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Emerging Market Briefs By
Scott B. MacDonald
 Hong Kong: Hong Kong's unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.2 percent in the three months ending February on improved job prospects in the restaurant and finance sectors, officials said Thursday. Economists had expected the jobless rate to be 7.1 percent for the period until Feb. 29, compared to 7.3 percent in the November-January period. Unemployment declined across a wide variety of business sectors, including financing, insurance, restaurants, communications and recreational services, the government said. It said total employment grew by 9,500, to 3.25 million during the period. Hong Kong is continuing its recovery from the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis, which devastated the economy by keeping tourists away, pushing joblessness to a record 8.7 percent in May-July last year.  Indonesia – the Cost of Illegal Logging: There are always trade offs between activities in the legal and black market economies. In Indonesia a heavy price is being paid for illegal logging, as legally established firms are suffering. Around 70 per cent or 322 of 460 companies operating in the upstream sector of the timber processing industry in the country have collapsed over the past few years mainly as a result of rampant illegal logging. There are many factors but illegal logging was the main culprit causing the bankruptcy of the companies said Agung Nugraha, deputy secretary of the Indonesian association of forestry companies (APKI). Rampant illegal logging a caused big shortage in the supply of log raw material for the country's plywood, sawn timber and pulp factories, Nugraha said. He said the industries need around 20 million cubic meters of logs a year and supply from natural forests is much less than 10 million m3. He said illegal logging has caused damage to 43 million hectares of natural forests in the country reducing the country's tropical forests from 153 million hectares to 98 million hectares over the past year. Malaysia – The
March 29th Elections: On March 29th, Malaysia
voters went to the polls to elect a new government.
As was the case over the last several decades, the
ruling multi-ethnic coalition, the Barison Nasional
or BN, won handily, reasserting the dominant role of
the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) within
the majority Malay community. The BN captured 198 of
the 210 (90%) seats in the federal parliament or 64.4%
of all votes cast (up from 56.6% in 1999 and just below
the 65% it scored in 1995). This was decidedly good
news for the standing Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi,
who had earlier assumed the leadership role from longstanding
Prime Minister Mohammad Mahathir. Despite considerable
speculation as the strength of the Islamic issue in
swaying voters to opt to non-BN parties, Badawi marked
his first outing as national leader with a sweeping
victory, which should provide him the opportunity to
further put his own personal stamp on the direction
of the country.
Pakistan – Foreign
Exchange Down: Pakistan's foreign exchange
reserves slipped slightly to $12.560 billion in the
week to March 13, down $5 million from the previous
week, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Thursday.
The central bank gave no reason for the fall, but
bankers said the slide was mainly due to quarter-end
repayments of foreign debt. The central bank said
its direct holdings were $10.764 billion and those
of commercial banks were $1.796 billion. The central
bank changed the method it uses to calculate foreign
reserves in 2002. It now monitors the total liquid
foreign reserves, including previously undisclosed
foreign exchange deposits by banks. 
Philippines – Less Money in Reserve: The Philippines' gross international reserves are expected to fall to $15 billion at the end of this year from $16.9 billion as of end 2003, the central bank said on Thursday. The central bank uses the reserves to intervene "from time to time" to support the weak peso, but "we will not use up our gross international reserves to defend an unrealistic FX rate", Governor Rafael Buenaventura told Reuters on Wednesday. The international reserves comprise the foreign currency holdings of the central bank, including gold and International Monetary Fund special drawing rights. Turkey – A Little Less Change in the Pocket: Turkey's central bank foreign currency reserves fell $946 million to $31.853 billion in the week ending on March 12. Gold reserves were unchanged at 1.558 billion. Turkey's total gross reserves on February 27, the latest available data, were $47.126 billion, of which $12.187 billion was with private institutions, including commercial banks. The central bank held the rest.
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