41.   Separately, Rexrodt presented a draft law agreed by cabinet this morning that officials hope will cut through the thicket of regulations that discourage investment.

42.   Still, most businessmen say interest rates are too high and this discourages investment in new projects.

43.   Talk of a return to price controls in oil and petrochemicals may discourage investment in those industries for example.

44.   That could discourage investment in precious metals, because slow growth typically keeps inflation rates low.

45.   The alternative, they say, with global markets wobbling and local political uncertainties discouraging foreign investment, could be a deep and prolonged recession.

46.   The Helms-Burton Act was passed by Congress last March to discourage foreign investments in Cuba and to promote democratic changes.

47.   The lack of competitiveness, together with outdated laws that include a prohibition on foreigners owning land, has discouraged foreign investment.

48.   The measures met with criticism from businessmen, who said the tax on foreign borrowing would discourage foreign investment and induce Colombian banks to raise their interest rates.

49.   The oil giant lobbied for years against the ban, which it says depresses crude oil prices on the West Coast and discourages drilling investments.

50.   The peso also weakened against the dollar on concern that the attacks will discourage foreign investment in the Mexican economy.