Brazil could have the same copper potential as the Zambia-Congo mineral belt, said Hernan Correa, president of Codelco Brazil. "It could be the same. They are old structural systems 700 million years old from before Brazil and Africa separated. There is very strong potential," he said. Correa said there are three or four districts with "world class potential": that allow at least ten years' production.
The former president of Peru Alan Garcia, from the centre-left social democratic party, edged ahead of conservative pro-business candidate Lourdes Flores, garnering 24.92% of the votes, against Flores' 24.02%. With some 80.82 pct of the votes counted, the nationalist Ollanta Humala, 43, a former army commander aligned with Venezuela's left-wing President Chavez, had 30.25% of the votes.
Bank Indonesia hinted at a possible rate cut in the next month. The bank's Deputy Governor, Hartadi A Sarwono indicated that the central bank could cut interest rates next month provided growth of the economy is sustained. Sarwono said that if inflation remains at the same level this month as last month, then the bank might cut the interest rate. Last week, Bank Indonesia kept the rate unchanged at 12.75% for the fourth consecutive month, despite the easing of inflationary pressures, and Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah had said that it might start lowering interest rates.
According to a survey by the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce, the consumer confidence index (CCI) declined for the third consecutive month in March 2006. The survey found the confidence indeces for job opportunities and future income declining by 16.7 points and 17.2 points respectively.
Raiffeisen Bank executive director Jerry Millikan said that the Austrian bank intends to take control of one of the top five banks in Kazakhstan. Raffeisen already holds an 8% stake in TuranAlem, the second largest bank in Kazakhstan, and wants to secure control, but none of the shareholders agreed to sell their stakes.
Millikan said that Raiffeisen will sell its stake if a good offer comes in, and then try to take control of another bank. The Kazakh government lifted the restrictions on foreign ownership of domestic banks in 2005.
According to Gazprombank's deputy CEO Alexei Obozintsev, Germany 's Dresdner Bank will purchase a 33% stake in Gazprombank within the next three months. Dresdner will buy out GazprombankÕs additional share issue to acquire the stake. Gazprombank's issued 6.67 million shares in December last year and sold them exclusively to Dresdner Bank at around 3.48 roubles a share. Gazprom's stake will amount to 66.67%, and the bank plans to go public in the first half of 2007.