A general view shows Iraq's largest oil refinery in the northern town of Baiji, Iraq.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, April 8--Iraq has oil reserves that are estimated at over 300 billion barrels, making the country the world leader in this sphere, the Iraqi oil minister was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying on Saturday.
In his interview with the Lebanese Al Mashrik newspaper, Hussain al-Shahristani did not specify, though, whether this figure referred to confirmed oil reserves or to a general estimate.
According to official data, Iraq’s confirmed oil reserves total about 112 billion barrels and the country has another 200 billion barrels in undiscovered reserves.
Saudi Arabia is considered the current global leader in confirmed oil reserves with 262 billion barrels, followed by Iraq (112 billion barrels) and Venezuela (about 80.8 billion barrels).
The Iraqi minister also said that his country could export up to 1.9 million barrels of oil per day, but the current unstable situation in Iraq, especially frequent terrorist acts at oil production and transportation facilities freeze the export level at 1.6 million bbl/d.
Iraq has invited 15 international oil companies to drill 50 new oil wells in southern oil fields which would increase the country’s output by 70,000 barrels a day, an Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.
“The Oil Ministry has instructed the South Oil Company to invite 15 specialized and well known international oil companies to take part in a tender to drill some 50 oil wells in Maysan province,“ the spokesman said in a statement, a copy of which obtained by Dow Jones Newswires.
The South Oil Company has set a period of two months to receive bids from these companies, he added.
The statement said that these new oil wells are located in the Fakka, Bazerkan, Abu Ghareb, Halfaya and Amarah oil fields.
The spokesman didn’t say how much drilling of these wells would cost the Iraqi government. But he said that the companies would drill them in return of certain amount of money and would deliver them to the South Oil Company in a matter of six to seven months after the start of work.
The spokesman said that the ministry is also intending to drill another 50 oil wells in Basra province in southern Iraq.

WASHINGTON, April 8--Asia may be the world’s fastest growing region and biggest market with booming regional trade and plentiful foreign reserves, but it is still far from being self reliant, AFP quoted experts as saying.
Some Asian pundits have argued that the potentially large spending power of the region of nearly four billion people may help it weather a US slowdown and soften the impact of a global downturn.
They cite rapidly growing China and India, the world’s two most populous nations, and the explosion of trade between China and other East Asian nations to support the view that Asia is decoupling from the global business cycle.
But new studies by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and private economists strongly challenge the theory.
“We find that contrary to what is generally perceived to be emerging wisdom in developing Asia, the relationship between Asia and the industrialized north has in fact increased“ since 1997, the ADB’s chief economist Ifzal Ali said at a forum in Washington.
“There is a school of thought emerging in Asia that there is an uncoupling of Asia from the industrial nations for two reasons,“ he said.
“Asia is growing so rapidly that it has more weight on the global system, and secondly, the rapid increase in regional trade is substitute for trade with the industrialized world,“ he said.
But he insisted ties between Asia and the “industrialized north“ have “increased since the 1997 crisis (rather) than decreased.“
Asian nations plunged into financial turmoil 10 years ago as their currencies rapidly depreciated against the US dollar, but they have bounced back through a variety of reforms underpinned by strong growth and more effective fiscal and monetary policies.
Even though intra-regional trade in Asia has since experienced booming growth, it comprised largely that of “intermediate“ goods shipped to China for final assembly, many of them destined for the industrialized West, Ali said.
Only about a fifth of Asian exports actually end up in Asia, he said--the rest end up in industrialized countries, mainly the United States, the European Union and Japan.
The IMF said that while the five largest emerging market economies now account for one quarter of global GDP, their role in global trade is only about one-seventh.
Ali said the ADB study found that it is globalization, technological change and competition that are fueling regional integration in Asia.

LONDON, April 8--A consortium of Middle Eastern investors and American buyout firms is preparing a $50 billion approach for Dow Chemical Co. in what could be the world’s biggest ever leveraged buyout, AP quoted a paper as saying on Sunday.
The Sunday Express said, quoting sources close to the deal, that a financing package has been put in place for a break-up bid of between $52 to $58 a share and an approach valuing the company at at least $50 billion could come by the end of this week.
At least half of the capital is being provided by investors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman, with the rest contributed by a number of US buyout firms including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, it said.

