canada's Nova Chemicals for $2bn and said it was looking for more acquisitions.

Middle East groups may also enter into joint ventures with leading international chemical companies.

A planned $15bn joint project between Dow Chemicals and Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries Company collapsed last year due to political wrangling in Kuwait, but Dow has said it is looking elsewhere in the region for partners.

"We will see more joint ventures; the failure of the PIC-Dow Chemicals project will be an exception rather than the rule," says Mr Gupta. "US and European petrochemical firms will have to consolidate production in the face of the advantages of the Middle East and Chinese producers."

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Philippines jumps to help its workers abroad

By Roel Landingin

Published: March 19 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 19 2009 02:00

As a labour attaché in Israel, lawyer Teresita Manzala used to brave the occasional missile from the Hizbollah to check on the safety of Filipina maids working near the border with Lebanon.

Now back in Manila, Ms Manzala is helping Filipino migrant workers deal with another sort of emergency: the sudden loss of jobs, as the global financial crisis forces thousands of factories, hotels, construction companies in Asia and the Middle East to shed staff.

"We're used to all kinds of crises and emergencies. This is no longer new to us," says Ms Manzala, deputy head of the government labour department's national reintegration centre that is in charge of helping unemployed Filipino workers abroad to find overseas or domestic jobs. The centre also helps provide business training and counselling for those who want to set up small enterprises.

According to the government labour department, more than 4,300 Filipinos, mostly workers in electronics factories in Taiwan and construction labourers in the Middle East, have come home in the past four months. A further 1,100 workers were laid off but have not come home and are looking for jobs in host countries.

"Those working in export-oriented industries in Asia and private construction projects in the Middle East are the most vulnerable to lay-offs," says Victor Fernandez, head of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, a group of recruiters. "Workers in essential services and in government construction projects are faring a little better."

He says the number of returning workers is likely to grow further, as the slowdown continues, and companies and governments in labour-importing countries come under rising political pressure to create jobs for unemployed locals.

As the world's third biggest source of temporary labour migrants, after China and India, according to the International Organisation for Migration, the Philippines has developed a massive bureaucracy to look after the welfare of its workers in different parts of the world.

In large part, this is a reflection of the growing role and political influence of the overseas Filipinos and their families. There are 9m Filipinos working and living abroad, roughly one-10th of the population. On average, there is one overseas contract worker for every four Philippine households and remittances account for about one-10th of GDP.

Most Philippine embassies have labour attachés and units that can provide emergency, legal and welfare assistance. This network allows the Philippines quickly to swing into action, rescuing and evacuating Filipino workers caught in wars and conflicts.

Ms Manzala says the massive government organisation that typically deals with humanitarian emergencies is now being deployed to help overseas workers who have lost their jobs.

In the past few weeks, Manila has sent special teams to Taiwan and Dubai to help laid-off workers find another overseas job, or look for opportunities at home. Another team is getting ready to go to South Korea.

The team briefs the workers on the available options and prepares detailed individual profiles that labour officials back in Manila can use to help them find another overseas job or domestic employment.

The government recently launched a programme to lend 50,000 pesos to help Filipinos who had lost overseas jobs to set up small businesses. The uncollateralised loan, which carries an interest rate of 5 per cent, is preceded by a 10,000 peso grant for business training and counselling. Only those who complete the training are allowed to borrow from the programme.

Maria Garcea, a 29-year-old semiconductor factory worker who came home from Taiwan last month after losing her job, is one of the first four beneficiaries of the lending scheme. She used the money to buy a big freezer for a meat processing business. "So far the business is doing well. It's earning enough to meet my family's daily needs," she says. However, Ms Garcea said she is still keen to leave for an overseas job as soon as possible.

She is not alone in wanting this. "Maybe eight out of 10 workers who came to us for help want to leave again soon," says Ms Manzala.

Job opportunities abroad are still to be found, especially if workers are willing to accept less pay and tougher working conditions.

In January, departures by Filipino job-seekers rose by 25 per cent from a year ago to 165,000, reversing a 5.8 per cent decline year on year in December. The growth in overseas deployment in January surprised government officials who were worried about a slump in demand for Filipino workers, because of the recession in rich countries.

The government is looking hard for job opportunities for Filipinos abroad.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stopped in Dubai after attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month and has appealed to Middle Eastern countries to keep Filipinos in jobs and to hire more of them. Manila is also considering lifting the ban on deployment of Filipino workers in war-torn countries such as Lebanon and Iraq.

