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3,000 | <s>[INST] Full text: In the cramped, rubbish-strewn shopping arcades of Ciudad [/INST] del Este, on Paraguay's frontier with Brazil and Argentina, every kind of consumer desirable is on sale. </s> |
3,001 | <s>[INST] Nike sports shoes, Levi's jeans, countless brands of Scotch [/INST] and the latest in Japanese consumer electronics are piled high in thousands of tiny stores. </s> |
3,002 | <s>[INST] Unfortunately for the Argentines and Brazilians who daily swarm across the "Bridge of Friendship" into [/INST] the city looking for bargains, most of the authentic consumer goods which flood into the area are re-exported almost immediately, leaving only the look-alikes on the stalls. </s> |
3,003 | <s>[INST] The city has built a bustling economy exporting contraband, ripping off the [/INST] designs of sportswear and clothing companies, and selling pirated software and cloned electronic goods, both made locally and imported from Asia. </s> |
3,004 | <s>[INST] "Ciudad del Este is the purest [/INST] reflection of corruption in Paraguay," said political analyst Carlos Martini. </s> |
3,005 | <s>[INST] The lack of government action to curb the pirates, especially [/INST] over intellectual property rights, is causing concern among US officials, who are considering trade sanctions against the country. </s> |
3,006 | <s>[INST] Brazil and Argentina, Paraguay's partners [/INST] in the Mercosur trade group, have also grown alarmed. </s> |
3,007 | <s>[INST] "No one really knows the size [/INST] of the black, frontier economy," says an economic analyst, Dionisio Borda. </s> |
3,008 | <s>[INST] This makes Ciudad del Este a trading [/INST] centre overshadowed only by the likes of Hong Kong and Miami. </s> |
3,009 | <s>[INST] Paraguay's entire gross domestic [/INST] product is officially estimated at about $9bn. </s> |
3,010 | <s>[INST] Brazil has recently cut duty-free allowances and increased the departure tax [/INST] for foreign travel, curbing the numbers of Brazilians entering Ciudad del Este in search of, say, a cheap stereo. </s> |
3,011 | <s>[INST] But much of the city's [/INST] trade is not affected by changes in the regulations. </s> |
3,012 | <s>[INST] For those who know where [/INST] to ask, weapons and drugs are readily available. </s> |
3,013 | <s>[INST] Clandestine landing strips are plentiful in [/INST] the triple border area, ensuring no interruption in supplies. </s> |
3,014 | <s>[INST] The city's teeming commercial economic life has brought [/INST] Shia Lebanese traders - with their own mosque - and Chinese and Taiwanese entrepreneurs. </s> |
3,015 | <s>[INST] At least some of the newcomers are trying to build [/INST] legitimate export businesses, taking advantage of cheap labour and land, and to ensure the city's economic future. </s> |
3,016 | <s>[INST] Last November Carlos Corach, Argentina's interior minister, renewed calls for tighter [/INST] border controls in the triple border area and warned of a growing threat posed by Islamic fundamentalist groups there. </s> |
3,017 | <s>[INST] Ciudad del Este was "a [/INST] unique sanctuary for crime and impunity", he said. </s> |
3,018 | <s>[INST] However, border security has [/INST] been laxly enforced by all three countries. </s> |
3,019 | <s>[INST] The area is home to a big tourist attraction, [/INST] the Iguazu waterfalls, and until recently cars and buses travelling between Brazil and Argentina were rarely stopped. </s> |
3,020 | <s>[INST] Adding to the constant cross-border flows, many members of the [/INST] Shia community have their businesses in Ciudad del Este but live over the Brazilian border in Foz do Iguacu. </s> |
3,021 | <s>[INST] Western embassy officials believe Ciudad del Este may have been used as [/INST] a base by Hizbollah guerrillas for the July 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in which 86 people died. </s> |
3,022 | <s>[INST] In 1992 another bomb destroyed [/INST] the Israeli embassy in the Argentine capital, killing 29. </s> |
3,023 | <s>[INST] The town of Pedro Juan Caballero, further [/INST] north, is the centre for booming marijuana exports to Argentina and Brazil. </s> |
3,024 | <s>[INST] US officials estimate that [/INST] about 1,500kg passes through Paraguay every month. </s> |
3,025 | <s>[INST] Stolen cars, spirited out of neighbouring countries, [/INST] have also become a nice little earner for Paraguay's "frontier entrepreneurs". </s> |
3,026 | <s>[INST] Last May the national police chief was [/INST] sacked after the force's involvement in the stolen car racket was exposed. </s> |
