Economy

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 10:47 UTC

  General Motors record sales in China’s booming car market

  

  General Motors and affiliate companies in China sold almost 1.3 million cars in the first nine months of 2009, with September a record month, according to a release from the main offices in Detroit.

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 08:37 UTC

  Markets’ expecting more signals in support of the dollar from US officials

  

  Following a week when the US dollar plunged to record lows forcing some Asian banks to support the greenback, money markets are looking for new signals that the US government is committed to a strong US dollar as was implicitly anticipated by the Federal Reserve.

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 08:03 UTC

  Chilean safeguard 15% tariff on dairy imports does not apply in Punta Arenas

  

  The 15% safeguard tariff imposed by the Chilean government on imports of powder milk (whole and skimmed) and certain types of cheese from Argentina and Uruguay, does not apply to Punta Arenas in the extreme south of the country.

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 07:47 UTC

  British government to sell assets to help balance public finances

  

  The British Government is to sell off £16 billion of assets as part of moves to restore stability to the public finances, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to announce. Details of an initial round of sales that could raise £3 billion - including the Tote, the Dartford crossing, the Channel Tunnel rail link, and the Student Loan book.

• Friday, October 9th 2009 - 11:55 UTC

  Turbulence ahead for world rice market as stockpiles plunge

  

  Rice stockpiles of the world’s five largest exporters are forecast to plunge by a third to the lowest level in five years, and below last year when prices surged to a record, according to Concepction Calpe, senior economist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

• Friday, October 9th 2009 - 11:09 UTC

  Who is to replace US consumer as the global growth engine?

  

  Since the United States consumer is no longer the main global growth engine, experts are expecting China to take over the role, although they are also looking for other locomotives in other regions of the world to help with economic recovery.

• Friday, October 9th 2009 - 10:12 UTC

  Economist Roubini warns about “the seeds of the next crisis”

  

  The US economist widely credited with having predicted the financial crisis has warned we are already “planting the seeds of the next crisis”. Nouriel Roubini told the BBC that he is concerned about the growing gap between the “bubbly and frothy” stock markets and the real economy.

• Friday, October 9th 2009 - 10:08 UTC

  Euro-zone leaves rates unchanged: “uncertainty remains high”

  

  The European Central Bank left the main rate at 1% and President Jean Claude Trichet said at a press conference in Venice on Thursday that the ECB has no plans to raise borrowing costs, describing their level as “appropriate”.

• Friday, October 9th 2009 - 05:42 UTC

  Bank of England “wait and see policy” leaves QE unchanged at £ 175 billion

  

  The Bank of England voted Thursday to hold interest rates at its 0.5% record low and continue with its £175 billion program to boost the money supply at its latest two-day meeting. The decision was taken despite concerns over the fragility of the UK recovery from recession.

• Thursday, October 8th 2009 - 11:19 UTC

  Cuba confirms there is no such thing as a free lunch and ends free meals

  

  Economist Nobel Milton Friedman use to say there is no such thing as a free lunch - but for years the majority of Cubans have been given free meals at state-run workplace canteens.