<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The Caracas (Simon Bolivar) international airport at Maiquetia authority (Iaaim) has laid off 90 workers as a reaction to tax and other income losses incurred during the December-January national stoppage. 

Iaaim director Captain (ret.) Jose Vielma Mora says the company lost more than 14 billion bolivares in Q1 and argues that there is no other solution but to dismiss workers. 

• The 90 workers are not on the permanent payroll and their contract has already expired . 

Over the last two years, 426  persons were given contract jobs at the airport in operations, public relations, protocol, security, maintenance and marketing.  The first 30 layoffs took place last week and included 14 security agents. 

Vielma Mora says he knows the dismissals will hit an already suffering Vargas State but adds that he hopes to recover taxes and normal income by the end of April.

Miami Today News By Paola Iuspa

   While some financial institutions have stopped financing Argentine-bound exports, others are being creative to provide financing for Venezuelan-bound products.    Making loans to US exporters doing business with Argentina and Venezuela is being considered too risky because of those countries' continued economic and political turmoil during the past two years.    Argentina fell out of grace more than a year ago when it defaulted its foreign debt amidst a fiscal crisis that sent more than half of its population to below-poverty levels and government instability. Governed by a populist president, Venezuela's economy has been a victim of a series of national strikes, government opposition and new currency regulations limiting the access of US dollars to the country.    Carlos Milian, president and CEO of ImportCard Financial, a subsidiary of Hemisphere National Bank in Miami, said his firm three months ago stopped export-loan programs for Venezuelan customers.    "We were lucky," he said. "All of our Venezuelan customers paid us. We did not incur any loss."    His company was not so lucky in Argentina, he said, where at least three clients defaulted on loans.    "The climate there became worse," said Mr. Milian. "We had to pull out in 2001."    With about 95 exporters as customers, ImportCard provides 60-day credit lines to assist small- and mid-size companies.    Mr. Milian said the Export-Import Bank of the United States, or Ex-Im Bank, guarantees many of the loan programs available for other Latin American countries. But the Ex-Im bank is no longer operating in Argentina and Venezuela, reeling from double-digit negative growth, according to the bank.    "We are monitoring the situation in Argentina and Venezuela," said Jeffrey Miller, senior vice president for Ex-Im Bank's Export Finance division. "As soon as we see some changes, we will restart our programs."    While the Ex-Im Bank is closed for routine trade finance transactions, it will consider structured finance arrangements such as Ex-Im Bank's project finance program, asset-based aircraft leases and other financing that offers a reasonable assurance of repayment, including reliable access to adequate foreign exchange, Mr. Miller told a group of Miami entrepreneurs this year.    Ex-Im Bank's job is to finance exports, even in difficult times and difficult markets, to enable creditworthy national governments, municipalities and private-sector borrowers in emerging markets to buy goods and services from US exporters, according to the bank. Ex-Im Bank last year authorized more than $3 billion in financing for Latin America and the Caribbean last year.    Mr. Miller said last year Mexico was his bank's No. 1 market in the world, with $1.6 billion in authorizations. The federal agency guaranties private banks' export loans reducing the risk factor for the lending institutions.    Despite Ex-Im Bank's ceasing commercial-export loans to two South American nations, some banks are still providing financing for export transactions to Venezuela, but only when the loans are backed with private insurance. Those banks are lending money without government guarantees.    Alberto Valdes, heading The International Bank of Miami, said his firm still does business with Venezuela but analyzes each export transaction carefully before approving any export loans. He said customers with a long-standing relationship with his bank and able to provide private guarantees often get credits.    On the other hand, his bank has temporarily discontinued lending programs to Argentina-bound exports, said Mr. Valdes, also president of the Florida International Bankers Association, an industry advocate.    "Many banks are facing the same challenge," he said.    David Konfino, president of Union Planters Bank International, said his bank has open lines of credit for Argentina-bound exports, but only when exporters provide cash collateral or private insurance.    "In countries like Argentina and Venezuela we need to be more creative," he said. "We work with structured transactions. We look at each transaction and find a financing solution unique to each situation."    Mr. Miller said the outlook for the rest of Latin America is brighter.    Despite last year's depreciation of Brazil's currency, the economy grew by about 1% in 2002, a sharp contrast to the 13% and 10% declines for Argentina and Venezuela.    And in Central America, economists expect Mexico's gross domestic product to grow about 3.5%.    The Dominican Republic's economic growth is also expected to pick up after last year's global slowdown. Ex-Im Bank has supported efforts by the Mejia government to improve infrastructure, including housing, according to the federal bank.    "I hear many financial institutions are moving away from the international trade finance world," said John Zdanowicz, a professor of finance at Florida International University's College of Business Administration. "Some banks are refocusing away from Latin American trade financing. But it won't be like this forever."

<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg.com By Mark Shenk

New York, April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell on expectations the war in Iraq is moving closer to an end, after the U.S. said coalition forces advancing toward Baghdad destroyed a division of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard.

Fourteen days of fighting haven't slowed shipments from neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world's top exporter, said Lamees al- Ali, a spokeswoman at state-owned Saudi Aramco. Kuwait and Qatar also said shipments are normal. Persian Gulf countries pump about a quarter of the world's oil. Price declines accelerated after the U.S. said oil imports rose to a record last week.

Traders are betting that the war will be over in a matter of a couple of weeks, with Iraqi exports back to normal in about three months,'' said Phil Flynn, a senior energy trader at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. We've heard that there are people working on the southern fields now, so it could be even sooner.''