3,027 | <s>[INST] The country's poor image as a result of these activities is [/INST] worrying some local politicians and has become a recurring theme in the run-up to presidential and general elections in May. </s> |
3,028 | <s>[INST] The bitterly divided Colorado party, in power for more than 50 [/INST] years, could be unseated by an alliance of the Liberal party and Encuentro Nacional, a new party of young modernisers. </s> |
3,029 | <s>[INST] "We must struggle against corruption and clean up [/INST] the economy," said Carlos Filizzola, head of Encuentro Nacional and opposition candidate for vice-president. </s> |
3,030 | <s>[INST] But it will be hard [/INST] for Paraguay to kick its bad habits. </s> |
3,031 | <s>[INST] Outside Ciudad del Este's ritzy Monalisa department [/INST] store, hawkers jostle to sell cheap plastic shoes and fake Rolexes. </s> |
3,032 | <s>[INST] But inside, amid the air-conditioning and marble floors, [/INST] the Chanel perfume, Cartier watches, Lalique glassware, and Steinway pianos look real enough. </s> |
3,033 | <s>[INST] Border piracy has given plenty of people in Ciudad del Este [/INST] a taste for the good things in life - and they will not give it up in a hurry. </s> |
3,034 | <s>[INST] ___ Document 285 of 600 Asia cloud over [/INST] Buenos Aires Author: Warn, Ken Publication info: Financial Times [London (UK)] 02 Feb 1998: 26. </s> |
3,035 | <s>[INST] accountid=28034 Abstract: Argentina's Merval share index is down almost 11 per [/INST] cent so far this year at 612.38, far from the heady days of 1997, when 900 looked within reach. </s> |
3,036 | <s>[INST] It is not that the [/INST] country's traders care too much right now. </s> |
3,037 | <s>[INST] But as they begin trickling back to work in the next few days, bronzed brokers face a [/INST] horizon clouded by the Asian crisis, and fears of storms blowing in from Brazil, where the exchange rate regime is vulnerable to attack as long as the uncertain international climate persists. </s> |
3,038 | <s>[INST] Local analysts agree it will take [/INST] a lot to tempt foreigners back into the water. </s> |
3,039 | <s>[INST] Raul Buonuome and Daniel Tassan-Din, respectively chief economist and head [/INST] of equities at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell , check off a long list of negatives for the market. </s> |
3,040 | <s>[INST] Full text: Argentina's Merval share index is down almost 11 per [/INST] cent so far this year at 612.38, far from the heady days of 1997, when 900 looked within reach. </s> |
3,041 | <s>[INST] It is not that the [/INST] country's traders care too much right now. </s> |
3,042 | <s>[INST] But as they begin trickling back to work in the next few days, bronzed brokers face a [/INST] horizon clouded by the Asian crisis, and fears of storms blowing in from Brazil, where the exchange rate regime is vulnerable to attack as long as the uncertain international climate persists. </s> |
3,043 | <s>[INST] A forced Brazilian devaluation would put Argentina's currency [/INST] board system, which pegs the peso at par to the dollar, under strain. </s> |
3,044 | <s>[INST] Foreign investors began fleeing Buenos Aires last year, as the [/INST] Asian crisis impacted on emerging markets generally, and the bolsa has since languished in low trading volumes. </s> |
3,045 | <s>[INST] Local analysts agree it will take [/INST] a lot to tempt foreigners back into the water. </s> |
3,046 | <s>[INST] Raul Buonuome and Daniel Tassan-Din, respectively chief economist and head [/INST] of equities at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell , check off a long list of negatives for the market. </s> |
3,047 | <s>[INST] The economy faces the fall-out from lower world commodity prices; loss of [/INST] competitiveness due to dollar strength; worries over Brazil; increases in international financing costs; and disappointing tax receipts due to slower growth. </s> |
3,048 | <s>[INST] Shares in YPF , the privatised energy concern with a market [/INST] capitalisation of $10bn, have sunk in line with international oil prices, picking up only recently on rising tensions over Iraq. </s> |
3,049 | <s>[INST] The motor vehicle sector has also taken a hit on [/INST] fears of lower exports to Brazil, with Peugeot manufacturer Sevel off more than 22 per cent this year. </s> |
3,050 | <s>[INST] Weakening export performance is likely to mean further deterioration in Argentina's balance of [/INST] payments deficit, which last year edged toward 3 per cent of GDP, and growth will inevitably shrink from 1997's storming 8 per cent. </s> |
