Economy

• Sunday, March 1st 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Euro-zone: record high jobless: record low inflation

  Euro-zone unemployment rose more than economists expected in January and inflation slowed. The jobless rate in the Euro zone increased to 8.2%, the highest in more than two years, from 8.1% in December, the European Union statistics office in Luxembourg said Friday.

• Sunday, March 1st 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Argentine farmers and grain traders warn government

  Argentine farmers' organizations announced they would fight a reported plan to nationalize grain trading, warning that such a move would deepen a long-running conflict between the government and agricultural groups.

• Sunday, March 1st 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Scandinavian region faces worst recession in 17 years

  

  The Scandinavian region economic downturn was highlighted this week when Denmark confirmed it was in the worst recession in three decades while output in Sweden and Finland shrank the most in at least 17 years.

• Friday, February 27th 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Japan falls deeper into recession

  

  Japan's economy is sinking deeper into recession, the country's finance minister has warned, as new figures show industrial production plunged a record 10 per cent in January.

• Thursday, February 26th 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Argentina's January exports drop 36%; trade surplus 27%

  

  Argentina's exports plunged 36% in January and the trade surplus shrank 27% compared to a year ago according to the latest figures released Wednesday by the country's Statistics Office, Indec.

• Thursday, February 26th 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  IMF interested in resuming dialogue with Argentina

  

  The International Monetary Fund is interested in resuming dialogue with Argentina, a fund spokesman said on Thursday, indicating ties may be thawing between Buenos Aires and the Washington-based multilateral organization.

• Thursday, February 26th 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Banker challenges PM Brown “failure should not be rewarded”

  

  Former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin has written to the Treasury indicating he will not voluntarily give up his pension, it has been revealed. Sir Fred is coming under increasing pressure to give up at least part of the pension, worth an estimated ?693,000-a-year, which he is already receiving at the age of 50 under an early retirement deal agreed with the RBS board when he was forced out last October.

• Thursday, February 26th 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  UK scheme to unload banks' toxic assets and recover confidence

  

  The United Kingdom Treasury has launched a taxpayer-backed scheme to insure banks' riskiest assets against further losses. The scheme aims to clean up banks' balance sheets and to encourage them to lend more freely.

• Thursday, February 26th 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Obama unveils 3.6 trillion 2010 budget; 250 billion for banks

  

  President Barack Obama has unveiled a 3.6 trillion US dollars budget for 2010, aiming to pull the US out of financial crisis. Obama predicted the budget deficit for the current year will be 1.75 trillion US dollars, which is 12.3% of annual output and the biggest since World War II.

• Wednesday, February 25th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile's oil company ENAP reports net loss of a billion USD

  

  Chile's government owned oil and gas corporation, ENAP reported a net loss of 958 million US dollars in 2008 after the company's refinery unit lost money on purchasing imported crude oil.