Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Monday, December 1, 1997
Contracts for future isle construction drop
The value of Hawaii construction contracts written in October was down 22.7 percent compared with October 1996.For the 10 months through October, however, construction contract value was down only 3.7 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the F.W. Dodge division of McGraw Hill Cos., which compiles the monthly figures.
October contracts for future construction totaled $102.7 million, down from $132.9 million in the year-earlier month, according to the F.W. Dodge. For the year through October, contracts were worth $1.47 billion, down from $1.52 billion.
S.Korea backtracks on bailout agreement
SEOUL -- Reluctant to accept harsh conditions, South Korea backpedaled today and said it was still discussing terms of a multibillion-dollar international bailout of its foundering economy."We still have some points to be cleared with the IMF (International Monetary Fund)," said Chung Ui-dong, spokesman for the Ministry of Finance and Economy.
Emerging from overnight negotiations with IMF delegates earlier today, Finance and Economy Minister Lim Chang-yuel said that both sides had reached preliminary agreement on much of the IMF's bailout package.
In other news . . .
KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- National City Corp. is buying First of America Bank Corp. for about $6.5 billion in stock in a deal combining two Midwestern banks that together will rank as the nation's 13th largest. The combination will have $74 billion in assets.