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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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BANGALORE/NEW YORK – Rowan Cos Inc signed contracts with Saudi Aramco for two of its Gulf of Mexico-based rigs for higher dayrates, on track with its plans to move those rigs overseas, sending its shares up 9 percent.

In July, the offshore rig contractor said it was in talks to move two high-end shallow-water rigs out of the Gulf of Mexico due to demand elsewhere.

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BRUSSELS – The European Union began to disburse on Thursday 264 million euros in aid to help 19 of the most vulnerable African, Caribbean and Pacific countries cope with the global economic crisis.

The funding is the second part of a 500-million-euro ($640 million) program launched last year to help countries “most affected by the crisis due to their poor resilience to external shocks,” the European Commission said. The EUs executive arm approved 14 million euros for Burkina Faso and 3.5 million euros for Grenada on Thursday.

Allocations for the other 17 countries will be made later this year – Antigua & Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tonga, Tuvalu and Zimbabwe. Developing countries continue to face important difficulties. – AFP

BRASILIA – Brazils state-controlled oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA has agreed to pay the federal government $42.5 billion in stock to acquire five billion barrels of deepwater reserves, a controversial price because investors say it is more than the oil is actually worth.

Shares of Petrobras, as the company is known, have crumbled this year on investor expectations the oil company would come under government pressure to pay above market price for oil reserves it is acquiring under a recapitalization plan. Petrobras also plans to sell new shares to the public to raise an additional $25 billion in cash under the plan.

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CHICAGO – Burger King Holdings Inc., Americas perennially No. 2 hamburger chain, said Thursday that it is selling itself to little-known private equity firm 3G Capital in a deal valued at $3.26 billion.

Its shares soared to an 18-month high.

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JEDDAH – The Middle East has more than double the interest and double the ownership of 3D TVs than anywhere else in the world, a recent Nielsen report said.

In a specially designed index, Saudi Arabia recorded a higher score than any other country, with the UAE coming in at tenth place out of 52 nations.

The results were divided into markets made up of: Middle East, Africa, and Pakistan; Latin America; Asia Pacific; North America; and Europe. The online “How We Watch” survey took into account the responses from 27,665 participants aged 15 years and upwards. The highest 3D ownership or definite interest in ownership was among 25-29 year olds.

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MADINA – The police arrested an African man on Sunday night with $50,000 in counterfeit United States currency hidden away in secret compartments of a bag in his room at a five-star hotel in the Central Area.
A security source said that the arrest came after a Nigerian man started behaving suspiciously near the hotel.
Initially the security officers thought the man was a pickpocket because he was nervous and seemed to avoid contact with the police. When he was stopped and searched he was found in possession of $1,500. He was then referred to the anti-forgery section. The dollar bills were checked and turned out to be forged.
He was immediately taken to his residence at one of the hotels in the Central Area.
At first he claimed he did not know where he was staying, but he finally gave in and took the security men to his hotel room.
The security officers searched his room and found over $50,000 in counterfeit bills hidden away in secret compartments in his bag.
Preliminary investigations showed that the forger wanted to sell the counterfeit dollar bills to Umrah pilgrims and visitors.
The forger was subsequently handed over to the authorities for further investigation and to determine whether he has accomplices. – Okaz/SG

JEDDAH – Advertising expenditure in the first six months of this year increased by 23.6 percent to reach $3.77 billion compared to $3.05 billion for the same period last year.

The Pan Arab media share, mainly satellite TV, saored 24 percent to $1.57 billion, Pan Arab Research Centre (PARC) said.

According to Arabian PR managing director Walid Karanouh, based on recent industry report, Saudi Arabia is one of the major advertising and PR markets in the Gulf region. The GCC media share was $1.7 billion for newspapers and $1.6 billion for TV, he added, citing the report.

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