European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 18, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes Money matters tuesday january 18, 1994 today s rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use German Mark .1.71 British Pound 1.53 dutch Guilder 1.90 greek drachma 242.8774 note the rates above apply within the Host country. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar following Are Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign Curren cies italian lira 1,705.50 turkish lira 14,929.10 Spanish peseta 143.91 portuguese escudo .176.42 austrian Schilling 12.3250 saudi Royal 3.7495 Bahrain Dinar. 0.37675 kuwaiti Dinar .0.29790 norwegian Krone 7.5470 danish Krone .6.7840 British Pound. 1.4925 German Mark 1.7545 Swiss franc 1.4780 French franc 5.9515 dutch Guilder 1.958 belgian franc 36.53 Canadian Dollar. 1.3217 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $392.60 an ounce Silver quote $5.34 an ounce study ranks Job growth by Region new York a is the re cession really Over the answer depends on where you live. Southern and Rocky Mountain states show the Best prospects for Job growth while the Northeast and California Are among the worst according to a Survey by Forbes Magazine. In its Jan. 31 Issue Forbes said the states with the Best Job Outlook were Arizona Nevada North car Olina Oregon Texas and Utah. The worst were California new York Massachusetts Rhode is land Connecticut Pennsylvania and Hawaii. ? Forbes said it compiled the rankings by analysing relative costs of doing business including taxes. The Magazine also considered the Impact of lower defense spend ing and the exposure to Job loss from president Clinton s healthcare proposals. Among the findings Arizona added More than 12,000 jobs in the year ending june30, 1993, half those jobs came from California where taxes Are High and regulation can be , Nevada and Idaho have also gained at California s expense. California is among states that should Benefit from doing business with the growing economies in Asia and latin America. Other states Likely to Benefit include Ari Zona the Carolinas Florida Loui Siana and Texas. Cost containment efforts in Clinton s health care plan will see Duce health jobs especially n Pennsylvania and new Jersey which have the lion s share of the nation s pharmaceutical jobs. Number of singles buying 1st Homes rises report says Chicago a single people bought nearly one third of the Homes purchased by first time buyers in 1993, the nation s largest title insurance com Pany said. Smaller Down payments and the lowest interest rates in 30 years enabled Many people previously locked out of the hous ing Market to buy their first Homes Chi Cago title and Trust co. Said in a report released monday. First time purchases by never married singles climbed to 32.3 percent last year from 29.8 percent in 1992. It was their largest share in the 18-year history of the company s annual Home buyer Survey. The report also showed that the aver age Home Price edged up 1 percent and that a trend toward adjustable rate Mort gages continued. Chicago title said nationwide sales of condominiums and single family dwell Ings reached 5.1 million units last year just 5 percent below the record 5.3 Mil lion sold in 1978. What near record Home sales last year really prove is the Power of de Clining interest rates said John Pfister a Chicago title vice president and mar w hat near record Hon sales last year really prove is the Power of declining interest rates.1 John Pfister Chicago title and Trust co. Ket research manager. The weak Economy also made lenders More willing to make Home Loans in 1993, said Robert Dederick chief economist for Northern Trust co. In Chicago. Because Strong demand for other types of credit was lacking there was an incentive for lenders to push out into this Type of lending he said. Evalina Tainer president of prime economic consulting in Chicago said she was surprised by the High number of singles buying Homes. But she said that people Are waiting longer to marry and that More unmarried people Are living to Gether two factors that May partially account for the gain. First time buyers accounted for 46 per cent of All Home purchases Down from 47.7 percent in 1992, according to the Survey. Despite an increase in the Overall aver age Home Price to $172,700 from $170,800, the average Down payment for All buyers fell to 20.2. Percent of the Sale Price from 21.4 percent Chicago title said.  monthly payments also declined thanks to Low mortgage rates the company said. The average for first time buyers was $950, Down from $968 in 1992. For repeat buyers the average monthly pay ment