DUBAI, April 8--Dubai Pearl Exchange (DPE), an exclusive trading platform for pearls, is being set up by the DMCC.
According to Trade Arabia News Service, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) said it will further expand its precious commodities sector through the establishment of the DPE.
This initiative comes as part of DMCC’s objective to revive the UAE’s historical status as a leading destination for pearl diving and trading.
Set up under the auspices of the Diamonds and Colored Stones Division at DMCC, the pearl exchange will serve as a platform for pearl trading from across the globe, along with auction facilities for pearl traders.
“The pearl industry, which is valued at US$ 1 billion in rough form, has witnessed a significant recovery since 2005,“ said DMCC chief operating officer Ahmed bin Sulayem.
“Pearl prices have shown a continuous upward trend, despite a 23.6 per cent rise in world pearl production which touched 1,552 tons in 2005.
“Pearls are a major ingredient in jewellery with a highly elastic consumer price range from US$50 to US$50,000 per pearl grain.“
“The establishment of the Dubai Pearl Exchange enables DMCC to provide complete infrastructure for members to trade in all precious commodities,“ he added.
Tawfic Farah, executive director for Diamonds and Colored Stones, DMCC, said:
“While pearl-producing farms span Japan, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Tahiti, Australia and French Polynesia, the trade and auction of pearls is conducted primarily through Hong Kong.
“As one of the oldest professions, pearl diving has traditional importance in the UAE and the region, and DMCC is keen on rebuilding the pearl trade to attain its historical significance.“
He added, “Already a global centre for the gold and diamond trade, Dubai’s strategic location, superior industry-specific infrastructure, international standards and best practices, as well as upcoming projects in the pearl trade, provides traders with distinct advantages. The DPE will facilitate the pearl trade through a “one-stop shop“ structured, service-oriented platform, which will foster lasting professional business relationships with major players in the pearl, colored stones and diamond industry.
Members of Dubai Gems Club can trade either through the secured trading room facilities at the ISO certified Dubai Gem Certification or via the Internet with the joint venture Polygon DMCC, the jewellery industry’s largest web-based business-to-business facilitator. Created exclusively for the gems and jewellery industry, Polygon helps facilitate the connection between suppliers and buyers worldwide.

NEW DELHI, India, April 8--Aggressive anti-inflation moves by India’s central bank will slow scorching economic growth but are unlikely to result in a “hard landing,“ AFP cited economists as saying.
The Reserve Bank of India surprised markets late last month when it sharply tightened monetary policy, alarming industry which forecast a demand downturn and dismaying borrowers whose housing, car and other loan repayments jumped.
“They pressed on the brakes a bit hard, but there’s no indication that this is going to produce any kind of serious slowdown,“ said D.K. Joshi, economist at Indian rating agency Crisil, citing the economy’s core robustness.
“This year we are looking at growth of 7.9 percent to 8.4 percent down from 9.2 percent in the last year (to March 2007),“ he added.
India’s growth has been the second fastest in the world and pushed inflation to two-year highs, hurting the purchasing power of its poor masses.
Still, economists said the central bank must tread carefully in tightening further to combat inflation, now running at 6.39 percent, nearly a percentage point above the bank’s tolerance ceiling of 5.50 percent.
JPMorgan economist Rajeev Malik noted the cautionary example of monetary tightening in 1989 by the Bank of Japan “that burst the property bubble, pushing the economy flat on its back for the next several years.“
“The door to the infamous Hall of Fame of policy mistakes is wide open,“ said Malik, who called the latest moves by the bank “shock therapy.“
The bank lifted a key lending rate by 25 basis points to 7.75 percent--the highest in over four years. It also hiked the amount of cash commercial banks must hold on deposit by 50 points to 6.50 percent as it sought to suck out cash and curb rampant credit growth--its third such increase in four months.
The bank has been tightening steadily since late 2004 to subdue inflation.
Cutting prices has also become a priority for the Congress government after the rising cost of living was cited by analysts as key to its defeat in two state elections in February and its drubbing in New Delhi municipal elections on the weekend. Indian voters are notoriously price aware.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 7--South Africa’s plan to build a nuclear power plant has sparked interest among the world’s nuclear-power companies.
According to UPI, Johannesburg newspaper, The Independent, reported Saturday that major players from Russia, the United States and Europe have been making overtures to South Africa for a piece of the project.
South Africa announced last fall it planned to build a conventional nuclear plant; however, the project has been proceeding slowly.
The US company Westinghouse, which is owned by Japan’s Toshiba, has already formed an alliance with PBMR Pty Ltd. to develop so-called pebble bed reactor technology. Russia has struck a uranium-mining deal with South African companies.
Although worldwide the nuclear industry is thriving, South Africa’s program has come under criticism from environmentalists, who argue the cost of nuclear power coupled with the nation’s electric grid monopoly makes nukes a bad deal for the public.

