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China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan underscored “continuity and stability'' in monetary policy after economists said they detected a bigger emphasis on supporting growth as the economy slows.

July 25 and 27 statements by the Communist Party's political bureau and the central bank didn't use the term “tight monetary policy,'' featured in previous government statements. JPMorgan Chase & Co. economist Frank Gong and Lehman Brothers' Sun Mingchun saw a shift to a more pro-growth policy.

“The central bank mentioned policy continuity and stability,'' Zhou said late yesterday in the western city of Xi'an when asked about the omission. Zhou was speaking after a meeting of East Asia-Pacific central bankers

Weakening export demand because of the U.S. housing slump and an international credit squeeze has stoked concern that growth may slump in the world's fourth-biggest economy, costing jobs and leading to bad loans and sinking profits. Government options to stimulate the economy and protect exporters include loosening bank lending quotas, boosting government spending and restraining gains by the yuan.

Zhou said people should read the statement after the central bank's second-quarter monetary-policy meeting “accurately and comprehensively.''

China is trying to damp inflation that soared to a 12-year high of 8.7 percent in February. Last month's rate was 7.1 percent.

Policy `Fine-Tuning'

Ting Lu, an economist at Merrill Lynch & Co. in Hong Kong, said yesterday that China was “fine-tuning'' economic policy.

Donald Straszheim, vice chairman of Roth Capital Partners, a U.S. investment bank specializing in emerging markets, said it was the biggest policy shift in five years.

The government will slow the pace of currency gains to protect exporters, keep interest rates unchanged and maintain the reserve requirement for banks at a record 17.5 percent of deposits, Los Angeles-based Straszheim said.

China's economy grew at the slowest pace since 2005 in the second quarter. Gross domestic product rose 10.1 percent from a year earlier, down from 10.6 percent in the first quarter, as exports weakened and the government curbed lending.

The Politburo said last week that maintaining growth and fighting inflation were the top priorities for the second half of 2008. It said the nation aimed for “steady and relatively fast'' growth.

The central bank's statement was similar. In its previous quarterly statement, the People's Bank of China said it was sticking with a “tight'' monetary policy.

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India's government, fresh from surviving a confidence vote this week, will push to lift restrictions on overseas investors controlling privately-run banks, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.

Stalled legislation removing a 10 percent cap on foreigners' voting rights in banks may be revived before laws on pensions and insurance when parliament convenes next month, Chidambaram said.

“Bills in advanced stages of consideration will be taken up first,'' Chidambaram said in a telephone interview from New Delhi. “We seem to have acquired the political space to take the liberalization process forward.''

The banking index tracking 17 lenders is set for its biggest weekly gain after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh remained in power with support from new allies who replaced communists opposed to foreign investment. The bill would give ING Groep NV, the largest Dutch financial services company, more control over Bangalore- based ING Vysya Bank Ltd. with its 44 percent stake.

“There is likelihood of further reforms,'' said Tushar Poddar, a Mumbai-based economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “Given the limited time at the government's disposal, and the motley group of new allies, reforms are by no means certain.''

Manmohan Singh's five-year tenure comes to an end in May. Amar Singh, whose Samajwadi Party replaced the communists as the government's main ally, said on July 10 he may back legislation easing curbs on foreign companies seeking to expand in insurance, pensions and banking.

Removing Cap

The bill to remove a 10 percent cap on the voting rights of foreign investors in non-state banks is pending in parliament while a parliamentary committee is considering the bill to open the pensions business to overseas investors, Chidambaram said.

The draft bill to raise the foreign investment ceiling for insurers to 49 percent from 26 percent is with the government, he said. The banking and pension bills have been languishing in parliament for three years and the finance minister announced the insurance measures in 2006.

“All three are on the agenda of the ministry of finance,'' Chidambaram said. “We are looking into various aspects of the foreign direct investment regime, trying to see whether further liberalization is possible.''

New York-based American International Group Inc., the world's largest insurer by assets, New York Life Insurance Co. and Prudential Plc, based in London, are among insurers that are restricted to 26 percent stakes in their ventures in India.