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Turkey freezes Dogan Yayin assets

By Delphine Strauss in Ankara and Gerrit Wiesman in Frankfurt

Published: March 19 2009 10:44 | Last updated: March 19 2009 10:44

Turkey’s tax authorities have frozen assets of Dogan Yayin Holdings, it emerged on Wednesday, after it imposed a TL826m ($480m) tax fine on the country’s biggest media group.

Dogan Yayin, which owns television channels and some of Turkey’s top-selling newspapers, is appealing the fine, which relates to profits from the sale over two years ago of a 25 per cent stake in Dogan TV to the German publisher Axel Springer.

The finance ministry has asked Dogan Yayin to put up a guarantee of TL914m while it appeals and blocked access to assets after rejecting the group’s initial offers of collateral. The ministry is assessing a new offer from the company to put up shares in Dogan TV as collateral, according to the group.

The ministry maintains that the audit resulting in the fine was impartial and in line with regulations but investors worry that the group could be suffering from a public row between Mr Dogan and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, who last autumn called on his supporters to boycott Dogan publications due to coverage of a corruption scandal.

The ministry’s latest decision prevents Dogan Yayin from selling stakes in its subsidiaries Hurriyet Gazetcililk, Dogan Gazetcilik and Dogan Burda Dergi Yayincilik, but does not affect dividends, voting rights or day-to-day operations. The parent group on Wednesday denied reports that a much broader range of assets had been affected.

Soner Gedik, Dogan Yayin’s vice president, said in an emailed statement he had delivered 45.4 per cent of Dogan TV shares to the tax office on March 13th, a day after the assets freeze. The tax office accepted the shares as collateral but the freeze remains in place while it makes its own assessment of their value.

The escalating crisis is weighing heavily on the group’s shares and becoming a serious worry for its international partners. Axel Springer, which agreed to extend its partnership with the Dogan group last November, said it had no indication the latest decision would affect its investment plans.

But its original investment in Dogan TV was meant to lead to an initial public offering of the subsidiary – already on hold due to depressed markets and now at risk of further delay if Dogan Yayin’s own stake is tied up during a lengthy court battle.

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Libya in move to lure foreign banks

By Heba Saleh in Cairo

Published: March 19 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 19 2009 02:00

Libya is considering offering private sector banking licences next year in an effort to attract foreign banks to the oil-rich north African country, which has recently shed its pariah status after mending relations with the US and Europe.

Farhat Bengdara, governor of the Central Bank of Libya, told the Financial Times that in 2010 Libya would "set up criteria" and advertise for licences "according to our study of the market".

This would be "the second" phase of Libya's move to open its banks to foreign investors after the sale of minority stakes in two of its three state-owned banks in the past two years.

In 2007 Libya sold a stake in the state-owned Sahara Bank to France's BNP Paribas, which also acquired management control and the right to increase its share to 51 per cent after three to five years. Last year, the Jordan-based Arab Bank bought 19 per cent of Wahda Bank, another state institution.

Libya has been slowly emerging from four decades of socialism under the leadership of Muammer Gaddafi who abolished the private sector before allowing it to return with a limited role.

Although officials say they want more private-sector participation, there is uncertainty about how much change will be allowed.

Mr Bengdara said it had not yet been decided if the new banks would have to have a Libyan partner, although he anticipated that they would be wholly privately owned.

He also said the state would next month sell a 15 per cent stake in Gumhuriya bank, the only bank that remains wholly state-owned.

But the stake would be offered on the country's embryonic stock exchange, rather than to a foreign strategic investor. Another 7 to 8 per cent would be given to the bank's employees.

The bank would eventually be completely privatised with the aim of widening ownership and bringing in private sector oversight.

Mr Bengdara expected the emergence in Libya of a "people's capitalism" in which wealth distribution was "relatively fair". That meant, for instance,companies would be privatised but there would be a limit on how much of their capital any individual could own.

Much of the push for economic reforms has come from Seif al-Islam, Mr Gaddafi's son, who has played a key role in improving relations with the west. But local businesses say there is still a long way to go.

"Custom duties were suddenly raised from 4 per cent to 10 per cent," said Mohamed Hassan-Beck, of the Libyan Businessmen Council. "These kinds of random decisions, which come with no warning, create confusion. Business needs clear laws and stability."

