Business and City Summary

State sell-offs total dollars 50bn

The value of privatisations worldwide last year was almost dollars 50bn ( pounds 33.3bn). The emphasis switched from the developed world to Eastern Europe and Latin America, according to a survey by the newsletter Privatisation International.

Germany overtook the UK for the first time with the biggest programme by value. In the former East Germany, 6,300 companies were sold for an estimated DM26bn ( pounds 10.7bn).

Warburg wins

SG Warburg and Cazenove head the league tables of merchant banks and stockbrokers published today in the 1993 edition of Crawford's Directory.

Oil price rise World oil prices are expected to rise in reaction to the Western allies' military clash with Iraq when trading reopens today, but sharply higher fuel costs are not yet in prospect, analysts said.

Rolls silent Rolls-Royce made no comment on a press report yesterday that it is poised to cut its dividend for the first time since its privatisation and may be planning to shed another 2,000 jobs.

DTI secondment

Ian Stewart, formerly chief executive of British Ever Ready, today begins a secondment to the Department of Trade and Industry.

Brazil holds back

Brazil's Foreign Minister, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, said the country would not implement economic 'shock' plans. He was optimistic despite 25 per cent monthly inflation.

Four quit bank

Heads have rolled at Citibank in Bombay just days after a visit by a US Federal Reserve Board team investigating alleged involvement of American banks in India's biggest financial scandal, banking sources said. They said four members of the treasury department had been asked to leave.