The European Commission is expected to set deadlines on Tuesday for France, Greece, Ireland, Spain and the UK to rein in their swelling budget deficits. Under EU rules, countries are expected to keep their budget shortfalls below 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Global trade will experience its biggest annual drop in more than 40 years this year, the World Trade Organization said Monday. In its annual trade outlook, the WTO said that the economic recession will cut the desire for the countries to do business with one another in 2009, slicing the actual volume of exports by 9%.
United States announced Monday details of a plan to buy up to one trillion US dollars worth of toxic assets to help repair banks' balance sheets. The Public-Private Investment Programme will purchase the troubled mortgages and securities that have been at the root of the credit crunch.
British Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said that UK motor companies will survive if they take the right decisions despite another huge monthly fall in car production. Official figures showed the number of cars made in the UK last month fell 59% compared with February 2008, while commercial vehicle production slumped by 71.6%.
A key adviser within US President Barack Obama's administration says she is incredibly confident the US economy will recover within 12 months. Christina Romer, head of the White House's economic advice council, told Fox TV we will be seeing signs the economy is turning around.
United States banks lost 32.1 billion US dollars in the last quarter of 2008 - even worse than the 26.2 billion originally reported, US federal regulators say.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday almost tripled his government's borrowing plan and trimmed his budget to offset a slide in oil revenues, but resisted pressure to devalue the local bolivar currency.
Uruguay completed this week the first South American export of live dairy cattle to China. A total of 3.970 Holstein calves and heifers (8 to 18 months old) were shipped for the thirty day journey which will be followed by two month quarantine in mainland China.
With the master touch of Brazilian diplomacy the Friday regional summit with Argentina not only sent a clear political message of understanding between Mercosur main partners, but also evidence of that close coordination.
Argentine visiting president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva called on Friday for speedier financing of joint development and commerce projects to help stimulate decreasing bilateral trade.