Banking sources say that with its vast oil wealth Libya is bound to attract the attention of international banks. But they warn that enthusiasm will be damped by statements such as recent ones by Mr Gaddafi in which he said low oil prices might drive the state to nationalise the oil industry.

"People aren't going to open banks on that basis," said a banker. "There is going to be a lot of caution on the side of the bankers, though I am sure some will rush in regarding it as a great opportunity."

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First rating

Published: March 19 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 19 2009 02:00

Libya yesterday received its first ever credit rating by a big agency. Standard and Poor's assigned the country an A-, which puts it in the same category as Greece and Poland.

S&P said it had given the country its A- long-term and A-2 short-term foreign and local currency ratings with a stable outlook. It noted what it described as "constraints" over Libya's ratings such as "limited transparency" in decision-making, leading to policies "less predictable" than in peer countries.

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French protesters take to the streets

By Ben Hall in Paris

Published: March 19 2009 13:49 | Last updated: March 19 2009 13:49

France’s trade unions staged a national strike on Thursday sending a powerful message of protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s economic policy and reform programme.

The one-day stoppage caused disruption to rail, air and local transport and to public services, especially schools, but early indications suggested that participation in the strikes was slightly lower than the last such day of industrial action on January 29.

However, the government was bracing itself for mass demonstrations on the streets of Paris and across France later in the day in support of a further economic stimulus package, an end to public sector reforms and action to stop companies from laying off workers.

It was the scale of demonstrations on January 29 - involving up to 2.5m marchers - rather than the strikes themselves that spurred Mr Sarkozy to come forward with an extra €2.6bn in welfare payments and tax cuts for low-income families.

The concessions were judged insufficient by union leaders, but the government has made it clear it will not be promising any further significant measures in the short term. Mr Sarkozy was intending to keep a low-profile at an EU summit in Brussels, leaving it to François Fillon, his prime minister, to respond to the strike in a television interview on Thursday evening.

Ségolène Royal, former presidential candidate, waded into the confrontation on Thursday, accusing the government of being “scornful, incompetent and obstinate”. Alain Juppé, former centre-right prime minister whose government was paralysed by strikes in 1995, warned Mr Sarkozy not to be “arrogant” in the face of public anguish amid the economic crisis.

Social tensions have increased in the last seven weeks and relations between union leaders and the employers’ organisations have become severely strained.

An ongoing strike by students and university staff against university reforms has periodically threatened to spill over into violence, adding a sense of urgency to the situation.

With unemployment rising sharply and anger brewing over a string of high profile factory closures and mass redundancies, union leaders were counting on a higher turn-out among private sector workers, to hammer home their message.

Company employees are far less unionised than their public sector counterparts and their participation would reinforce the unions’ claim that the protest is about more than protecting the interests of government workers.

Total, Renault, Peugeot, Faurecia, GlaxoSmithKline, Saint Gobain, Carrefour, and Rhodia are among the companies where unions issued strike notices.

The entire 1,100 strong workforce of Continental’s factory near Compiègne, northern France, led a demonstration of 10,000 people through the streets of the town, in an indication of the size of protests to come. The German automotive group last week ordered the closure of the plant, triggering an angry confrontation between workers and managers.

The strike caused the cancellation of 40 per cent of high speed train services and 60 per cent of regional trains. A third of flights were cancelled at Paris’ Orly airport and 10 per cent at Roissy Charles de Gaulle. The Paris metro was working almost as normal.

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TNK-BP appoints two new board members

By Ed Crooks in London

Published: March 18 2009 19:21 | Last updated: March 18 2009 19:21

TNK-BP, the Russian joint venture owned 50/50 by BP and a group of Russian tycoons, has appointed two new directors to the management board of its main operating company, continuing its moves to stabilise its governance following the dispute that shook the company last year.

The venture has still not appointed a chief executive to replace Bob Dudley, who was forced out of Russia last summer, but is interviewing candidates and hopes to have a replacement by the middle of the year.

Denis Morozov, the former chief executive of Norilsk Nickel, the mining group, had been seen as the favourite but is no longer the clear front-runner.

The two new directors appointed to the management board of TNK-BP Ltd, which has six members at full strength, are Jonathan Muir, who has been appointed chief financial officer, and Didier Baudrand who is the new executive vice-president of the downstream business, which includes refineries and petrol stations.

