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Workers from Indonesias state utility firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) maintain a power plant station in Jakarta on Wednesday. Indonesia is looking into infrastructure and green bonds, a senior advisor to the government said on Thursday, as the biggest economy in Southeast Asia is in need of billions of dollars for the sectors development. Indonesia will need $140 billion over the next five years in infrastructure development ranging from paving roads and highways to providing more power and water supplies nationwide. – AFP

LONDON/BEIJING – Manufacturing in China, India and Russia powered ahead in August while growth slowed in European factories, emphasizing a growing divide in the pace of recovery between the rich and emerging worlds.

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JEDDAH – Retail gold demand volumes in Dubai and Abu Dhabi dipped by around 15 percent in August on the year, as the holy month of Ramadan led consumers to focus more on food purchases, traders said on Thursday.

“Ramadan is all about food and not about buying jewelry thats why we saw a dip of around 15 percent in August,” said a jewelry trader at Mansuk Jewellers in Dubais old gold souk.

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SANAA – Lawmakers drafted a bill to start a securities exchange authority in Yemen, hoping to speed up the opening of a bourse and encourage investment despite its sinking economy and severe security risks.

“For us to move out of the challenges we face, we need a lot of investment in the development of Yemen, whether its domestic or foreign…a strong stock market would help that,” Jalal Yaqoub, a spokesman for the minister of finance, said.

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JEDDAH – Petrochemicals sent Saudi Arabias stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) to a two-week high on Wednesday, rising 0.86 percent to 6,158.99 points, tracking rising oil prices. But volumes may be too low for these gains to signal the start of a more sustained rally.

Benchmark US crude oil futures for October rose $1.99, or about 2.8 percent to settle at $73.91 a barrel.

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DHAKA – Beximco, the largest private sector industrial conglomerate in Bangladesh, said it has set up a joint venture with a Saudi firm to invest nearly $1 billion for upgradation of Bangladeshs sole oil refinery.

“Beximco and Marasel Company of Saudi Arabia will jointly submit interest for funding an upgradation project of the Eastern Refinery Limited,” a statement from Beximco said.

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JEDDAH – A joint venture between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait plans to build gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) collection and distribution facilities at the Khafji oilfield, the company said.

Khafji, which is in the Neutral Zone between the two countries, has oil capacity of around 610,000 barrels per day.

Engineering firms have until Sept. 27 to submit their bids for the project, which is estimated to cost at least $50m, the Al-Khafji Joint Operations Company (KJO) said on its website. It did not provide further details about the project.

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TOKTOGUL, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyzstan launched a $200 million hydroelectric power station on Monday, its first since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in a move likely to intensify competition for Central Asias scarce water resources.

Acting President Roza Otunbayeva pressed a symbolic red button to start the first unit of the Karambata-2 hydro project. The project, funded partly by Russia, will allow Kyrgyzstan to generate more power but could divert water from its neighbors.

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JOHANNESBURG – South Africas largest union threatened on Friday to bring gold and platinum mining and other industries to a halt next week in a strike to support a stoppage by 1.3 million state workers.

The strike by state workers seeking pay raises more than double the inflation rate started last week and has led to school closures, prevented medical treatment and caused bodies to pile up at state-run morgues.

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LONDON – Britains economy grew at its fastest pace for nine years in the second quarter, an unexpected revision to official data showed on Friday, but economists said a sharp slowdown was still on the cards.

Strong construction activity caused the Office for National Statistics to boost its initial estimate of 1.1 percent GDP growth for the three months to June to 1.2 percent, against expectations for an unchanged reading.

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BAGHDAD – When Major General Hamid Ibrahim starts listing the challenges and shortcomings of his Iraqi oil protection police, he doesnt stop for over an hour.

Ibrahims force will be in the spotlight when the US military cuts its numbers to 50,000 on Aug. 31 and switches from a combat to advisory role.

It has already gone on alert after receiving intelligence over the weekend that Al-Qaeda planned to attack oil facilities.

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