Crude oil for May delivery was down $1.28, or 4.3 percent, at $28.50 a barrel as of 11:48 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Easing concern of disruptions to Persian Gulf exports has sent prices down 28 percent from a 12-year high of $39.99 a barrel reached on Feb. 27. The 1991 Gulf War lasted six weeks.

In London, the May Brent crude-oil futures contract was down $1.04, or 4 percent, at $25.32 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.

The Energy Department in a weekly report said U.S. inventories rose a greater-than-expected 6.8 million barrels, or 2.5 percent, to 280.7 million barrels in the week ended March 28. A Bloomberg survey of analysts predicted an increase of about 2 million barrels.

Record Imports

U.S. crude-oil imports were the highest recorded by the Energy Department since it began compiling weekly figures in 1990, said Doug MacIntyre, a senior oil market analyst with the department's Energy Information Administration.

Imports rose 7.3 percent to 10.36 million barrels a day. Venezuelan shipments were close to normal, the department said. A strike that began Dec. 2 had disrupted exports from the South American country, which in November provided about 10 percent of the oil used by U.S. refineries.

Saudi Arabia and Venezuela ``said they were increasing production and we are now seeing it reflected in inventories,'' said Jay Saunders, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York.

Iraq, the third-largest producer in the Persian Gulf region, pumped about 3 percent of global supply in February, before the war started. The nation shipped about 7 percent of the oil imported by the U.S. in January.

Baghdad Guard Division

The Republican Guard's Baghdad Division is no longer able to operate as a fighting force, U.S. Army Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said, without providing details, during a televised briefing at the U.S. Central Command's Qatar headquarters.

Two other divisions, each numbering about 12,000 men at full strength, are under ``serious attack'' near Karbala, 50 miles southwest of the capital, he said.

In Nigeria, international oil companies have halted production of about 800,000 barrels a day in the past two weeks, or more than a third of the country's output, because of fighting between government troops and ethnic Ijaw militants before presidential elections on April 19. Last Updated: April 2, 2003 12:10 EST

<a href=reuters.com>The World Bank Wed April 2, 2003 10:59 AM ET

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - The World Bank on Wednesday predicted Latin America would see a small 1.7 percent bounce in real GDP this year, closing the book on a gloomy 2002 when an Argentine recession weighed the region down.

The projection assumes Argentina will swing into positive growth territory this year. That country's 11-percent drop in gross domestic product was mainly responsible for Latin America's economy shrinking 0.9 percent in 2002, the Bank said.

Excluding Argentina, the region would have grown a modest 0.8 percent.

Looking ahead "the forecast assumes that challenging external financial markets will remain a headwind against the region for the next couple of years, although the worst of the credit cycle is now behind us," the World Bank stated in its latest Global Development Finance report.

For 2004, the World Bank forecasts 3.8 percent growth.

Latin America was the world's worst-performing region last year, pounded by big recessions in Argentina, Venezuela and Uruguay and election uncertainty in Brazil. Sharp drops in capital flows also hurt as investors shunned what the bank calls the "heavily indebted economies of Latin America."

This year, Argentina's GDP should rise 2.6 percent, even though the World Bank cautions the country is a "wild card."

"There is now clear evidence that the economy has moved off its lows and that banks have recovered sufficiently for the payments system to be up and running again," the report says.

"What is unknown is how enduring this phase will be."

If Argentina's presidential elections in April produce a strong government that strikes an early deal with the IMF and external creditors, "then there should be substantial scope for growth."

Argentina and the IMF tried over 11 months to strike a deal for that country to obtain much-needed aid, as both sides haggled over issues that ranged from bank restructurings to utility rates.

Both sides then opted for a more modest agreement that reschedules payments to multilateral lenders until a new government takes over at the end of May.

The report says "gross market-based financial flows" to the region fell by $31 billion, down 40 percent. Net foreign direct investment dropped to $42 billion from $69 billion in 2001, "with declines evident across all countries."

"Sluggish growth and a slowdown in economic and political reforms are expected to continue to hold back FDI flows to Latin America."

Foreign Investment, Remittances Outpace Debt As Sources of Finance For Developing Countries: World Bank

SkyePharma PLC Preliminary Results Announcement for the Year Ended 31st December 2002 Wednesday April 2, 7:31 am ET

LONDON, April 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SkyePharma PLC (Nasdaq: SKYE - News; LSE: SKP - News) today announced the Company's financial and operating results for the year ended December 31, 2002. ......Our 2001 strategic collaboration with Astralis Ltd (Astralis) covers the development of Psoraxine(TM), a unique injectable treatment for psoriasis, a chronic skin disorder that affects approximately 3% of the world population. There is no approved cure for psoriasis and most approved treatments provide only temporary or incomplete relief and may also cause serious side effects. Psoraxine(TM) is a protein that stimulates cells from the patient's immune system to reverse the inflammatory process responsible for psoriasis symptoms. Astralis has completed clinical studies in Venezuela using first generation Psoraxine(TM) to treat nearly 3,000 psoriasis patients, the vast majority of whom responded positively with few side effects. We are working with Astralis to develop a second-generation product, now being produced in the USA, and to validate the promising results from Venezuela in US clinical studies that will be used for regulatory and marketing approval. Following the recent completion of toxicological studies, Astralis expects authorisation to commence US clinical trials later this year.