Samoa satellite

Trade Winds

Samoa satellite link advanced

WESTERN Samoa is to get a more advanced satellite link under a

regional telecommunication project fi

nanced by the European Community.

The country gets the lion share of the project: US$3.3 million.

Solomon Islands will receive U 55937,000, Tonga US$9ll,OOO and Kiribati U 55334,000.

Ministers oppose brewery GOVERNMENT plans to encourage the construction of a brewery in Ameri can Samoa have as in other South Pacific countries met with church opposition. Ministers have testified to the territory’s House of Representatives that a brewery would encourage beer con sumption and strain family life in American Samoa. The House hearing was called to hear evidence on whether the brewery should be granted a tax exemption for the initial five-year period.

Company law to be revised TUVALU’S Finance and Commerce Minister Alesana Kleis Seluka has an nounced that the Government is revising the country’s company legislation to attract local and foreign investors. The administration wants to see the private

sector expand to help increase employ

ment. The Government will especially favour joint ventures between Tuvalu and foreign companies.

It has also decided to upgrade the Business Development Advisory Bureau to full development bank status.

Fisheries training scheme TWO fishermen from each island are to be offered places in a United Nations

Development Programme training

scheme just finalised with the Govern ment on Funafuti. The UN agency is also arranging for a master boatbuilder to spend three months in Tuvalu working with the country’s boat industry.

Copra bounty increased

BOUNTIES paid to copra growers rose from KBB per tonne to K9O per tonne in February, but the Papua New Guinea Copra Marketing Board gave no expla nation why this decision had been taken.

The bounty was dropped from Kll5 a tonne in December with the Govern ment’s downward adjustments of assist

ance to copra producers. The board is also encouraging producers on Buka Island to resume shipments to Rabaul now the Bouganville rebellion has ended.

Inflation hits new high INFLATION in Tonga hit 13.9 per cent in November, according to figures re leased by the Statics Department. Trans portation prices rose 4.1 per cent (which probably reflects increased fuel prices associated with the invasion of Kuwait three months previously), while house hold goods rose 2.1 per cent and footwear by 1.8 per cent.

New rice strain A NEW strain of rice which can yield up to 5 tonnes per hectare and matures in 130 days has been developed by the Fiji Primary Industries and Co-operatives Ministry. The new variety, named Nuinui, is suited to wetland farming, and even those dryland areas with high levels of soil moisture. It was developed under a 10 year research programme.

TAB on Panguna RE-OPENING the Panguna copper mine on Bouganville Island could cost up to K 350 million (US$357 million), according to its owner Bouganville Mining Ltd (BCL). But this is only an estimate. The company has no firm idea of just how much damage has been done

to the buildings and plant either by the Bouganville rebels or the elements.

BCL reported a loss for the year to December 31 of K 34.1 million, although the company said there may have no further write-downs in the future.

Bank hires consultants THE National Bank of Fiji has engaged consultants to help prepare it for corporatisation, which means that it will operate as a semi-independent organis ation required to operate profitably. The bank wants the consultants to devise a capital and salary structure, and also plan manpower needs and lending pol icy. The National Marketing Authority and Fiji Broadcasting Commission are also to be corporatised.

Bank’s profit up again

THE National Bank of Solomon Islands has declared an after-tax profit for 1990 of SIS 1.5 million (U 55599,000), an increase of nearly 16 per cent on the previous year. Foreign exchange turn over increased by 12.5 per cent and contributed strongly to the bank’s overall result. During the year NBSI joined an international global payments system for the issue of drafts. The bank, as a result of its expansionary policy in recent years, now has three branches in Honiara, and offices at Auki, Gizo, Noro and Kirakira as well as 48 agencies and its floating bank, the vessel MV NBSI. □