The appointments are evidence against the suggestion that it has become impossible to hire non-Russians to work at TNK-BP.

Mr Baudrand is French and Mr Muir is British, although he has worked in Russia for many years and has a Russian wife.

After a number of expatriate executives left last year, fears grew that the contribution of foreign management and expertise, which has been central to TNK-BP’s success, was being eroded.

The appointments reflect the power-sharing deal thrashed out by BP and the Alfa-Access-Renova group of Russian tycoons last year.

Under that deal, two of the executive directors are to be drawn from each side of the partnership and two are intended to be neutral.

Mr Baudrand is one of BP’s appointments. He was until recently BP’s senior vice-president for special projects in the refining and marketing division, and before that ran BP’s refining joint venture with Sinopec in China.

Mr Muir was previously chief auditor with TNK-BP, and has been acting CFO since last August.

He was previously CFO at Sidanco, an earlier Russian joint venture between BP and AAR, and before that worked for Ernst & Young.

David Peattie, BP’s senior executive for Russia, said the appointments were “another important step in putting TNK-BP’s new governance arrangements in place”.

The acting chief executive of TNK-BP is Tim Summers, the BP-appointed chief operating officer, who will go back to that role when a chief executive is appointed.

The new CEO is intended to be another neutral executive. Candidates – all of them Russian – are being interviewed separately by BP and AAR.

Although Mr Morozov is still a candidate, Mikhail Fridman of the Alfa Group has cast doubt on his credentials because of his lack of oil and gas industry experience.

Mr Fridman has suggested that better qualified candidates could become available because of the upheaval in the industry caused by the fall in the oil price.

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Give back bonuses, AIG chief urges staff

By Tom Braithwaite and Andrew Ward in Washington and,Saskia Scholtes in New York

Published: March 19 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 19 2009 02:00

Edward Liddy, chief executive of AIG, yesterday tried to soothe anger against the bailed-out insurance group by urging employees to give back the $165m (€122m, £115m) in bonuses that have sparked a political firestorm.

He told legislators he had asked employees of AIG Financial Products - the arm that brought the group to the brink of collapse - to "step up and do the right thing". The concession came as President Barack Obama defended Timothy Geithner, Treasury secretary, amid criticism of the administration's handling of the controversy.

Mr Obama said he had "complete confidence" in Mr Geithner as the Treasury chief faced calls to quit from at least two Republican legislators. Republicans want to know why he did not challenge the bonuses before approving $30bn of fresh federal aid to AIG this month. Congressman Connie Mack said Mr Geithner "should either resign or be fired for the good of the country".

The president praised Mr Geithner for tackling the crisis with "intelligence and diligence", arguing that he faced the toughest challenge of any Treasury secretary since Alexander Hamilton after the Revolutionary War. "Nobody's working harder than this guy," he said.

The resignation calls were echoed by protesters at a Congressional hearing into the AIG bail-out, while Republican members pressed Mr Liddy for information about Mr Geithner's role in waving through the bonuses. The Obama administration has published a timeline of events that shows Mr Geithner learning of the pay-outs on March 10, phoning Mr Liddy on March 11 and informing the White House on March 12. It stressed that Mr Geithner had no part in drafting the bonus deal.

Mr Liddy offered the olive branch during a hearing into the AIG bail-out by the House financial services committee as members of Congress vowed to press ahead with measures to recoup the bonuses.

"Specifically, I have asked those who received retention payments of $100,000 or more to return at least half of those payments," he said, adding that some had agreed to give up all their bonuses.

Gary Ackerman, a Democratic congressman, said the pay-outs had unleashed a "tidal wave of rage" among taxpayers, while Paul Hodes, Democratic committee member, said AIG had come to stand for "arrogance, incompetence and greed".

Barney Frank, the committee's chairman, renewed his call for the government, as 80 per cent shareholder, to "exercise its ownership rights" over AIG and file lawsuits to block the bonuses. He vowed to seek the names of people who received the money as they "should not be allowed to hide behind anonymity".

Mr Frank said Mr Geithner and Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, would testify to another committee hearing on AIG next week.

Earlier, Mr Frank told CNN he did not "have a lot of confidence" in Mr Liddy, even as Mr Geithner gave his backing to the chief executive, who was appointed after the original federal bail-out last September.

According to testimony prepared for delivery to the House committee, Mr Liddy acknowledged that AIG had been "the beneficiary of the American people's forbearance and patience" as the government had funnelled more than $170bn into the group.