Reviving the reforms may entice Lloyd's of London, the world's largest insurance market, to scale up its operations in India, where it writes about $400 million of business, spokeswoman Louise Shield said July 10.

Greater Role

Manmohan Singh's plans to give overseas companies a greater role in India's financial industry were blocked by his erstwhile communist partners, who this month withdrew support over the nuclear accord with the U.S.

Singh got 275 votes in his favor and 256 against in the confidence vote in the 541-member lower house, a margin that will force Chidambaram to secure backing from opposition parties to ensure the government's pending legislation is approved.

“In a parliamentary democracy, the ruling party reaches out to all opposition parties,'' Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram also said the government will revisit plans to list shares of government-run companies.

“Listing improves governance. There are many companies looking for capital,'' Chidambaram said, without revealing which company will sell shares. “We have to see what the market is like and what the appetite in the market is like.''

India's stock market surged more than fourfold in the first 3 1/2 years of Singh's administration as the 75-year-old prime minister presided over an economic expansion that averaged 8.9 percent a year, the fastest since independence in 1947.

Record Sales

This year, foreign investors, who bought a record $17.2 billion of stocks in 2007, have turned sellers as the benchmark equity index has lost about a third of its value. The central bank expects growth in Asia's third-largest economy may slow to 8 percent this year, dragged down by record high oil prices.

To contain inflation, Reserve Bank of India Governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy has raised interest rates 15 times and ordered banks to set aside more reserves eight times since October 2004. The governor will unveil the next monetary policy statement on July 29, which will be Reddy's last policy announcement if he retires as scheduled in September.

India will announce its decision regarding the country's next central bank governor “well in time,'' Chidambaram said.

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First Community Bank Corporation of America reported after-tax income for the quarter ended June 30 of $158,000, or 4 cents a share, compared to $760,000, or 19 cents a share, for the same period in 2007.

Second quarter 2008 results included a $537,000 increase in the provision for loan losses, a $196,000 decrease in net interest income and a $316,000 increase in non-interest expenses, the bank said in a release. The expense increase reflected an investment in new branches and infrastructure to support growth, the release said.

For the six months ended June 30, after-tax income was $707,000, or 17 cents a share, compared to $1.5 million, or 37 cents a share, for the year-ago period. The bank ended the second quarter with $482 million in assets, an increase of 3 percent, or $15 million, from March 31.

First Community (NASDAQ: FCFL), based in Pinellas Park, operates 10 offices along the west coast of Florida.

Sri Lanka's central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a 17th straight meeting to spur economic growth without further stoking the fastest inflation in Asia.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka held its repurchase rate at 10.5 percent, the highest level since 2002, according to a statement issued in Colombo today. All 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted the decision.

Policy makers across Asia are grappling with soaring consumer prices even as a slowdown in the U.S. economy stifles demand for the region's exports. Inflation in Sri Lanka jumped to 28.2 percent in June, as bus fares rose by as much as 27 percent in May and train fares nearly doubled last month.

“The central bank would probably use the recent slowdown in growth as an excuse not to raise rates, even though a much sharper slowing of the economy is required to ensure macroeconomic stability,'' said Ashok Parameswaran, senior emerging markets analyst at Invesco in New York.

The yield on the 16 percent bond due in April 2009 was little changed at 18.45 percent at 9:27 a.m. in Colombo, according to First Capital Treasuries Ltd. The rupee was at 107.62 to the dollar, after closing yesterday at 107.65, according to Hatton National Bank Ltd.

Indonesia's central bank increased its benchmark interest rate for a third straight month in July, aiming to keep inflation below 12.5 percent this year. The Reserve Bank of India last month lifted its key rate twice to a six-year high of 8.5 percent. Thailand and the Philippines will probably both raise borrowing costs this week, according to Bloomberg surveys.

`Further Tighten'

Sri Lanka would “further tighten'' monetary policy by lowering the 2008 target for growth in reserve money, or the currency in circulation and commercial banks' deposits at the central bank, to 11.75 percent from 12.5 percent, according to today's statement. Consumer price gains are expected to ease from about August, the bank said earlier this month.

