KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 (Bernama) -- Malaysia needs to gradually move into market-based fuel price mechanism so that it will be able to withstand future challenges, Petroliam Nasional Bhd's (Petronas) vice president for corporate planning/development division, Datuk Nasarudin Md Idris, said Wednesday. He said the consumers and market players must not be complacent with the current pricing mechanism which was supported by heavy government subsidies. The government recently announced that the fuel subsidies for this year were expected to increase to RM35 billion if the crude oil prices continued to remain at US$100 (US$1=RM3.18) per barrel compared to RM16.2 billion last year. "We don't have much of a choice. We need to gradually move to the market-based pricing mechanism and better management.

SA to feel effects of 'depressed' market

Economic conditions will get tougher before they get better and further tightening of belts is needed, SA Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni told Parliament on Wednesday. "After we take out food and energy [of the inflation equation], inflation is trending higher, we have to tighten our belts," he told Parliament's finance committee. Foreigners had withdrawn R35-billion worth of investments from SA between January and March 11 this year, he said, an indication of the "nervousness" in the global financial system. Mboweni could not say if this was in any way due to the electricity crisis. "Globally, people are depressed." Mboweni said it was critical to maintain the confidence of non-resident investors through prudent macro-economic policy. This would ensure they continued putting money into the country, which would help finance the current account deficit.

Real Estate Market Hot: Realtor

A local realtor says there's hot demand for people wanting to buy homes in the St. John's-Mount Pearl region, and a lot of the interest is coming from outside the province. Jim Burton with RE/MAX says there are a lot of buyers in the St. John's region, but very little listing inventory available. As a matter of fact, he says inventory in the region is down 50 per cent. Meantime, a lot of the buyers are from outside the province, especially the province of Alberta. Burton says many of these people are making good money and they see this region as a great place to invest as it has a healthy, prosperous economy. With some 10-billion dollars in capital works projects planned for the province over the next few years, Burton thinks it will remain a seller's market for a long time yet. He noted a recent report from the Royal Bank of Canada shows housing prices in St.

ECB: To Offer Supplementary 6-Mo, 3-Mo Funds To Ease Strain

FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- The European Central Bank will offer supplementary three-month and six-month long-term refinancing operations, or LTROs, to ease tension in the euro-zone interbank money market, the bank said in an ad-hoc announcement Friday.

The ECB will also launch two new supplementary three-month LTROs, each to the tune of EUR50 billion. They will replace the two currently outstanding supplementary three-month LTROs of EUR60 billion each, the ECB said.