"We are acutely aware not only that we must be good stewards of the public funds we have received but that the patience of America's taxpayers is wearing thin," he added.

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House to vote on taxing bail-out bonuses

By Tom Braithwaite in Washington

Published: March 19 2009 14:27 | Last updated: March 19 2009 14:27

The US House of Representatives prepared on Thursday to vote on taxing away the $165m bonus payments at AIG, the bailed-out insurance group, after concessions offered by the company failed to quell anger on Capitol Hill.

Edward Liddy, chief executive of AIG, appeared before lawmakers on Wednesday to acknowledge that the large bonuses from a company that has received more than $170bn in public money were “distasteful”. He said some of the recipients had offered to pay them back.

But Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has prepared legislation that would impose a 90 per cent tax on bonuses to employees earning more than $250,000 at those companies - including AIG - which have received over $5bn under the troubled assets relief programme.

Sceptics have argued that it is wrong to claw back the bonuses via a retroactive tax; the bill would affect bonuses paid after December 31, 2008 and would cover Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance companies, as well as AIG.

“When you weigh the harm that AIG and other bad actors have done to the system, our economy, and American families, with the concerns regarding the precedent of using the tax code, there is no question this legislation is the best decision we can make,” said Mr Rangel. “It is not enough to say ‘you can’t do anything about it.’ We have to do something about it.”

The political row over the AIG bonuses has engulfed several parts of Washington, with the Treasury department, the Federal Reserve and several lawmakers facing continuing questions about the circumstances of the payments and whether legislation was deliberately drafted with an exemption that allowed them.

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Greece to freeze public sector pay

By Kerin Hope in Athens

Published: March 19 2009 09:32 | Last updated: March 19 2009 09:48

Greece has announced a wage freeze for public sector workers and a one-off tax for high-income earners in an attempt to prevent the budget deficit from spiralling out of control.

The measures announced on Wednesday marked an abrupt switch by the centre-right government which until now has claimed Greece’s service-based economy could avoid falling into recession.

George Papathanassiou, finance minister, said on Wednesday the measures were part of a “realistic and responsible” new policy to face deteriorating global economic conditions.

Mr Papathanassiou on Monday rejected the Commission’s forecast of flat growth this year, saying the economy could expand by up to 1.5 per cent.

The government is under pressure from the European Commission to curb a rising deficit, which may have exceeded 4 per cent of gross domestic product in 2007 – well above the eurozone limit of 3 per cent of GDP.

The wage freeze would affect public sector workers earning more than €1,700 monthly. Lower paid workers would receive a one-off payment of €500.

The budget provided for increases of 8 per cent for the public sector compared with a projected year-end inflation rate of 2.5 per cent.

The one-off tax would affect more than 100,000 Greeks who declared incomes above €60,000 and raise an additional €250m in revenues, Mr Papathanassiou said.

Members of parliament would pay an extra tax this year amounting to 5 per cent of salaries which would boost a special fund for welfare payments as “a symbolic gesture” Mr Papathanassiou said.

The government is struggling to maintain revenues at last year’s levels as economic activity slows.

Retailing and entertainment have been hit by continuing social unrest in Athens following last December’s riots, while early tourist bookings have slumped by an average of 10 per cent, according to hoteliers and tour operators associations.

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Britain scraps motor show as downturn bites
Thu Mar 19, 2009 9:14am EDT

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - Britain's car industry is cancelling its showpiece exhibition in 2010 because of the economic slump, which has savaged demand for new cars.

The British International Motor Show, held every other year, attracts large crowds but the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said unprecedented challenges facing the industry had made staging the event impossible for exhibitors.

The news is a fresh blow for the country's struggling auto industry, which is getting a 2.3 billion pound aid package from the government to help it cope with plummeting sales.

"The global credit crunch has placed the automotive sector under unique pressure and has created a level of uncertainty that deters manufacturers from committing to large-scale, international events," said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.

The motor show is Britain's largest consumer exhibition.

The event returned to London from Birmingham in 2006 after an absence of three decades, in a shift designed to regain some prestige on the international arena.

When Britain's motor industry was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s many manufacturers opted to unveil their latest models at the show.

But as the home-grown market shrank during the 1970s, the big car makers increasingly chose foreign venues like Frankfurt, Geneva and Detroit to showcase their new models.

