Berlin  - German wholesale prices soared in July, rising 9.9 per cent on the year on the back of higher fuel costs, the official statistics office reported from Wiesbaden.

The rise was the strongest in the indicator since November 1981. Over the month, wholesale prices rose 1.4 per cent.

German wholesale prices have been rising sharply in recent months. The indicator showed an annual increase of 8.9 per cent in June and 8.1 per cent in May.

Fuels and mineral oil products saw a price rise of 30.8 per cent on the year and as much as 6.2 per cent on the month of August.

Vilnius - Lithuania's annual inflation eased to 12.2 per cent in July, down from an 11-year high of 12.5 per cent in June, the Department of Statistics reported Friday.

Rising inflation, coupled with slower growth, is increasingly clouding the economic prospects for the small nation, once known as one of the "Baltic Tigers" along with Estonia and Lithuania.

International organizations including the International Monetary Fund have said Lithuania, along with neighbouring Latvia and Estonia, faces the prospect of a recession amid a drop in consumption and property prices.

Vienna- The price for crude oil produced by the O

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's economy could slow in the second half of this year as the impact of a slump in the United States and economic woes in Western Europe spread to Asia, the head of Hong Kong government's banking body said Thursday.

Economic growth could be lower than expected because there are signs Asia is being affected by the downturn in Western economies, Monetary Authority Chief Executive Joseph Yam warned. The authority is responsible for managing Hong Kong's official reserves and keeping the Hong Kong dollar stable.

Tokyo - Japan's foreign reserves exceeded 1 trillion dollars at the end of July, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

The nation's July foreign reserves rose 3.11 billion dollars from the previous month, thanks to rises in the appraisal value of the nation's foreign securities, the ministry said.

Japan held 865.27 billion dollars in foreign securities, up from 859.25 billion dollars a month earlier.

Foreign currency deposits totaled 111.68 billion dollars.

Tokyo - Japan's key machinery orders marked the first fall in three months in June, the government said Thursday.

Core machinery orders declined 2.6 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in June from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said.

The figure was better than an average market expectation of a 9.9-per-cent fall.

Orders from manufacturers rose a seasonally adjusted 3.9 per cent from May to 512.3 billion yen (4.71 billion dollars), and those from non-manufacturers dropped 3.3 per cent to 603.1 billion yen.

Compared to the same month a year before, orders in June grew by unadjusted 9.7 per cent to 1.09 trillion yen.