Headlines

Kenya’s government will push for Kenyans in the top management of beleaguered Pan African Paper mills, the Daily Nation reported. According to Industrialisation ministry Permanent Secretary, John Lonyangapuo, this will form part of the revival plan intended for the Webuye-based company. Currently, the factory’s top managers are seconded by majority shareholder, Birla Group of India. Last week, the company succumbed to the weight of its debts as its operations were suspended leading to complaints from paper converters who said the decision would negatively affect their business.

European Union officials are concerned that the pound’s slide to a record low against the euro could destabilize the British economy, according to a document prepared last month by European Commission and EU finance ministry officials. The pound’s “very rapid” drop “raises questions about the financial stability of the British economy,” said the document, which was prepared ahead of the Feb. 14 Group of Seven meeting in Rome and obtained by Bloomberg News. The currency’s weakness “is a source of concern for the euro area.” The report contradicts Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s argument on Feb.

Irish police and fraud investigators raided the central Dublin offices of Anglo Irish Bank Corp. Tuesday, signaling an intensifying inquiry into the now-nationalized bank and more woes for Ireland's financial sector, The Wall Street Journal reported. Shares in Irish banks fell sharply Tuesday after about two dozen officials, including officers from the Irish police force's fraud bureau, entered the bank's offices at about 10 a.m. local time to search for computers and documents.

Japan's exports nearly halved in January from a year earlier, with record slides in shipments to the United States, Europe and the rest of Asia pointing to a deepening recession across much of the world, Reuters reported. Japanese car exports fell by two-thirds from a year earlier, accelerating from a 45 percent annual decline seen in December, as the value of overall exports hit a 10-year low. "We don't see any signs of a pick-up in the Japanese economy in the near term. The economy will gradually worsen further," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

Financial Secretary John Tsang predicted Wednesday the Hong Kong economy will contract by 2% to 3% this year, and he pledged to boost government spending to ease the pains of a deepening recession, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Tsang said in his annual budget address that Hong Kong's government will spend a total 301.6 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$38.66 billion) in the next fiscal year that starts April 1. That figure would be down from estimated spending of HK$317.8 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31. Critics have charged that Mr.

Vietnam is taking steps to spur its banks to lend more money and help reboot its swooning, export-dependent economy as consumer-price inflation eases, The Wall Street Journal reported. At the same time, a government-run bank will extend interest-free loans to companies in trouble and on the verge of cutting their staffs. Vietnam's central bank cut the required reserve ratio on dong-denominated bank deposits to 3% from 5%, affecting maturities of 12 months or less. The ratio was cut to 1% for some banks.

One of New Zealand’s main kitchen design, build and sale companies went in to receivership yesterday, The National Business Review reported. Kitchen House has a manufacturing facility in Mt Wellington that manufactures cabinets, bench tops and doors. The company also has seven wholly owned super stores, and a discount factory in Auckland and other North Island shopping areas. BDO Spicers Auckland announced Shaun Adams and Brian Mayo-Smith were appointed joint receivers and managers of the company on February 23.

The German state of Schleswig- Holstein faces bankruptcy, dragged down by the plight of public bank HSH Nordbank AG, Bild newspaper said, citing Rasmus Voege, vice president of the state’s ruling Christian Democratic Union. The state governments in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg are discussing plans today to provide the bank with €3 billion in capital and €10 billion in guarantees, Bild reported. Bild cited Wolfgang Kubicki, chairman of the Free Democratic parliamentary group, as saying that HSH Nordbank may need another €3 billion at the end of 2009.

Opel, the German subsidiary of US car maker General Motors, will require European state aid to survive, the head of its works council said Monday amid reports the firm could go under with the loss of 25,000 jobs, Agence France-Presse reported. There will not be a "isolated German solution for Opel," Klaus Franz told Deutschlandfunk radio. "If we find a solution, it will only be a European solution," he added. Opel needs more than €3.3 billion ($4.2 billion) to stay afloat, according to media reports, as auto sales have slumped around the world, especially in Europe.

Denmark seized control of Fionia Bank A/S Monday by injecting about one billion Danish kroner, or about $172 million, in a deal that will take away shareholder control and split the bank into two parts until a sale can be realized, The Wall Street Journal reported. "This is not liquidation, but a strengthening of our ability to operate the bank," Fionia Chief Executive Jorgen Bast said. Fionia, a regional bank in Denmark's Funen and Triangle region of Jutland with more than 90,000 customers, was hit by mounting losses on bad loans to property developers.