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国際協力銀への外準融資、3月は52億ドルに　財務省

　財務省は19日、日本政策金融公庫の国際部門である国際協力銀行（ＪＢＩＣ）に対し、外貨準備から27億ドル（約2600億円）の融資を実行したと発表した。24日にも25億ドルを融資。3月中に実行するＪＢＩＣへの融資額は計52億ドルとなる。

　同省は3日、ＪＢＩＣを通じた日本企業のドル調達支援策を強化するため、3月中に外貨準備から50億ドル程度を融資する方針を発表していた。4月以降についても、ＪＢＩＣのドル融資のための原資が不足する場合は、外貨準備からの融資を続ける。(21:43)

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外為特別会計：ＪＢＩＣに２７億ドル融資　日系企業支援で

　財務省は１９日、海外の日系企業のドル資金調達を支援するため、外貨準備を管理する「外国為替資金特別会計」から国際協力銀行（ＪＢＩＣ）に２７億ドル（約２６００億円）を融資したと発表した。

　外為特会からＪＢＩＣへのドル融資第１弾で、２４日にも２５億ドルを融資する予定。ＪＢＩＣへの融資期間は５年間。これを受けて、ＪＢＩＣは日系企業に対するドル資金融資を大幅に拡充する。

　昨秋以降の金融市場の混乱で、日系企業はドル資金の調達が難しくなっており、ＪＢＩＣに融資要請が相次いでいる。ただ、ＪＢＩＣも市場からの資金調達には限界があり、財務省は３日、来年３月末までの臨時措置として、ＪＢＩＣへのドル融資開始を発表していた。

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不動産市況「改善は来年下期」　信託協会長

　信託協会の田辺和夫会長（中央三井トラスト・ホールディングス社長）は19日の記者会見で、低迷する不動産市況について「もう少し価格調整が起きないと（不動産の）買い控えは解消しない」と述べた。「売り買いが合致し出すのは来年の下期」と語り、当面は厳しい状況が続くとの見通しを示した。

　金融庁が大手銀行などを対象に4―6月に実施する「貸し渋り」や「貸しはがし」に関する集中検査について田辺会長は、「金融機関と検査当局との目線合わせをしたいというのが趣旨」と指摘。そのうえで「個別の貸し出しに口を挟もうということではないと思う」と述べた。(20:05)

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ベネズエラと資源開発で包括協定　政府

　政府は南米ベネズエラと資源開発に関する包括協定を結ぶ。原油や天然ガス、石炭といったエネルギー開発全般について安定供給の枠組みを定めるもので、 19日に覚書を締結する。日本は輸入原油の約9割を中東に依存しており、企業進出などを後押しし、資源調達先の多角化を進める。

　日本がエネルギー分野で覚書を交わすのは中南米諸国では初めて。中南米は原油や鉄鉱石、ダイヤモンドなど豊富な資源を持つ国が多く、政府は今回の協力を足がかりに他国との関係強化も探る方針だ。(07:01)

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ロシア国営企業、東芝とウラン濃縮工場建設を検討

　【モスクワ＝坂井光】ロシア国営の原子力会社アトムエネルゴプロムは19日、東芝と共同でウラン濃縮工場を建設する検討を開始することで合意したと発表した。両社は昨年3月に原子力エネルギー分野で相互協力することで基本合意しており、今回の発表は具体策の第一弾。

　アトムエネルゴプロムによると、ウラン濃縮工場はロシアのガス遠心分離技術を利用し、日本か第三国に建設することを目指す。さらに、両社は原子力関係設備の生産と供給や、ロシアでの原発建設で東芝が技術協力する可能性についても検討することで合意した。(23:29)

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ロシア：ウラン濃縮工場、東芝と共同建設　国営企業が表明

　【モスクワ大前仁】ロシア国営原子力企業アトムエネルゴプロムは１９日、東芝を相手に、日本か第三国におけるウラン濃縮工場の建設について検討を始めると発表した。原発燃料の供給に関する合同事業の設立も検討するという。両社は昨年３月、原発事業における協力関係の樹立で基本合意していた。

　建設が検討されるウラン濃縮工場では、アトム社の技術が活用される見通し。両社は東芝の技術を使い、ロシア国内の原発施設の設計や建設工程の短縮、原発用大型設備の設計について検討することも確認した。

