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MANILA, Philippines — The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) rose slightly to $36.7 billion in April from $36.6 billion in the preceding month, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Foreign exchange inflows consisted mostly of the bank’s gains from foreign exchange operations, its income from investments abroad, as well as the government’s deposit of proceeds from a loan from the Asian Development Bank, the central bank said.

The latest GIR level covers 6.2 months of imports of goods and payments of services and income, central bank said.

The GIR reserves for April are equivalent to 5.2 times the country’s short-term external debt, based on original maturity, and 3.4 times based on residual maturity.

The central bank aims to boost the GIR level, including its holdings of gold and other foreign currencies, to a range of from $35 billion to $37 billion by the end of 2008.

($1 = P42.35)

Sources : Business

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More than 1 billion kina ($A400 million) has gone missing from Papua New Guinea’s finance department over the past 10 years.

The revelation by PNG’s Auditor General came alongside a warning that accounting and reporting systems in all government departments had collapsed.

Australia - which is PNG’s largest aid donor - had six senior bureaucrats and other advisors in the country’s finance department during the time the billion kina went missing. Read More

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In her new book, Business Nightmares, former Dragons’ Den star Rachel Elnaugh talks to some of Britain’s leading entrepreneurs about their setbacks – and discusses the collapse of her own Red Letter Days. In this extract, she looks at how to overcome disaster

After Emma Harrison left university, her father invited her into his small Sheffield training business to give her work experience. Only 18 days later he told her she’d got the hang of it, and promptly disappeared to Germany leaving her in charge. Read More

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The euro continued to drop while the pound rallied, as investors reconsider their forecasts for interest rates in the euro zone and United Kingdom.

Softer economic data from the euro zone — with the German Ifo indicator falling unexpectedly on Thursday and M3 money supply easing to an annual rate of 10.3 percent in March — has cast doubt on the ability of the region to ‘de-couple’ from the U.S. recession and global financial crisis. Read More

Written by Terri Belkas, Currency Analyst

Normally, the release of US Non-farm Payrolls takes center stage in the forex markets, as the figure tends to spark significant volatility and can shape interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve. However, Wednesday’s FOMC rate decision may steal the limelight, as futures are currently pricing in an 82% chance of a 25bp cut to 2.00% and an 18% chance that the Fed will leave rates unchanged.

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TAMPA — Two well-known Tampa Bay entrepreneurs have spearheaded the formation of a local chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a group designed to allow members to draw on the collective resources and expertise of kindred spirits in the business world.

Along with other players in the local business community, Kevin Harrington, CEO of Reliant International Media LLC, and Greg Stemm, co-founder of Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. (Nasdaq: OMEX), have started to actively recruit for the organization and say they plan to have the chapter up and running by the summer.

Roughly 75 people attended an invitation-only party to promote the launch of the chapter at Harrington’s spacious waterfront estate in St. Petersburg on April 10. Local celebrity boxer Ronald “Winky” Wright, who owns independent record label Pound 4 Pound Records Inc. and is involved with other Bay area entrepreneurial ventures, put in an appearance along with some other heavyweights in the local business community.

Since the launch, there have been preliminary talks about appointing a president and board of directors for the chapter. Once 20 people join the organization, it would have the critical mass needed to get off the ground, Harrington said.

Sources: David Guidi

PARIS (KUNA): The French Senate, or upper house of parliament, announced here Thursday that it is organizing two round table discussions May 14 to examine the role France can play in attracting Islamic funds and the opportunities opening up to work with Islamic funds on international finance markets. The sessions will be presided over by the Senates Finance Commission president Jean Arthuis and will include participants from a variety of financial and investment bodies. The first round table will examine “the integration of Islamic finance in the global financial system” and seek to determine the challenges for France in this area, the Senate said in a statement. According to the statement, Islamic funds are now valued at around 700 billion dollars and have a “recognized growth potential” but these funds remain centred in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where they continue to grow. Read More

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THE corporate regulator is preparing a crackdown on the $400billion-plus property finance sector in an attempt to curb a spate of collapses in the high-risk market dominated by mum and dad investors.

The move follows the release yesterday by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission of a report into its investigation of 94 unlisted companies operating in the $8 billion property “debenture” finance industry. Read More

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The euro retreated from a record high versus the dollar on Wednesday after a fall in manufacturing activity suggested that euro zone is starting to feel the pinch of a global slowdown and a strong currency.

Investors also sold the euro after a European Central Bank official toned down his hawkish comments, cooling speculation that the ECB’s next move on interest rates may be a rise, rather than a cut.

The RBC/NTC Eurozone Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing dropped to 50.8 in April, its lowest in nearly three years. German manufacturing activity also fell, although both German and euro zone readings for the service economy rose. [ID:nL23902285]

“Manufacturing has dropped quite a bit and that has been the driver of growth in Germany … the euro is off a touch on it,” said David Pais, currency strategist at Citigroup. Read More

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The Stock Exchange appears to have taken a step back on its battle with listed finance companies to make certain information public.

Last Friday NZX asked all its listed finance companies, or listed companies with significant finance arms, to provide “material” information about the state of their finances.

It wanted monthly updates on several matters including: the reinvestment rate of investors for the month to date; the debt being serviced for the month to date; the anticipated income for the following month. Read More