3,051 | <s>[INST] "Our most optimistic assessment of growth this year is [/INST] 4 per cent, but any fresh negative will mean that is not achievable," said Mr Buonuome. </s> |
3,052 | <s>[INST] But the dollar peg will be [/INST] maintained, as it was during the Mexican financial crisis in 1995. </s> |
3,053 | <s>[INST] "The machine will work, but [/INST] the level of economic activity will suffer," he added. </s> |
3,054 | <s>[INST] But eventually the bad news [/INST] may be fully discounted, said Mr Tassan-Din. </s> |
3,055 | <s>[INST] "If the Merval drops to 560 [/INST] or 570, some stocks are going to start looking attractive". </s> |
3,056 | <s>[INST] He believes Argentina's private pension funds, known as [/INST] AFJPs, will continue cherry-picking their favourite stocks at what could prove bargain prices. </s> |
3,057 | <s>[INST] "The pension funds look like [/INST] they are sitting on about $450m in contributions. </s> |
3,058 | <s>[INST] When the managers get back from holiday, about [/INST] a quarter of that is likely to be pumped into stocks," Mr Ecclestone said. </s> |
3,059 | <s>[INST] As of December, the AFJPs had a total [/INST] $8.8bn under management, 21.5 per cent of it invested in the stock market. </s> |
3,060 | <s>[INST] The rise of home-grown institutional investors, such as [/INST] the pension and mutual funds, is steadily reducing dependence on foreign investors, said Mr Ecclestone. </s> |
3,061 | <s>[INST] I think the market will [/INST] rise because of internal forces," he said. </s> |
3,062 | <s>[INST] Some analysts are also optimistic [/INST] about the next round of company results. </s> |
3,063 | <s>[INST] While loan-loss provisions and losses on bond portfolios may [/INST] hold back the banking sector, other sectors are not expected to show much Asian fall-out. </s> |
3,064 | <s>[INST] Last month the government pushed [/INST] through privatisation of the airports, overcoming fierce political opposition. </s> |
3,065 | <s>[INST] Last week it announced plans to sell its remaining holdings in privatised companies, including [/INST] a 20 per cent stake in YPF and 5 per cent of Aerolineas Argentinas , which could raise a total $3bn to plug any financing gaps. </s> |
3,066 | <s>[INST] A headline-grabbing battle for supremacy in the ruling Peronist party between President Carlos [/INST] Menem and Eduardo Duhalde, governor of Buenos Aires province, is not affecting economic management, said Freddy Thomsen, chief economist at ING Barings . </s> |
3,067 | <s>[INST] Fixed-income investors also continue to look favourably on Argentina, which [/INST] has almost met its first-quarter international borrowing requirements, although at higher spreads than before the Asian crisis. </s> |
3,068 | <s>[INST] Last week's 10-year D-Mark bond issue [/INST] was doubled in size to DM1.5bn due to heavy demand. </s> |
3,069 | <s>[INST] However, it is likely to take a [/INST] more settled international environment to tempt foreign investors back into the stock market. </s> |
3,070 | <s>[INST] Traders' tans may have well [/INST] and truly faded by the time that happens. </s> |
3,071 | <s>[INST] ___ Document 337 of 600 Argentine banking system [/INST] criticised Author: Fidler, Stephen Publication info: Financial Times [London (UK)] 14 Jan 1998: 03. </s> |
3,072 | <s>[INST] accountid=28034 Abstract: Argentina's banking system remains weak despite improvements to bank supervision [/INST] and regulation since a 1995 crisis, according to a report published yesterday by the credit rating agency, Moody's Investors Service . </s> |
3,073 | <s>[INST] The report says the system still suffers from poor disclosure standards and [/INST] unreliable reporting of problem loans, one aspect of weaknesses that remain in the surveillance and the prudential supervision of the banking system. </s> |
3,074 | <s>[INST] Full text: Argentina's banking system remains weak despite improvements to bank supervision [/INST] and regulation since a 1995 crisis, according to a report published yesterday by the credit rating agency, Moody's Investors Service . </s> |
3,075 | <s>[INST] The report says the system still suffers from poor disclosure standards and [/INST] unreliable reporting of problem loans, one aspect of weaknesses that remain in the surveillance and the prudential supervision of the banking system. </s> |
3,076 | <s>[INST] Banks' asset quality remains poor [/INST] and profitability among the weakest in Latin America. </s> |
3,077 | <s>[INST] Retail deposits remain mobile, [/INST] with average duration of deposits 70 days. </s> |
3,078 | <s>[INST] "Banks lack a reliable and sustainable [/INST] level of retail deposits," said Daniel Sarp, co-author of the report. </s> |
