21.   North Korea also ran out of grain last spring, leaving it dependent on donations, foreign purchases and scavenged seaweed, grass and materials.

22.   The government is under intense pressure to limit foreign purchases of Australian companies.

23.   The North Korean government will have to obtain the other half either through donations or foreign purchases, it said.

24.   Wall Street and the bond market rose significantly, encouraging foreign purchases on the foreign exchange market, according to NationsBank economist John Rothfield.

25.   Net foreign purchases by Japan and the Caribbean were sizeable, the Commerce Department said.

26.   Net foreign purchases of bonds accounted for much of the annual increase, the department said.

27.   The federal government imposed the levy to check speculation in property prices triggered by strong foreign purchases.

28.   The increase in imports in December reflected higher foreign purchases of petroleum, consumer and capital goods, the Commerce Department said.