Teilweise neu: 2001-10-24 Contents of this issue:
1. Sorry Folks 2. Half The Growth 3. Tax Breaks 4. Island Hopper? 5. Clear The Net ======================================================================== Old contents were: 1. Island Hopper? 2. Clear The Net October 24th, 2001 1. Sorry Folks: The Tongan government has apologised to the nation for what it calls misleading information on the status of the controversial Tongan Trust Fund. And acting Deputy Prime Minister Clive Edwards has put the blame on financial adviser J. Bogdonoff for giving wrong advice to the government. Mr Edwards says it's now clear that a greater part of the information Mr Bogdonoff had been submitting was contradictory and intended to protect himself. In a statement to the Legislative Assembly, Mr Edwards said the Tonga Trust Fund was invested in two places - part of it, about $US 2 million was safe in Tongan banks. But he said that the original $US 27.9 million invested in the United States - now worth only 23 million dollars - was of concern. Mr Edwards said another half a million dollars invested in the US had been lost and inquiries were underway to determine the status of that investment. Tonga's Auditor General is in the US to see if some funds can be salvaged. 1. Half The Growth: Economists at the Bank of New Zealand are predicting a 50 percent reduction in New Zealand's economic growth in the first six months of next year. This will have a flow on effect for Niue which can expect rising consumer prices, tougher aid constraints and tough competition in the tourist market. The economists say it will be half the four percent rate achieved in the first half of this year. With growth in New Zealand's main trading partners at its slowest pace in 20 years, the bank expects full year growth next year to be around 2.2 percent. Earlier this year, the bank predicted three percent growth for 2002. The bank says the New Zealand economy is showing more signs of coming off the boil and says there is little scope for increased government spending to support activity because of a bleak outlook for operating surpluses. It says the dire state of the international economy, which shows few signs it's about to recover, will see the country's Reserve Bank cut prime interest rates further in the next few weeks. 2. Tax Breaks: Foreign investors could be offered generous tax breaks to set up businesses in New Zealand, after the Government signalled yesterday that it wants to compete more vigorously for international entrepreneurs and investment. The idea by an independent tax review of a special 18 cents in the dollar tax rate for foreign investors - compared with the standard 33c company rate - stood to boost economic growth and was worth exploring, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said. "We probably have one of the most level playing fields in the world, but every other country is determined to play less fairly than we are," he said, responding to the final report of a review team chaired by accountants Arthur Andersen managing partner Rob McLeod. "We'll be getting officials to do further work on it and I certainly don't rule it out." But Dr Cullen rejected the suggested scrapping of the top 39c personal tax rate and reducing the number of personal tax rates from four to two (18c for annual income up to $29,500 and then 33c). "It seems hard to justify shifting the tax away from high income earners and toward middle income earners." The most pressing issue was ensuring New Zealand's international tax rules were competitive with other countries, many of which had differential rates to attract foreigners. "If we don't go down that road, then we have to go down a similar road of removing the perverse signals from the current system," Dr Cullen said.(Dominion Newspaper) 3. Island Hopper? Kiribati plans to launch an international island-hopping service air service linking it with its Pacific neighbours, the news agency AFP reports. AFP said Air Kiribati plans to use a leased ATR72 aircraft from France to fly regularly between Kiribati, Nauru, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu. Kiribati is spending more than $US1.5 million on the deal, which could be up and running by Christmas, AFP reported. Kiribati is dependent on Air Nauru for its international services south and Air Marshalls for flights to Majuro. But Air Nauru has twice been grounded this year, and Air Marshalls only uses a small commuter plane. AFP quoted Kiribati's President Teburoro Tito as saying Kiribati need the cooperation and support of its immediate neighbours, adding: "We want to create island hopping tourism in the Pacific." Reports from Niue say the President who has been on the island for its commemorative celebrations has discussed the link with Premier Sani Lakatani. 4. Clear The Net: The Chief Accountant of the Pacific nation of Kiribati has warned of possible overspending within government ministries if they do not control the use of Internet services. All ministries have been instructed to use only one line connecting them to the Internet, in an effort to cut down on the exorbitant expenses incurred. Telecom Services Kiribati Limited has over 400 Internet users in the country, mainly government ministries, corporations and private institutions. TSKL recorded an increased demand for Internet services after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Niue has about 125 government employees and a similar number of private users who have access to the internet. But the managers of dot nu the Internet Users Society - Niue provides free access to everyone on Niue. Users only pay for a local telephone call to link up with the society's servers. __END__