3,079 | <s>[INST] Moreover, the government handles bank [/INST] failures on a case by case basis. </s> |
3,080 | <s>[INST] "The Argentine authorities' approach to dealing with nearly [/INST] insolvent banks does not appear to have reduced the systemic risks," the report says. </s> |
3,081 | <s>[INST] A deposit insurance fund has been [/INST] created but contains only $700m, compared with deposits of about $67bn. </s> |
3,082 | <s>[INST] A standby line of credit of $6.1bn has also been [/INST] arranged by the government - but, says Mr Sarp, it is needed because of the short duration of deposits. </s> |
3,083 | <s>[INST] The entry of foreign banks into Argentina has been [/INST] positive, but the new entrants have often picked off the best banks, leaving weak domestic competition. </s> |
3,084 | <s>[INST] The economy - and the banking system [/INST] - remain vulnerable to volatility in the international capital markets, the report said. </s> |
3,085 | <s>[INST] An economic crisis in [/INST] Brazil economy would also severely affect Argentina. </s> |
3,086 | <s>[INST] ___ Document 3 of 600 From Caracas to Tierra del Fuego, the future will be gas-fired: [/INST] SUPPLY by Robert Corzine: Natural gas can be the fuel for the engine of economic development Author: Corzine, Robert Publication info: Financial Times [London (UK)] 06 Nov 1998: 06. </s> |
3,087 | <s>[INST] accountid=28034 Abstract: The outlines of such a grid are being put [/INST] in place, with the main element - the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline - due to be completed by mid- December. </s> |
3,088 | <s>[INST] A shortage of generating capacity in the industrial [/INST] heartland of southern Brazil is the engine driving the growth of the gas network. </s> |
3,089 | <s>[INST] Although the collapse in crude oil prices has caused some existing gas users [/INST] in the region to shift to cheap fuel oil, industry executives say such fuel substitution should not undermine the long-term demand for gas. </s> |
3,090 | <s>[INST] Brazil recognised the problem of possible fuel substitution in the early stages of building a [/INST] regional gas grid and is subsidising gas prices for three to five years to ensure that end users have the confidence to switch to the more environmentally acceptable fuel. </s> |
3,091 | <s>[INST] Investors in natural gas projects have also been heartened by the fact that, [/INST] unlike some existing plants in Argentina, most new gas fired-generating plants in Brazil do not have the capability of switching between the fuels. </s> |
3,092 | <s>[INST] Full text: The development of a natural gas grid across much of South [/INST] America is seen as one of the most important pieces of infrastructure if the region is to ensure steady economic growth in the coming decades. </s> |
3,093 | <s>[INST] The outlines of such a grid are being put in [/INST] place, with the main element - the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline - due to be completed by mid- December. </s> |
3,094 | <s>[INST] Although the spreading global economic crisis is casting a shadow over capital-intensive projects, many industry [/INST] figures believe the underlying factors still favour continuing development of a regional gas grid, although it is not clear which pieces will be the next to be developed. </s> |
3,095 | <s>[INST] A shortage of generating capacity in the industrial [/INST] heartland of southern Brazil is the engine driving the growth of the gas network. </s> |
3,096 | <s>[INST] Although the collapse in crude oil prices has caused some existing gas users [/INST] in the region to shift to cheap fuel oil, industry executives say such fuel substitution should not undermine the long-term demand for gas. </s> |
3,097 | <s>[INST] Brazil recognised the problem of possible fuel substitution in the early stages of building a [/INST] regional gas grid and is subsidising gas prices for three to five years to ensure that end users have the confidence to switch to the more environmentally acceptable fuel. </s> |
3,098 | <s>[INST] Investors in natural gas projects have also been heartened by the fact that, [/INST] unlike some existing plants in Argentina, most new gas fired-generating plants in Brazil do not have the capability of switching between the fuels. </s> |
3,099 | <s>[INST] Andrew Barrett, senior executive with BG, the UK pipeline and exploration [/INST] company active in the region, says long-term competition is more between natural gas and hydropower, than between gas and oil. </s> |
Subsets and Splits