was $1,076, Down from $1,156 a year earlier. Fewer buyers banked on the Security of conventional fixed rate mortgages in 1993. Chicago title said 22.2 percent of buyers selected adjustable rate Mort gages to finance their Homes up from 21.6 percent in 1992 and 16.3 percent in 1991. The interest rate on an adjustable rate mortgage fluctuates with Bank interest rates. It is usually easier for first time buyers to qualify for adjustable rate mortgages. Open socked by 10% Revenue drop Brussels Belgium a battered by crashing Oil prices open reve Nues Sank by about 10 percent last year to the lowest level in four years analysts estimate. With no big Price upturn insight some Oil exporting nations plan cutbacks in government spending to reflect shrinking Oil revenues. Saudi Arabia has begun discussions with american officials to try to restructure billions of dollars of . Weapons sales to the kingdom. The saudis 1994 budget projects a spending Cut of 19 per cent compared with last year. Iran the group s no. 2 producer also is Likely to tighten its Belt. It s a significant blow Peter Bogin associate director for Oil markets at Cam Bridge Energy research associates in Paris said of the Revenue drop. Bogin calculated that the dozen nations of the organization of Petroleum exporting countries brought in $127 Bil lion in 1993 from exports of their crude Oil natural Gas liquids and related products. Petr strategies a Paris based newsletter calculated the value of their Export sales at $125.8 billion off nearly 10 percent from the previous year. In the Early 1980s, the group was awash with dollars from crude sales to the United states Europe and other Oil consuming nations. The Cartel rang up a record $279.3 billion in revenues in 1980. There has since been an almost steady Revenue decline. Last year s Export sales a sell afraid of pumping their coffers dry some members of the organization of Petroleum exporting countries Are making cutbacks in the face of shrinking Oil revenues. Were the smallest since $110.2 billion in1989. The average Price of Light Sweet crude Oil the . Benchmark Grade averaged 10 percent lower in 1993 than the year before and finished the year at five year lows of less than s14 per barrel. The drop has hit saudi Arabia the world s largest Oil producer especially hard reducing Oil revenues by 16 percent to $42.8 billion last year according to Petr strategies. Iran s revenues tumbled More than a $1 billion to about $14.5 billion last year according to analysts. Iranian Oil min ister Gholamreza Aghazade said recently that the new budget would be based on Oil prices of $15 a barrel but parliament reportedly considers $12 More realistic. The open nations some with Large impoverished populations count heavily on crude revenues to fuel their economies and meet foreign debt payments. The United Arab emirates Indonesia Libya Algeria and Gabon were among other producers registering hefty losses. Despite lower prices Kuwait rebounding from damage to its Oil Industry from the 1991 persian Gulf War saw last year s revenues soar by 80 percent to $9.3 Bil lion Petr strategies said. Prices crashed after Cartel ministers in november decided against reducing Oil production in the Winter. ., China reach textile Accord avoid Trade War Beijing a . And chinese negotiators signed a textile agreement monday averting a Trade War Over illegal chinese sales of billions of dollars Worth of clothing to the United states. The agreement will provide for consistent and orderly growth of China s Tex tile and textile product exports into the United states said chief . Negotiator Jennifer Hillman. The agreement is a three year renewal of a .-China textile pact that expired dec. 31. The United states had planned to impose Large quota cuts on chinese textile exports effective monday. The top chinese negotiator Shiguang Sheng said the United states can celeb plans to impose the cuts according to Hong Kong reporters allowed into a briefing for chinese journalists.  Officials Rushing to make a flight at Beijing Airport did not release details. Textile Trade is controlled by Export quotas for different kinds of cloth products. The United states says China has exceeded its quota by $2 billion a year mostly by shipping goods with fake labels through third countries. The agreement provides for Strong tools to ensure that the transshipment problem is addressed forcefully Hill Man said without elaboration. The United states had demanded per Mission to make Surprise visits to Facto Ries suspected of quota violations but Shi told chinese reporters that the agreement provides for visits Only with the permission of the chinese govern ment