“Unlike other banks in the region, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka prefers to control the quantity of money as its main policy instrument,'' said Prakriti Sofat, an economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Singapore. Slowing growth should also “see demand-pull pressures on inflation abate.''

Economic growth weakened to 6.2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, from 7.6 percent in the previous three months. Escalating violence in the country's 25-year civil war, including bomb attacks in Colombo, curbed spending in the $27 billion economy.

Transport Costs

Sri Lanka's central bank has also kept monetary policy tight by reducing the amount of cash in the banking system and controlling credit demand.

Credit growth in Sri Lanka's private sector slowed to 15.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the lowest level since the end of 2003, according to the central bank. June's higher inflation rate was expected and due to an increase in fuel and transport costs in May, the central bank said.

Railway, education, health and postal employees stayed away from work July 10 to demand a 5,000 rupee ($46) monthly pay rise.

Sri Lanka's inflation may slow to 14 percent by the end of this year, central bank Deputy Governor W.A. Wijewardena said May 15. The increase in prices will ease to “around 8 percent'' by the end of 2009, he said.

The central bank said in January it was targeting annual inflation of about 10 percent for 2008.

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The state's largest business lobby has created a statewide alliance advocating for a property tax cap — something state legislators could not agree on before the end of their scheduled session.

The Business Council of New York State Inc., based in Albany, is backed by a group of businesses, taxpayer groups and other associations supporting Gov. David Paterson's proposed tax cap.

Paterson wants to cap annual property tax increases at 4 percent or 120 percent of the consumer price index, whichever is lower. A supermajority of a school district's voters can choose to override the limit.

Powerful unions, including the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers in Latham, have fiercely opposed that idea and campaigned against the cap in the waning days of the legislative session, which ended June 25. Paterson has repeatedly said he is willing to call special legislative sessions later this year to try to lower future budget deficits or pass key legislation like a property tax cap.

"I want to get to a point where we start to look at substance, more than anything else," Paterson said at a June 23 press conference. He said he and state leaders would continue negotiations over the summer.

The cap was the key recommendation in a preliminary report from a state tax commission, issued in early June. A final report is due by the end of the year, one reason Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver cited as a reason why he wasn't willing to take action on any tax cap proposal.

The new tax cap support group has nearly 50 members from Buffalo to Long Island. The group's Web site is: www.taxcapnow.org.

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Wireless Internet is the most important technology amenity hotel guests ask for, according to a study by the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

The study shows that 82 percent of guests rank wireless Internet as their top amenity, followed by in-room entertainment systems (48 percent) and airline check-in kiosks (38 percent).

"During the past decade, advancements in information technology have significantly shaped the way the lodging industry plans, controls and manages operations in all segments of the hospitality community," AHLA President and Cheif Executive Officer Joseph A. McInerney said.

The AHLA's 2008 Lodging Survey indicates that 91 percent of hotels offer wireless Internet access, up 35 percent from just four years earlier.

Nashville Business Journal

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Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signed House Bill 285 this week, a measure that gives one free pass to small businesses in the state that rack up first-time paperwork violations.

The measure, introduced about a year ago and cleared in both chambers of the Ohio General Assembly earlier this year, waives fines or civil penalties for small businesses’ first paperwork violation. The waiver applies to a wide range of state agencies, including the Department of Taxation, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Natural Resources.

The bill also stipulates that fines and penalties remain intact if the violation could cause serious harm or involve a criminal offense.

H.B. 285 garnered support from small businesses and trade groups, including the state chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business.

State legislators roundly backed it as well. The measure in March passed unanimously in the House of Representatives and went on to receive unanimous Senate approval last month.

As the measure was moving through the General Assembly, Strickland also signed an executive order calling for state agencies to adopt a common-sense approach when reviewing and applying rules and regulations governing Ohio businesses.

With Strickland’s signature on the measure Tuesday, the law takes effect in mid-September.

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