Oil prices increase

SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose on Monday in Asian trading amid lingering concerns about unrest in Nigeria and the possibility of UN sanctions against Iran. Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose to $60.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Petrol increased to $1.6925 a gallon (3.8 liters). Brent crude for April traded at $61.05 a barrel. On Friday, oil prices settled at $59.96 a barrel, the lowest settlement price since February 17. — AP

P’pines debt at $75.9b

MANILA: The Philippine government’s outstanding debt reached $75.9 billion at the end of last year, up by two per cent from end-2004. Manila’s debt-to-GDP ratio dropped to 72 per cent at the end of 2005 from the 2004 level of 79 per cent. This was the result of lower borrowings of the national government because of the decline in the fiscal deficit. — AFP

Japan’s growth revised

Tokyo: Japan’s strong economic growth was revised down a notch for the fourth quarter of 2005 while the current account surplus shrank for the first month in five in January. The world’s second-largest economy grew by 1.3 per cent in the three months to December and at a 5.4 per cent annualised rate. The government had originally estimated 1.4 per cent growth in GDP on an annualised basis. — AFP

Industrial output dips

ROME: Italy’s industrial production declined by 0.3 per cent in January from the December figure but rose by 4.1 per cent on a 12-month comparison. Output rose by 1.2 per cent in December compared with November. Analysts had foreseen no change in the monthly production figure in January and a rise of three per cent from January 2005. — AFP

Ericsson gadgets

STOCKHOLM: Swedish telecom LM Ericsson has been selected as the main equipment supplier for Japanese broadband operator eAccess Ltd’s third-generation mobile phone network. The value of the deal was not announced, but analysts said the order was probably worth $600 million to $1.5 billion. eMobile, a subsidiary of eAccess, plans to begin offering its services in March 2007. — AP

More traffic in Cathay

HONG KONG: Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Hong Kong’s biggest airline, said Monday it carried 9.1 per cent more passengers in February than it did in the same month last year, boosted by strong demand to Europe and North America. Cathay carried 1.26 million passengers in February. — AP

Ojha Seoul-bound

KATHMANDU: Badri Prasad Ojha, director general at Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), left for Seoul today to participate in a regional conference on Asia Region Small and Medium Industry Technology Transfer. Asia Pacific Centre for Technology Transfer has recently introduced two web sites named technology4sme.net and Business-asia.net for promoting technology transfer, states a press release issued by FNCCI. — HNS

Tourists visit Manang

LUMJUNG: Number of tourists visiting Manang via Lumjung headquarter has been increasing in recent times. Over a hundred foreign tourists entered Manang through Lumjung route last week while the number reached 304 in past two months. A total of 103 tourists visited Manang last year. More Israeli and Australian tourists are visiting Manang. — HNS

Private investment

MOSCOW: Russia should increase the share of private investment in the energy sphere, a top US trade official said. David Sampson, deputy commerce secretary told a Russian energy conference of the “vast potential for commercial cooperation” and said in particular that Russia’s OAO Gazprom natural gas monopoly should speed up its cooperation with US companies on the giant Shtokman gas field in the Barents Sea - Gazprom’s first liquefied

natural gas project. — AP

EU protectionism

BRUSSELS: The EU’s current Austrian presidency warned that the threat of protectionism was knocking on Europe’s door and would cause higher prices and lower growth if not resisted. “A threat is knocking on the door with the name of protectionism,” said Austrian finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser on the sidelines of a conference at the think-tank Lisbon Council, “It is a danger for the EU. Free movement of capital is not only one of our principles but also one of our strengths.” — AFP