　日露両政府は現在、原子力分野の協力に関する法的枠組みを交渉中。プーチン露首相が訪日する今年５月までの協定締結を目指している。

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ヤマハ、台湾と英のピアノ工場閉鎖

　ヤマハは19日、台湾と英国のピアノ工場閉鎖などを柱とする事業構造改革を発表した。ピアノの世界各地での現地生産を掲げてきたが、両拠点の生産台数が大きく落ち込んだため、中国とインドネシアに集約する。一眼レフカメラなどに搭載するマグネシウム成型部品など不採算事業からの撤退も同時に発表した。

　2009年3月期は構造改革費用や固定資産の減損損失などを一括処理し、236億円の特別損失を計上、最終赤字は230億円に膨らむ見込みだ。配当は従来予想より7.5円減らし年間42.5円にする。役員報酬は全額返上、管理職給与は4月から5％減らす。

　台湾の生産子会社、台湾山葉楽器製造（桃園県）は今年7月に生産を終了、来年3月に会社を清算する。台湾域内での需要が減少し、同子会社のピアノ生産台数は年間3600台と80年代後半のピーク時の半分以下になり、役割を終えたと判断した。(22:36)

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2月の百貨店売上高、11年ぶりの2ケタ減　食料品も低迷

　日本百貨店協会が19日発表した2月の全国百貨店売上高は、前年同月比11.5％減（既存店ベース）の4695億円だった。単月での2ケタ減は1998 年3月以来約11年ぶり。今年の営業日数はうるう年の昨年に比べ1日少ないが、これまで堅調だった食料品も悪化したことが響いた。

　2月としては現在の方法で統計を始めた1965年以来、最悪で、前年割れも12カ月連続となった。同協会はうるう年の影響を考慮すると8.7％減とみており、1月の9.1％減から0.4ポイント改善した。

　食料品は5.7％減。バレンタイン商戦が盛り上がりを欠いたほか、「来店客の買い上げ点数が減っている」（飯岡瀬一専務理事）。主力の衣料品は暖冬や買い控えの影響で14.5％減となった。(22:01)

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オウム破産手続き、13年費やし終結　東京地裁決定

　オウム真理教（アレフに改称）の被害賠償問題で、東京地裁（佐村浩之裁判長）は19日、教団の破産手続きを終結する決定をした。1996年3月の破産宣告後、破産手続きは13年にも及んだ。

　破産管財人の阿部三郎弁護士によると、教団の債務総額は約51億円。このうち、一連の事件の被害者・遺族への債務は約38億円。教団の資産の売却や一般からの寄付などを合わせ、被害者らには約15億円（配当率約40％）が支払われた。

　阿部弁護士は記者会見で「感無量。今後も教団の監視は続けていかなければならない」と話した。(23:30)

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科学研究費補助：厚労省が内定白紙、再審査　点数水増しで

　０９年度の厚生労働科学研究費補助金の点数水増し問題で厚生労働省は１９日、内定を白紙に戻し水増しされた課題を含む分野の十数件の課題について審査し直すことを決めた。審査する事前評価委員会（１０人）のメンバー構成も再考する方向で検討する。

　厚労省によると、０９年度の「臨床研究・予防・治療技術開発研究事業」の一分野に申請した公立大教授の課題について、委員会のヒアリングに教授が出られるよう、厚労省が課題の点数の加点を５人の委員に電子メールで依頼。うち３人が加点に応じた。１８日の委員会のヒアリングで、この教授の申請課題が内定した。

　厚労省研究開発振興課は「公正さの点で望ましい形でないので、もう一度評価し直す」と話している。

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創価学会への調査は困難…参院予算委で文科相

　塩谷立文部科学相は１９日午前の参院予算委員会で、公明党の支持母体である創価学会に対し「今まで調査は行っていない」と述べるとともに、信教の自由に配慮する観点などから調査は困難との認識を示した。民主党の一川保夫氏が「宗教法人としての適格性にあっているか、調査するのは監督官庁として大きな責任」と創価学会への調査を求めたのに答えた。

