East Timor Oil Fund expected to be worth US$4 billion by end of 2008

Lisbon Portugal 8 Oct 2008 - East Timor's oil fund, fed by revenues from oil and gas production in the country, is expected to total US$4 billion by the end of the year, said Raquel Goncalves Costa, of East Timor's Banking and Payments Authority in Lisbon Tuesday.

Costa said that in 2007 income from the oil sector rose to the equivalent of 340 percent of Timor's gross domestic product (GDP).

“One of the great challenges (for East Timor) is how to manage the wealth ensuring the sustainable development of the non-oil economy," said Costa in a speech at the 18th Lisbon Meeting with the delegations of the Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP) and East Timor to the Board of Director of the IMF and the World Bank.

Another problem, Costa added, was the inflation rate, which last year doubled to 9 percent, particularly due to price rises of imprted goods, such as petrol and rice. (macauhub)