HARARE, Zimbabwe, April 8--The economic chaos engulfing Zimbabwe has turned even a mundane task such as renting a car into an unachievable dream for the average law-abiding citizen, reported AP.
A car rental company on Saturday quoted a day rate of 690,000 Zimbabwe dollars to hire a basic model, plus a deposit of 25 million Zimbabwe dollars. This is the equivalent of a staggering US$2,760 (2,064 euros) per day--plus a deposit of US$100,000 (74,800 euros)--at the official exchange rate, but only US$35 (26 euros) and US$1,250 (934 euros) respectively on the black market.
The figures provide an insight into the growth of the black market economy in this once-prosperous southern African nation, which is now reeling under hyperinflation of more than 1,700 percent and suffering from shortages of most basic goods.
Most analysts predict inflation will soar even further this year.
The number of Zimbabwe dollars that bought a three-bedroom house with a swimming pool and tennis court in 1990 today--at official exchange rates--would buy a single brick. A lifetime public worker’s monthly pension cannot buy a loaf of bread.
The independent Consumer Council estimates regular supermarket goods increased in price by between 50 and 200 percent last month alone.
President Robert Mugabe blames sanctions, drought and former colonizer Britain for the collapse of an economy based on exports of agricultural and mineral products.
Others blame land grabs, in which Mugabe encouraged blacks to force out most of the 5,000 white commercial farmers who owned 40 percent of all agricultural land and produced 75 percent of agricultural output.
Zimbabwe’s main foreign currency earnings comes from an estimated 3.5 million of its nationals living abroad, replacing tobacco exports, tourism and mining revenues slashed in six years of political and economic turmoil.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 8--Traditionally a European champion when it comes to high taxes, Sweden has been getting a dose of economic liberalism over the past six months from its new conservative government.
In just a matter of weeks the new government of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has announced it is abolishing the property tax, and very symbolically, the wealth tax, reported AFP. The moves signal an easing of control by the state and a move away from the lavish welfare system which has been held up as a model of social democracy by a large part of Europe’s left-wing for decades.
“This is a step in a more liberal direction but it’s not a very big step, it’s not a very radical change,“ commented Stefan Lundgren, the director of the Swedish centre of political studies (SNS).
Under the plans the wealth tax, which was created in 1947, will be abolished this year while the formal abolition of the property tax will be presented later this year and be applied in January 2008.
“The goal of this government is in fact to have a smaller state,“ said Mats Knutson, a political analyst at Svt television station.
In 2005 obligatory tax payments accounted for 52.1 percent Sweden’s gross domestic product, according to the European Union’s Eurostat data agency.
Since its arrival in power the centre-right coalition has launched a series of reforms.
It started out in December by modifying the system of unemployment benefits, reducing benefits and increasing payments.
And in March the government proposed ending state participation in six companies, including Vin & Spirit, the owner of the famous vodka Absolut.