Senate approves ANDE budget request

Paraguay's senate has approved a request by state power company ANDE to increase its budget for 2003, ANDE financial manager Pedro Ferreira told BNamericas. "This way we can honor all our debt commitments and can continue with work that depended on those extra resources to be completed," he said, without expanding on what the budget now stands at. Last week, Ferreira said the company has managed to balance its books and start generating a monthly surplus of some US$3mn, which was being put aside pending the senate approval. As well as paying off debts, this surplus will now be used to carry out investments in ANDE's grid, to improve service quality and reduce losses, he said.