Rodrigo Rato

Madrid, Spain, Sept. 27-- The world economy is in its best shape for five years, International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Rodrigo Rato has said, BBC reported.
However the US budget deficit and sluggish European growth pose problems, he told Spain's El Pais newspaper.
Rato is Spain's former finance minister and became new managing director of the IMF in May.
He called on the European Union, US, and Japan to widen access to their markets and increase the money they put aside to fund development.
On Thursday the IMF releases its half-yearly World Economic Outlook. And on Saturday its two-day official meeting is scheduled to start in Washington.
"The world economy is in its best moment of the last five years, but the US budget and trade deficit and low European growth are problems, and variations in energy prices are a risk," he told the daily paper.
Funded by 184 member countries, the IMF gives advice and lends money to bring about economic reform.
Rato also indicated that the IMF, known for trying to keep developing economies in line, would in future speak out about policies in the world's richest nations if they posed global economic risks.
"The United States, the European Union and Japan have the great responsibility of putting their own house in order, widening access to their markets and increasing their aid to development," he said in the interview.
Poorer nations have claimed that when they try to export their goods to the West, they are vying against subsidized agro-businesses and protectionist measures.
Rato, who is widely credited with turning around Spain's economy, joined the IMF after Spain's conservative government lost the general election in the spring.

About 89 percent of China's medium- to large-sized garment manufacturers have either increased or intend to increase capacity.

MANILA, Philippines, Sept. 27--Nearly 90 percent of Chinas garment manufacturers intend to increase capacity when garment and textile quotas are abolished from January 1 next year, according to the findings of a survey by trade sourcing group Global Sources, AFP reported.
The survey, which is to be released next week, will show 89 percent of China's medium- to large-sized garment manufacturers have either increased or intend to increase capacity to meet the expected upturn in orders when the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) ends.
Michael Kleist, general manager for content development at Global Sources, said, "Much of our business is based on market intelligence and we were particularly interested in how Chinas garment manufacturers were positioning themselves when the quota system ends.
"We found 89 percent of the manufacturers we surveyed had either increased or were about to increase their capacity," Kleist told AFP in an interview in Global Sources Manila offices.
The survey covered 205 garment manufacturers in 15 Chinese provinces with total summer 2004 garment sales estimated at $1.45 billion.
The Nasdaq listed, Hong Kong-based company is one of the world's leading business-to-business media organizations which services more than 400,000 buyers in over 230 countries.
The survey found manufacturers were either building new factories or moving to new factories, and extending existing factory space or upgrading equipment. All of them said they would be hiring more staff.
Kleist said some of the bigger companies have been told by their foreign buyers to expect an increase in orders of between 10 and 15 percent next year.
World trade in textiles and garments has been governed by the MFA since 1974, with it was negotiated by the major trade powers to regulate quotas and market access with the professed aim of avoiding market distortions.
Under World Trade Organization (WTO) oversight, the MFA is to be dropped from next year, allowing free trade in the industry.

DUBAI, UAE, Sept. 27--Iraq is drawing up plans to involve the private sector and foreign oil majors in its state-run oil industry in order to generate funds for rehabilitation and expansion in the sector estimated at $50 billion over 10 years, AFP quoted an Iraqi oil expert as saying on Sunday.
The government alone cannot come up with enough money to restore the oil industry, "the power house of the Iraqi economy," which has been left run down by successive wars and years of UN economic sanctions, Sabah Jumah, a former oil ministry director-general, told a conference on the Iraqi oil sector here.
A revived state-owned Iraq National Oil Company (INOC)--a body abolished in 1987 by ousted president Saddam Hussein--would have "full ownership and control of its existing producing assets", said Jumah who now runs an oil consultancy in Baghdad.
"Ownership of the key pipeline network for both oil and gas, including export terminals, will (also) remain in state hands for the foreseeable future," he said.
But the private sector will play the big part in "new activity, exploration, development of undeveloped fields, major refinery refurbishment, new refinery construction and petrochemicals ... Joint ventures between International Oil Companies (IOCs) and Iraqi private sector companies will be encouraged."
Jumah said this was how the Iraqi petroleum industry was shaping up, according to published plans by the oil ministry and guidelines recently given by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to the newly formed Supreme Council for Oil Policy.
The council is in the process of finalizing a new policy which will be submitted to the cabinet for approval, he said.
Issam Chalabi, who had just taken over as oil minister when INOC was dismantled, said the company "did a great job" from the time it began operating in 1968 as a result of its financial independence and the powers it enjoyed. There was no point resurrecting it unless it enjoyed similar independence, he said.
Saadalla al-Fathi, an oil consultant and one of the panelists, said Iraqis should primarily rely on themselves to rehabilitate the oil industry, as they had done in the past, given that waiting for external aid had resulted in "nothing being done." But he said other countries could help by offering Iraqis education and training.

Deutsche Bank is Germany's biggest banking institution.

Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 27--Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, is being investigated on suspicion it may have manipulated its balance sheet, BBC reported.
The investigation is in connection to a long-running legal dispute with the now-defunct Kirch media group.
Deutsche Bank is alleged not to have set aside provisions to cover damages and compensation that a court ordered it to pay to Kirch in 2003.
Kirch imploded in 2002 shortly after Deutsche's former boss questioned its creditworthiness in a TV interview.
A probe had been launched against "Deutsche Bank officials", a spokesman for state prosecutors said, without providing any further details.
Back in December 2003, a court in Munich ruled that Deutsche Bank's then chairman Rolf Breuer had violated his duty of client confidentiality by publicly questioning Kirch Group's creditworthiness on television in 2002.
The court ordered Deutsche Bank to pay unspecified compensation to Kirch.
Shortly after Breuer's remarks, banks began to refuse to lend Kirch any more money and Kirch Media, the main pillar of the Kirch Group, filed for insolvency in April 2002.
Deutsche Bank was not immediately available for comment on Monday morning.

