StoryLinks: Apec

Our researcher SUSAN JENNISON provides further links to sites on Apec data.

The Member Economy Websites was last updated in July this year, but it leads to the following sites.-

Australia: the Government site gives a statistical profile and links to such areas as income and welfare, housing, energy, finance and national accounts. It includes explanations for expenditure and an example illustrates that last year Australia spent 1.68% of its GDP on research and development whereas Japan spent 2.83%. There is also an official Special Project of Online Australia.

Brunei: the Government site shows that the country is very much dependent on revenue from crude oil and natural gas to finance its development programmes but it now promotes an awareness in tourism to maximise earnings of foreign exchange. It has set a target of one million visitors by the year 2000.

Canada: its Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade provides business facts about total R & D expenditure in four sectors – business enterprise, Government, higher education and private non-profit.

Chile: links to Government agencies and sources for education, technology, transportation and telecommunications (you may need to download an online Spanish dictionary).

China: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs site shows visitor statistics among other things. Of a wider interest, there is a listing of the general objectives of China's foreign policy.

Hong Kong: its economic analysis division of the Financial Services Bureau records GDP growth, external trade and labour market figures. There are links to tourism, fiscal prudence and a paper on Doing business in Hong Kong. The Consumer Price Index lists a year-on-year of change (%) from 1993-1999.

Japan: the Government site lists trade statistics, trust fund bureau information, central Government debt, balance of payments and a business outlook survey are available. It will also lead to the sites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Ministry of Finance, the Economic Planning Agency and the Bank of Japan. Statistics and reports are prolific.

Malaysia: the Treasury department links to biographical content about the Minister of Finance, the Secretary General of the Treasury and a current year assessment system. There are also economic prospects for this year.

Mexico: sites of the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit and the Central Bank provides economic content. A number of documents are in PDF format (access via Acrobat Reader). A link from the Secretariat will provide Mexico's first quarterly report for 1999.

New Zealand: sites of the Treasury, Reserve Bank and the 1999 NZ-Apec all lead to reports about monetary policy, banking, inflation figures, labour market and the balance of payments. GDP and the survey of expectations are located within the tables data.

Singapore: trade and investment information. TradeNet procedures, specific import and export notices for 1999 at www.tdb.gov.sg. Reports include details of Singapore's increase in trade this year mainly from the improvement in oil prices. The Singapore infomap has profiles for Government and politics, trade and industry, social infrastructure and physical development. Statistics Singapore links to other international organisations including the World Bank and Eurostats.

Russia: the members economy website leads to a Microsoft Excel database was last updated in July but it has a series of monthly updates recording economic trends (the full report is 105 pages). An OECD document which was given high appraisal by OECD member countries provides an economical analysis of the reform process in the Russian federation.

Thailand: monetary policy is available from the Bank of Thailand, the Thailand Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Economic indicators, in particular, are available at the Commerce site.

United States: from the Member Economies website, this leads to the White House and the Department of Commerce/International Trade Administration, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Treasury Department. The latter lists Treasury reports for this year with the latest headed: "From widening deficits to paying down the debt: benefits for the American people."

Others: relevant to foreign affairs and trade globally is a listing of Country Factsheets (Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia). Papua New Guinea and Vietnam are two examples in the factsheets.

•Apec member nations not represented at the Member Economy Websites are Indonesia, Korea, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Chinese Taipei and Vietnam.

•Previous Apec links