　一川氏は「公明党とそれを支える宗教団体は日本の政治をおかしくしている」と批判。「公明党の議員が当選した場合、党に（金を）上納するという話もあった」と指摘した。

　これに関し、公明党の斉藤鉄夫環境相は「選挙費用の自己負担分だ。党本部に納入された自己負担分は党の収支報告書に計上されている」と答弁した。

　さらに一川氏は「政治と宗教」に関する集中審議と、矢野絢也元公明党委員長らの参考人招致を重ねて求めた。

　この後質問に立った公明党の山本香苗氏は「今日は外交・安全保障などの集中審議だ。関係ないことを質問し、見識を疑う」と抗議した。

ZAKZAK 2009/03/19

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マクドナルド賃金訴訟：マクドナルドと和解、高野さん感慨　勝ち取った生活向上
　◇今も苦しむ店長たちの援護になれば

　「名ばかり管理職」が社会問題になるきっかけとなった裁判の和解が１８日、東京高裁で成立した。大手ハンバーガーチェーン「日本マクドナルド」店長の高野広志さん（４７）が残業代支払いなどを求めた訴訟の控訴審。「不当な扱いを改めてほしい」という主張が認められた高野さんは会見で「過労で亡くなった店長や苦しむ店長が今もたくさんおり、和解が援護になれば」と語った。【工藤哲】

　高野さんの店長昇格は９９年。人材育成やアルバイトのカバーで仕事が増え、朝５時半ごろから開店準備をし、午前１時ごろ帰宅する生活が続いた。２カ月間休めない時もあり、０４年１２月の残業は１３７時間に及んだが、会社から管理職扱いされ残業代は出なかった。

　手のしびれを感じ、医師から「脳梗塞（こうそく）の一歩手前」と診断されたこともある。息子に「僕たちが死んでも葬式に出られないね」と言われ、家族関係も崩壊寸前に。「店長は管理職だから長時間労働になっても自己責任」とする会社側の姿勢に理不尽さを感じ、０５年１２月に東京地裁に提訴した。

　残業代の支払いを命じた１審判決後の昨年８月からは、管理監督責任がないとみなされ、管理職手当を差し引かれる代わりに残業代が支払われるようになった。残業は以前より月１００時間以上減り、妻と買い物をしたり、洗濯を手伝う時間のゆとりもできた。

　和解では、訴訟を理由に降格や配転、減給はしないとの条項も盛り込まれ、納得のいく結果が得られた。「一労働者がグローバル企業にノーの声を上げ、権利を認めてもらえたことは大きな前進」。高野さんは約３年３カ月の訴訟を振り返った。

　高野さんは今後も店長として働くつもりだ。「事態が改善されたという店長もいれば、されていないという人もいる。同じような立場の人たちが不当な扱いを受けずに済むよう支援に取り組みたい」と決意を語った。

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

　■解説
　◇管理監督者扱い、安易には許さず

　日本マクドナルドの店長は「名ばかり管理職」かが争われた裁判の和解は、企業側による安易な管理監督者扱いを許さないことを明確にした点で意義が大きい。

　１審判決は従来の判決を踏襲したものだったが、影響は非常に大きかった。同社に限らず、チェーン展開する飲食店やコンビニエンスストアなど流通の現場では、店長を管理監督者扱いすることが横行していたからだ。

　名ばかり管理職が問題なのは、労働基準法の時間管理（１日８時間労働など）を外れ、いくら残業しても残業代が支払われないことだけではない。長時間労働が常態化することによる過労死や過労うつなどの健康被害が最も深刻な問題だ。高野さんが訴えた理由もここにあった。実際、あるファミリーレストランでは、店長が相次いで過労死している。

　厚生労働省は１審判決後、「管理職が直ちに管理監督者とはならない」と管理監督者の範囲の周知を徹底した。多くの企業も店長の管理監督者扱いを見直している。経済状況の悪化が進む中、厚労省や企業は、こうした違法行為を再度横行させてはならない。

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米国：同性愛擁護宣言、支持を発表…前政権方針を転換

　【ワシントン草野和彦】ウッド米国務省報道官代行は１８日、同性愛者に対する人権侵害を非難した国連総会宣言を支持すると発表した。昨年１２月、日本を含む６６カ国が宣言に署名したが、ブッシュ前政権は拒否。新たな政策転換となった。

　ロイター通信によると、前政権は同性婚などを巡る各州の法律に抵触する恐れがあるとして、署名をしなかった。報道官代行は同日、「宣言を支持することで米国に新たな義務は生じない」との判断を示した。

　宣言は同性愛を犯罪の対象としないことを求めるもので、イスラム諸国などが反対。欧州連合（ＥＵ）やオーストラリアなど主な西側諸国は署名していた。