Economy

• Tuesday, February 9th 2010 - 02:23 UTC

  Lula da Silva beefs up federal payroll with 46.000 new posts

  

  The administration of Brazilian president Lula da Silva increased the federal payroll since 2003 with 64.000 new posts and is planning another 46.000 in this the last year of his two four-year mandate, according to government sources.

• Tuesday, February 9th 2010 - 02:18 UTC

  US-China trade dispute escalates to include chicken wings and feet

  

  China is to enforce anti-dumping duties on US chicken imports, accusing American poultry firms of exporting the meat at unfairly low prices. In just the latest in a series of trade disputes between the two countries, China's Commerce Department said the tariffs will start from 13 February.

• Tuesday, February 9th 2010 - 02:16 UTC

  Fitch says there is “no risk of contagion” from Greek debt crisis

  

  Euro-zone countries face no risk of “contagion” from the debt and deficit crises afflicting Greece, Portugal and Spain, the chairman of ratings agency Fitch said in an interview with Europe radio 1.

• Monday, February 8th 2010 - 20:29 UTC

  Bid to sell the Falkland Islands as gateway to Antarctica

  

  Informal talks began this week on a proposal to market the Falkland Islands to tourists as the “Gateway to Antarctica”, according to a report from the Penguin News latest edition.

• Monday, February 8th 2010 - 02:11 UTC

  Australia to supply 60 billion USD of coal to China in 20-year period

  

  Australian company Resourcehouse Ltd. announced Saturday that it had struck a 60 billion US dollars, 20-year agreement to supply coal to China Power International Development Ltd., calling it Australia's biggest export contract.

• Monday, February 8th 2010 - 02:04 UTC

  Brazil’s middle class is half the population, but destitute remain at 40%

  

  The Brazilian middle class has grown sustainedly since 2003, when President Lula da Silva first took office and now represents almost half of the country’s population according to a report from the Getulio Vargas foundation released over the weekend.

• Monday, February 8th 2010 - 02:00 UTC

  Former IMF economist has UK in the same bag as Greece, Portugal and Spain

  

  Britain should be seen in the same category of countries as Greece, Portugal and Spain, who are facing severe debt problems, a leading economist has said. Ex-IMF chief economist Simon Johnson, also described the G7 group of leading economies as “fundamentally useless”.

• Monday, February 8th 2010 - 01:58 UTC

  Bank of England to continue buying corporate bonds but with Treasury bills

  

  The Bank of England will continue to buy up corporate bonds despite calling a halt to its Quantitative Easing programme, it has emerged. George Trefgarne from the Centre for Policy Studies highlighted the development in an interview with Sky's Jeff Randall Live programme.

• Monday, February 8th 2010 - 01:56 UTC

  US jobless rate down to 9.7% in January, five month low

  

  The jobless rate in the US has dropped to 9.7%, marking a five-month low. The new figures suggest the labour market is improving, despite employers unexpectedly cutting 20,000 jobs in January.

• Saturday, February 6th 2010 - 03:51 UTC

  Argentina/Brazil set to grow 5%, helping to ease bilateral “trade relations”

  

  Argentina and Brazil closed Friday in Buenos Aires two days of high level negotiations which should help ease bilateral trade relations tension particularly since both countries economies are forecasted to grow at 5% during 2010.