GLOBAL MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
SARS Economic Costs Spreading Faster 04-25-03 (Yahoo) The economic impact of SARS (news - web sites) is spreading faster than the virus as it threatens to evolve from a short-term blow to Asian demand into a shock capable of disrupting global trade and output. 
Failure to reform remains key obstacle to rapid global recovery: OECD 04-25-03 (Yahoo) With the Iraq (news - web sites) war over and oil prices stabilising, inadequate structural reform by Germany, Japan and a handful of other countries is one of the last remaining obstacles to a rapid global recovery, the OECD said. "The apparent rapid resolution to the conflict, and the more settled geopolitical climate that is assumed to follow, should allow investor and consumer confidence to strengthen gradually," the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its Economic Outlook report. 
World Bank warns of Sars effect 04-25-03 (BBC) The World Trade Organisation voiced similar fears, saying that growth in trade would remain below par this year after having shrunk in 2001. And the OECD club of rich nations warned in its semi-annual economic outlook that the economic impact on the region could be "significant", especially in the tourism and retail sectors. 
Opec trims oil output 04-25-03 (BBC) Members of the Opec oil cartel, meeting in Vienna, have agreed to cut crude oil supplies by two million barrels a day in an attempt to stop prices falling. Ministers representing the member states said the move involved reducing extra supplies introduced before the Iraq war, while simultaneously lifting official output quotas 
Iraq oil production back, Baghdad awaits crude supply 04-25-03 (Yahoo) Oil output has partially resumed in Iraq (news - web sites) but Baghdad's refinery urgently needs new crude that cannot come until war damage to a pipeline is repaired. 
Fair Trade Coffee Urged on Campuses 04-24-03 (Yahoo) As many as 200 schools, activists say, are responding to calls to change the way they purchase coffee so that poor farmers, mainly in Central America, get a bigger cut of the profit from the beans they grow. "You can make a difference for a child you've never met," said Cindy Megill, a junior at central Pennsylvania's Juniata College. "Or you can buy a cup of coffee with a corporate logo on it." Like students at other schools, Megill — a tea-drinker herself — is pushing Juniata to exclusively serve fair trade label coffee in campus dining halls and cafes. 
WTO Says Trade Up by 2.5 Percent in 2002 04-24-03 (Yahoo) Measured in revenue, exports of goods rose to $6.24 trillion in 2002. The report said "the largest single element in the global trade recovery of last year was North America," with a 3 percent increase in U.S. imports. U.S. exports fell by nearly 4 percent, partly because of reduced demand from trading partners with economic problems. Despite the improvement in imports in the United States, the continued economic sluggishness in many other markets led to lower inflation rates, worsening unemployment and a massive decline in international investment, which fell to $500 billion in 2002 from $1.2 trillion in 2000 

 LATIN AMERICA
Apathy gives boost to Peronists 04-25-03 (sunspot.net) BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - For many Argentines, former President Carlos Menem is synonymous with corruption and gangster-style politics. He has been arrested for suspected arms dealing and is widely resented for selling off every state-owned industry, from the oil company to the postal service. In power from 1989 to 1999, he is perhaps the most hated political figure in this nation of 37 million people - some pollsters say between 60 percent and 70 percent of the population would never vote for him under any circumstance. 
Chile’s President Lagos Struggles to Finish Term 04-25-03 (worldpress.org) Little more than a decade after the agonizing end of Chile's 17-year military dictatorship under Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the civilians who replaced him are wondering if they will manage to finish their current term of office. 
Colombia, Venezuela to discuss border 04-24-03 (miami.com) The blue-green mountains of the Perijá range that rise just a short distance west of this small Venezuelan town mark the official border with neighboring Colombia. But if border residents, and the Colombian government itself, are to be believed, the border these days is little more than a line on a map, left increasingly unprotected by the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez, whom they accuse of allowing Colombian leftist guerrillas to cross back and forth virtually at will. 

 RUSSIA
Russian Merger Creates a New Oil Giant 04-24-03 (Washington Post) Russia's biggest oil company, Yukos, today announced a deal to buy another major Russian oil firm, Sibneft, a move they said would create the fourth-largest private oil producer in the world. Yukos said the new company would produce 2.3 million barrels of crude oil a day, an amount surpassed only by British Petroleum PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch/Shell Group. If measured by the volume of proven oil reserves it controls in the ground, the new company would rank higher than any other private oil company 

 ASIA

 AFRICA
Africa wakes up to Sars 04-24-03 (BBC) African countries are stepping up measures at ports and airports to detect travellers who might be carrying the Sars virus. Many Beijing residents are anxious to leave This follows warnings that the pneumonia-like disease poses a particular threat to people whose immune systems have been weakened by Aids. So far the continent has not been affected by Sars, although one suspected case is being investigated in South Africa. 

 OIL PRICES
Cut U.S. oil dependence by boosting fuel efficiency 04-25-03 (kansascity.com) The best time to start reducing the huge U.S. dependence on foreign oil is right now. The most critical task is to require that new American vehicles use gasoline more efficiently. The petroleum market is more stable than it has been in months. Oil prices are falling. Worldwide production is going up. Venezuela is selling as much crude as possible to recoup money lost during an oil workers' strike. On Wednesday, U.S.-led engineers began pumping the first postwar crude from Iraq's wells. 
OPEC to Cut Oil Output by 7 Percent 04-25-03 (Yahoo) At the same time, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries took the surprising step of temporarily raising its official output target to 25.4 million barrels, up 900,000 barrels a day from its existing ceiling. 
OPEC weighs all options to avoid postwar glut 04-25-03 (iht.com) < < Back to Start of Article VIENNA Seeking to stave off a postwar oil glut, members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries prepared Wednesday to cut output significantly to support prices ahead of the eventual resumption of Iraqi oil exports.