Brunei to restrict retail fuel sales to foreign drivers

Oil-rich Brunei plans to restrict retail sales of heavily-subsidised gasoline (petrol) and diesel fuel for the first time in the face of widespread purchases by foreigners. Beginning on New Year's Day, motorists will be allowed to buy only one full tank of gasoline or diesel each time they fill up, to a maximum of 250 litres. While foreign-registered vehicles will still be allowed to fill up, only holders of Brunei identity cards will be permitted to fill additional containers, up to a maximum of 100 litres.

Gasoline sells in Brunei for about 50 Brunei cents (31 US cents) a litre, or about 30 percent cheaper than in Malaysia or Indonesia. A government statement said the new controls were designed to control a drastic increase in diesel fuel sales which rose by 13 percent this year.

- Due to some historical agreement, the Brunei dollar and the Singapore dollar are pegged at a 1:1 exchange rate. The current price of petrol is around $1.50 per litre here in Singapore. So, petrol in Brunei is a staggering 3 times cheaper! Too bad it's a little too far to go pump petrol there - with or without extra containers.

(2006-01-08 23:00:50 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Singapore electricity rates up (yet again) from Jan 1

channelnewsasia.com :

Electricity tariff will increase by an average of 1.45 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for the first three months of next year. The increase is due to the higher cost of electricity which in turn was sparked off by the rise in fuel oil prices.

Fuel cost constitutes about 50 per cent of the cost of electricity, but the increase in tariff has been small compared to the rise in fuel oil prices. This is because of the enhanced efficiency of the electricity industry, resulting in cost savings being passed on to consumers.

- "Enhanced efficiency"? A lot of it probably had to do with a wholesale switch to natural gas as fuel source. Once attempts at improving efficiency reach diminishing returns (eg, you can only switch to NG once), we could expect to see electricity rates start to keep pace with oil price increases.

CPF Board tightens admission criteria for funds under CPFIS

channelnewsasia.com :

The CPF Board has tightened the admission criteria for new funds that want to be part of the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS). Under new rules that will take effect on 1 February 2006, new funds must be among the top 25 percent of their global peer group instead of the current top 50 percent. And to lower the cost of investment for CPF members, these new funds must have an expense ratio that is lower than the median of existing CPFIS funds in their risk category. New funds should also have a good performance track record for at least 3 years.

The CPF Board says the new criteria will not apply to existing funds. But they may be subject to re-evaluation should there be material changes in the fund structure or management team.

The Board says it will continue to work with the industry to study ways of lowering investment costs. It will also step up education efforts and provide more information on the performance and cost of funds within the CPFIS.

(2006-01-08 22:35:46 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

Galileo: Europe's 3.8b euro stellar gamble

channelnewsasia.com :

By embarking on its own colossal satellite navigation project, Europe is making a 3.8 billion-euro (4.5 billion-dollar) gamble that it can beat the US at its own game and move positioning technology from military to civilian hands.

Satellite navigation technology enables a train or truck driver to know the precise position of their vehicle at any time, a ship to chart its course or a motorist to find their way around an unknown city. The technology also has many applications in areas where precise topography is vital, such as oil and mine exploration, laying oil pipelines, electrifying rural areas and the positioning of telecom towers.

Galileo will both compete with and complement GPS (the US Global Positioning System), which was originally developed for military targeting and positioning but was made available freely available to civilians in 1993. Galileo is designed to deliver real-time positioning accuracy down to the meter (yard) range, greater than that of GPS, thanks to the near-perfect timekeeping of its atomic clocks.

(2006-01-08 22:29:17 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

Most of Europe set to miss Kyoto goals

channelnewsasia.com :

Most of Europe looks set to miss a set of goals to cut greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol. Of 15 countries in Europe signed up to Kyoto, only Britain and Sweden were on target to meet their commitments on reducing harmful gas emissions by 2012. 10 nations - including Ireland, Italy and Spain - would fail to do so unless they took urgent action.

The 1997 treaty sets legally binding targets for developed countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming by 2012 compared with 1990 levels. However, the refusal by the United States - the world's biggest polluter - to sign up has limited its impact on improving the climate.

Pledges to reduce harmful greenhouse gases, however, were of little use unless countries followed through with action, the IPPR warned. "We are nearing the point of no return on climate change," said the group's associate director Tony Grayling. "We have very little time left to start reducing global greenhouse gas emissions before irreparable damage is done," he said. "It is vital that EU countries keep their promises to cut pollution."

"Affordable Housing"

globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com :

Housing is more affordable now than it was twenty years ago, according to the New York Times article: Twenty Years Later, Buying a House Is Less of a Bite : "Despite a widespread sense that real estate has never been more expensive, families in the vast majority of the country can still buy a house for a smaller share of their income than they could have a generation ago."

Try this exercise: Walk into any car dealership and tell them you can not afford to buy a new car. They will find a way to make it "affordable" by stretching out the payments from 3 to 5 to even 7 years if they have to so that you can make the monthly payment. Does that really make it affordable? "People aren't really shopping prices," said Bill Trask, a broker at Coldwell Banker Friends and Neighbors Realty in suburban Portland. "They're shopping payments."

The idea presented is that loose lending standards make something more affordable. Of course that is preposterous. If someone can not afford to save a down payment, perhaps they can not really afford to make those housing payment either. Interest rates can and do fluctuate, and regardless of what anyone says, real estate prices do not always go up. Can the average person really "afford" to pay 30-50% too much for a house or condo? Can you afford to lose $100,000 on that $400,000 condo if the price drops next year?

In stark contrast to the NY Times article above, check out the WSJ article Housing Affordability Hits 14-Year Low : "Housing affordability in October sank to its lowest levels since 1991, according to the National Association of Realtors' Affordability Index."

If the biggest expense that most people have (housing) is so damn affordable why is consumer debt going through the roof? I guess it's a good thing that housing is affordable because it sure seems no one can afford to pay for anything else. The bottom line is real wages are declining, bankruptcies are skyrocketing, consumer debt is soaring, and equity extraction from homes is used for routine consumption. This is happening in a "recovery". Something does not add up. In fact many things do not add up. Topping off the list is the idea that housing is now affordable.