LONDON, Sept. 27--The United Kingdom has exported to "at least 11 countries" blood products at risk of contamination with the prion responsible for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human form of mad cow disease, The Times reported Monday, AFP reported.
The blood plasma products resulted from donations by nine people who later died of the incurable disease.
The countries, in order of the number of samples sent, are Singapore (3 samples), Russia (23), Oman (100), Morocco (100), Egypt (144), the sultanate of Brunei (400), Turkey (840), India (953), Dubai (2,400), Brazil (44,864) and Ireland (83,500).
Five of these countries were warned by Britain's sanitary services, The Times said, but the daily did not know which.
Last week letters went out to 6,000 patients in Britain, most of them haemophiliacs, who may have been exposed to vCJD through blood plasma products.
According to health ministry figures, 141 people are known to have died in Britain from vCJD, a spongy deterioration of the brain causing personality change, loss of body function, and eventually death.
Cases of the disease peaked in 2000, when 28 deaths were reported. Since then the trend has been generally downward, with 17 cases in 2002 and 18 last year.
In May government-funded scientists estimated 3,800 people in Britain could be harboring the human form of mad cow disease without knowing it.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Sept. 27--Floods in July and August caused $2.2 billion in damage in Bangladesh and could prevent the economy from achieving the government's growth target this fiscal year, the country's two key donors said, Reuters reported.
The assessment by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in a joint statement late on Sunday, was considerably lower than the government's estimate that the floods--the worst in 15 years--had caused $7 billion in damage.
Around 1,000 people died and millions were made homeless in the annual flooding.
Bangladesh was hit by a third wave of flooding earlier this month and another deluge is currently sweeping southwestern districts, government officials said.
"The loss estimates by the ADB and World Bank were partial...they did not include the latest flooding," Finance Secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan said.
The World Bank's country director Christine Wallich told reporters on Sunday "funding for post-flood rehabilitation would not be a problem but the donors would want efficient implementation of projects."
She also said a final assessment of the flood impact would be completed by the middle of October.
The ADB and World Bank said the flooding might prevent Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) from achieving the government's six-percent growth target for the fiscal year through July 2005.
"Preliminary analysis shows that, because of the flood, FYO5 GDP growth could be about 0.5 percentage points lower than the 5.5 percent growth achieved in FY04," the statement said.
Finance Minister M. Saifur Rahman forecast in June when announcing the national budget that Bangladesh's economy would grow six percent or more in the current fiscal year.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept. 27--OPEC is capable of increasing oil output levels by a further 1.5 million barrels per day to help ease pressure on the market but new supplies may not lower prices, AFP quoted the organization's president as saying on Monday.
Purnomo Yusgiantoro said despite having already made the "psychological move" of increasing output by one million barrels per day (bpd) "prices did not budge" but OPEC would consider bringing more supplies on line.
His comments came after crude oil futures jumped to a record high, with the November contract for light sweet crude spiking to $48.88 a barrel at closing on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday.
The renewed upturn in prices follows fears over supplies as Russian energy giant Yukos continues to struggle with financial troubles and US oil firms in the Gulf of Mexico pick up the pieces after the devastating hurricane Ivan.
"OPEC can still raise supply ... we still have a spare capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day until the end of the year," Yusgiantoro said here.
He added that any raise will still have to be discussed by the group.
OPEC declared in Vienna on September 15 it was raising its official production ceiling by one million barrels to 27 million bpd from November 1, but the decision left markets unmoved and has failed to bring down prices.
Yusgiantoro said current world oil supplies were more than enough to meet demand and high oil prices were based on "non-fundamental" factors.

HAVANA, Cuba, Sept. 27--Cuba and Venezuela will increase their already significant economic and social cooperation, which has provided discounted oil to Cubans and free medical care to Venezuelans, Cuban media said on Sunday, Reuters reported.
"There are many plans and ideas under way, and many possibilities to develop," Cuban President Fidel Castro was quoted as he closed a three-day planning meeting between the two countries.
Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez and Cuban Foreign Investment and Cooperation Minister Marta Lomas presided over the closed-door Havana gathering of 280 specialists and officials from both countries.
The state-run daily Juventud Rebelde said 116 projects in 15 sectors were being worked on, but gave few details except that they included Cuban exports of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.
The meeting came just a month after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won a referendum on his rule.
Chavez has promised to deepen his self-proclaimed revolution that aims to bring health, literacy and job training projects to the poor of the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
More than 20,000 Cuban doctors, other health workers, teachers and sports experts are working in Venezuela on his projects.
Cuba in turn receives oil with preferential financing under a five-year cooperation agreement signed in 2000.

MIAMI, USA, Sept. 27--Florida faces losses of some $25 billion due to damage caused by four hurricanes over the past six weeks, according to the Newark, California-based Risk Management Solutions, AFP reported.
Losses from Hurricane Jeanne alone will be between four and eight billion, according to the company, based on "an assessment of the hurricanes characteristics at the time of landfall and its projected path."
Jeanne brings "the state's cumulative insured losses to as much as $25 billion," the company said in a statement, adding that they estimate "that this aggregate loss level would occur on average once every 25- 40 years in Florida."
The calculation includes losses to insured property, but not damage to infrastructure like highways and bridges, losses to agriculture, flooding or minor damage.
A fifth storm landfalling in Florida "would be extremely rare, expected to occur only once every few thousand years," the company said.
The high cost for Jeanne "reflects the added uncertainty in damage accumulations likely at many locations."
Charley, which hit Florida in August, left insured losses of between six and eight billion dollars, while Frances--like Ivan that followed--left losses of between three and six billion dollars.