Economy

• Saturday, May 2nd 2009 - 09:55 UTC

  Panama Canal announces four-month rates reduction period

  

  Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced a temporary plan that will provide short-term cost reduction and greater flexibility to its Reservation System. The temporary measures, designed to help mitigate the impact of the economic crisis on the Canal's clients, were approved by the ACP Board of Directors earlier in the week, said spokesmen.

• Friday, May 1st 2009 - 00:28 UTC

  US government “surgical” bankruptcy of Chrysler warning for GM

  

  President Barack Obama said Thursday that Chrysler will file a historic bankruptcy shortly, backed by up to 3.5 billion US dollars in new government aid designed to allow a Chrysler-Fiat partnership to emerge from court in 30 to 60 days.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 23:33 UTC

  Europe’s unemployment highest in three years: 20 million jobless

  

  Europe’s unemployment rate rose to the highest in more than three years with 20 million jobless in March and inflation held at a record low, increasing pressure on the European Central Bank to take steps to tackle the worst recession in half a century.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 12:35 UTC

  Brazil lowers basic interest rate to a record 10.25%

  

  Brazil’s Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate Selic for a third-straight time to a record low of 10.25% as it seeks to prevent the sluggish economy from contracting further this year.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 05:14 UTC

  Over 100 applicants for US Treasury plan to purchase toxic assets

  

  The United States Treasury Department revealed on Wednesday that over 100 applications have been received from firms seeking to manage the government program to help purchase toxic securities from banks. The US government is relying on private investors to purchase poorly performing real estate investments currently weighing on bank balance sheets.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 05:11 UTC

  US economy contracts 6.1% in first quarter of 2009; exports plunge

  

  The US economy continued to contract in the first quarter of 2009, led by the biggest fall in exports for 40 years. US GDP contracted at an annualised rate of 6.1% during the quarter, little improvement on the 6.3% fall in the last three months of 2008.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 04:44 UTC

  Fed sees recession easing and reiterates expansion of money supply

  

  The US Federal Reserve has kept interest rates on hold at its current range of between zero and 0.25% and has suggested the recession may be easing. It also said it would continue with its “quantitative” current approach of purchasing long-term government debt to expand money supply.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2009 - 11:38 UTC

  Swine flu continues to weight on global shares

  

  Global shares have fallen further in Tuesday trading as the swine flu outbreak continues to weigh on markets. The UK's FTSE 100 finished the day 1.7% lower, while markets in Paris and Frankfurt ended almost 2% down. In the US, Wall Street also saw losses.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2009 - 04:06 UTC

  Output of world’s main iron ore producer plunges 37%

  

  Brazilian mining giant Vale do Rio Doce, the world’s largest iron ore producer and exporter, revealed Tuesday its output plunged 37% in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the same period a year ago, amid a sharp decline in demand.

• Sunday, April 26th 2009 - 08:56 UTC

  World Bank-IMF open crisis talks

  

  Senior officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are meeting in Washington with an aim to combat the world's worst economic slump since the 1930s.