Economy

• Saturday, March 6th 2010 - 11:45 UTC

  Brazil approaching the moment interest rates can only be increased

  

  Brazilian annual inflation rose above government target (4.5%) levels for a second consecutive month in February reaching 4.83%, up from 4.59% in January, Brazilian Census and Geography Bureau, or IBGE, said Friday.

• Saturday, March 6th 2010 - 11:40 UTC

  China promised to reverse income gap between rich and poor

  

  Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said China must reverse its widening income gap between rich and poor. He said benefits of a growing economy - expected to expand by 8% this year - should be distributed more fairly.

• Friday, March 5th 2010 - 06:49 UTC

  Central bank acting president, first victim of political clash in Argentina

  

  Argentina’s central bank interim chief seems condemned to be the first victim of the political clash between the Executive and Congress over the government’s use of central bank reserves to pay maturing debt in 2010.

• Friday, March 5th 2010 - 06:33 UTC

  Greek PM in Berlin will test Germany’s commitment

  

  Two political allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greece should sell off some of its islands to pay off its debts. Greece's Prime Minister, George Papandreou, is due to meet Ms Merkel in Berlin Friday for talks about his country's economic crisis.

• Friday, March 5th 2010 - 06:29 UTC

  Bank of England leaves QE program and interest rates unchanged

  

  The Bank of England opted Thursday against providing fresh aid for the economy after a year of record low interest rates and emergency stimulus measures. Its rate-setting committee marked the first anniversary of quantitative easing by leaving the program unchanged at £200bn and holding borrowing costs at 0.5%.

• Friday, March 5th 2010 - 06:25 UTC

  Euro zone interest rate left at record low of 1% for tenth month

  

  The European Central Bank (ECB) has kept the Euro zone benchmark interest rate at its record low of 1% for the 10th month in a row, as expected. ECB also signalled it would scale back the special lending measures introduced during the financial crisis even though the economy in the 16 countries that use the Euro is only barely growing.

• Friday, March 5th 2010 - 06:21 UTC

  China surprises with a slower growth of its 2010 defence budget policy

  

  China announced a slowdown in the growth of its much-watched defence budget. The planned increase of just 7.5% on last year's military spending is the smallest hike after more than two decades of annual double-digit increases.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:18 UTC

  Half of Venezuelan population has “little or no confidence” in President Chavez

  

  Venezuelan voters' confidence in President Hugo Chávez is beginning to wane as a result of the electricity crisis, water rationing, economic measures, decisions limiting private property and attempts at leading the country into a Socialist system.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:03 UTC

  Cost of rebuilding Chile estimated in 30 billion US dollars

  

  Chile’s plans to repair the damaged caused by last Saturday’s earthquake are likely to cost the nation an estimated 30 billion US dollars and three to four years work, according to EQECAT, a firm that evaluates catastrophe risk for insurers.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 11:46 UTC

  Standard Chartered record profits; criticizes regulation proposals

  

  Standard Chartered has reported record profits in 2009 and criticised some recent proposals to regulate banks. Pre-tax profits were 5.15 billion USD (£3.4bn), up 13% from 2008. Total pay and bonuses rose 4% to 4.91 billion USD.