Ex-Japan officials acknowledge nuke deal

TOKYO, June 1 (UPI) -- Four former top Japanese officials have acknowledged that Japan has a secret deal with the United States to allow nuclear weapons into the country.

Although the 1960 deal has been known in Japan since U.S. documents were declassified in the late 1990s, Tokyo has consistently denied it has any arrangement to allow nuclear-armed U.S. aircraft and vessels to stop over in the country without prior consultation. But now four former Japanese vice foreign ministers have confirmed the deal, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported Monday.

It said the admissions by the top Foreign Ministry bureaucrats may serve to shatter Tokyo's tightly-held public position that it has always remained resolutely opposed to any kind of nuclear weapons on Japanese soil.

One of the four told Kyodo he saw documents spelling out the arrangement and handed them down to his successor, saying, "It was a great secret," while another vice foreign minister said the ministry only informed politicians whom it saw as trustworthy.

The Foreign Ministry again denied any secret deals on the handling of nuclear weapons between Japan and the United States, Kyodo said.

New MFI to issue property loans

The Phnom Penh Post

Monday, 01 June 2009

First Finance – a joint venture with Phillip Capital Group of Singapore and private investors – says it will lend to the struggling property sector despite the continuing downturn and bad loans Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON The construction sector has seen reduced activity and an increase in nonperforming loans since the economic crisis hit WHILE most banks remain reluctant to provide real estate loans to customers amid the global financial downturn, a new microfinance institution set to launch June 8 says it will channel lending to house purchases and construction. "For the first time, home financing will be available to middle- and lower-income Cambodians," Talmage Payne, CEO of newcomer First Finance, told the Post on Friday. "We are going to offer a product that the other [microfinance institutions] are not touching - loans for house purchasing." First Finance is a joint venture between Phillip Capital Group and local individual investors. The Phillip Capital Group is a Singapore-based Asian financial house with operations in eight countries in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. "We see largely younger Cambodians getting educations who really want to improve their lives. Many of them want to own their first home," he added. He said First Finance will offer long-term repayment loans - up to 15 years - with a competitive interest rate. "The medium loan size is US$14,000, and clients will be required to use the title of the house or apartment they are buying as collateral." The UN Development Programme said last month that more than 30 percent of construction projects "may have been placed on hold due to the global downturn", while analysts have blamed a rise in nonperforming loans this year on the faltering property market. Payne said that despite the current downturn in real estate, First Finance had not been discouraged to invest. "The Cambodian economy will come back soon, so we want to be ready," he said. "For those people that have the income and resources, it will be a good time to buy because it's cheaper due to the downturn period." First Finance will expand to cities in Preah Sihanouk and Battambang provinces by 2010, said Payne. Hout Ieng Tong, president of the Cambodia Microfinance Association and general manager of Hattha Kaksekar Limited, said Sunday that he welcomed the new institution. "Most of the MFIs focus lending on small businesses rather than home buyers," he said, explaining that more customers benefitted from loans given to micro-, small- or medium-sized enterprises rather than individual real estate buyers. He said that Hattha Kaksekar planned to lend $30 million this year, but would not issue property loans. Bun Mony, a board member of the Cambodia Microfinance Association and general manager of Sathapana Limited, said Sunday this was a new market for MFIs. "First Finance will be an evolutionary institution, and its focus on loans for house purchases reflects the progress of the real estate sector in Cambodia," he said.

Cambodia passes $2.8b public investment plan

Cambodia passes $2.8b public investment plan

2009-06-01
Xinhua

PHNOM PENH -- Cambodia's Council of Ministers approved a three-year plan drafted by the Ministry of Planning to spend US$2.8 billion on public investment from 2010 to the end of 2012, national media reported on Monday.

The plan related to 536 projects, 389 of which are direct investment with the remainder technical assistance projects, the Cambodia Daily quoted the council as saying.

Minister of Planning Chhay Than said earlier that the majority of the budget would be spent on infrastructure and irrigation systems to boost agricultural production.

The list of planned projects also includes the construction of major roadways, hospitals and schools, Than said.

The new three-year plan is part of the broader national development planning strategy 2006 to 2010, which was approved by the National Assembly in May 2006.

The entire state budget approved for 2009 totals approximately US$1.9 billion, meaning that each year the proposed infrastructure projects would consume the equivalent of about half of the current national budget.