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Business Quick Take

■ INFLATION

Beijing orders faster food

China's government has issued a wide-reaching order to speed up food shipments to markets as the bad winter lashing much of the country hampers efforts to rein in persisting inflation. The order, issued late on Friday and published in state media yesterday, calls on police, railway bureaus and even gas stations to do all they can to ensure timely delivery of food supplies after snow and ice storms clogged roads, cut electricity and delayed deliveries. Under the measure, food trucks will be exempt from paying road tolls. Potential shortages in food and energy would add to inflationary pressures.



■ BANKING

Crisis followed FSA 'failure'

The Northern Rock crisis has revealed systemic failures at Britain's financial regulator after it failed to spot the reckless behavior of the bank's directors, British lawmakers said in a report published yesterday. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) failed to properly supervise Northern Rock, Britain's fifth-largest mortgage lender, the Treasury select committee said. The report recommended the FSA improve its communications procedures to prevent panic in the future as well as an expanded role for the central bank's deputy governor, who would advise the Treasury chief on potential crises. The FSA said it was studying the report and would release the conclusions of an internal review in March.



■ AVIATION

China to build 100 airports

China yesterday announced plans to build nearly 100 new airports by 2020 to cater for soaring demand. The proposals will mean eight out of every 10 residents will live within 100km of an airport within 12 years, the General Administration of Civil Aviation said. It put the cost of building the 97 new airports at 450 billion yuan (US$61.6 billion). Air traffic volume rose 16 percent to 185 million passengers last year, official figures show. The General Administration predicts passenger traffic will grow by 11.4 percent a year between now and 2020, and freight traffic by 14 percent.



■ FOOD

Dunkin' to enter Shanghai

Dunkin' Brands Inc, the owner of the Dunkin' Donuts chain, will open up its first shop in Shanghai this year and plans to have 100 stores in China in the next decade. The first store might open in May, Michelle King, a spokeswoman for the Canton, Massachusetts-based firm, said on Friday. Dunkin' Brands recently granted franchisee rights for Dunkin' Donuts for Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Mercuries & Associates Ltd (三商行), which is the company's partner in Taiwan. Dunkin' Donuts opened its first outlet in Taiwan last January.



■ WTO

Green light for Ukraine

The WTO agreed on Friday to accept Ukraine as a member, giving President Viktor Yushchenko a powerful new sales pitch as he made the case here for greater foreign investment. WTO membership also will require the former Soviet republic to continue reforms aimed at bringing Ukraine closer to the EU, which it has aims of ultimately joining. Yushchenko said joining the body could also improve Ukraine's troubled trade relations with Russia, which also aspires to WTO membership but still has numerous issues to resolve. The WTO's 151-member general council will formally invite Ukraine to join on Feb. 5, after which the country still must sign the accession treaty.
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