Economy

• Friday, January 27th 2012 - 10:55 UTC

  Proposing financial transaction tax now is “simply madness”, says PM Cameron

  

  United Kingdom’s Prime Minister David Cameron urged the European Union to take a “bold and decisive action” to curb the economic crisis hovering over the Euro Zone and also described the plan for a financial transaction tax as “simply madness”.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 19:12 UTC

  Soros says German-driven austerity plans could splinter the European Union

  

  Billionaire investor George Soros said that German-driven austerity plans in Europe risk creating tensions that could splinter the region as it struggles with a debt crisis entering its third year.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 05:28 UTC

  Fears UK economy might have entered a mild recession at the end of 2011

  

  Britain's economy may have entered a mild recession in the last three months of 2011, hampering the government's core policy aim of spurring growth and raising the chances that the Bank of England will inject more cash soon.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 05:22 UTC

  Japan posts first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years

  

  Japan has announced its first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years, a setback for a country known for its exports including cars and electronics. The deficit came in at 2.49 trillion yen (32bn dollars) for 2011, the finance ministry said.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 05:11 UTC

  Global crisis reaches Argentina’s shores “but we are going to have a good year”

  

  Argentina’s Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino admitted on Thursday that the global economic crisis has had an impact on the country but nevertheless “we are going to have a good year”.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 05:02 UTC

  As demands pile up, Venezuela requests to leave World Bank arbitration court

  

  Venezuela’s government officially requested this week to leave the World Bank’s arbitration court as demands pile up from abroad for compensation following a decade of nationalizations under President Hugo Chavez.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 04:28 UTC

  CFK on Malvinas: in this upside down world “we are called colonialists and bad guys”

  

  Fully recovered from the thyroidectomy and with her irony sharp as ever, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, CFK, resumed office on Wednesday and in an hour plus colloquial speech in Casa Rosada spent a good twenty minutes talking about Malvinas, colonialism and promised more rigour in the campaign to have the UK sit and discuss Falklands sovereignty.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 00:07 UTC

  Fed anticipates no increase in interest rates in the US until late 2014

  

  The Federal Reserve has said it does not now expect to raise interest rates in the US until late 2014. The surprise move announced Wednesday sent the dollar sharply lower in markets, and caused US government borrowing costs to fall.

• Wednesday, January 25th 2012 - 21:32 UTC

  Chile the most globalized economy in Latin America, says Ernst & Young

  

  Chile has emerged as the most globalized economy in Latin America and moved up to 25th place in the world, according to global consulting firm Ernst & Young. Chile is among the countries to improve their position despite global economic uncertainty, the firm’s annual Globalization Index found.

• Wednesday, January 25th 2012 - 21:07 UTC

  Merkel asks business leaders to give policy makers “needed space” to tackle Euro crisis

  

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to business leaders at the World Economic Forum to give policy makers the space they need to tackle the debt crisis, pledging that Europe will pull together and restore confidence.