Economy

• Friday, August 7th 2009 - 11:41 UTC

  Jobs outlook in China remains “very grave” warn officials

  

  China's job outlook remains “very grave” and could deteriorate further, a senior official has said. The government is under “enormous pressure” to create jobs, said Wang Yadong at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security

• Friday, August 7th 2009 - 11:34 UTC

  German icon of auto industry sees few signs of lasting recovery

  

  Germanys’ carmaker BMW has said it sees few signs of a lasting economic recovery after it reported profits down by three-quarters for the April to June period. Net profit was 121 million Euros, down 76% from a year ago, with car sales down by nearly a fifth.

• Friday, August 7th 2009 - 11:32 UTC

  Chilean “tsunami” at wine contest in Santiago

  

  Chilean winemakers nearly swept an international wine contest in July, winning all but a few accolades at the event. The contest, Vinalies Cata d’or América Latina 2009, was held at the Hyatt Hotel in Santiago The competition, put on by Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia.

• Friday, August 7th 2009 - 07:02 UTC

  ECB says recession is “bottoming out” and predicts positive growth in 2010

  

  The European Central Bank (ECB) has said on Thursday it expects to see growth returning to the global economy next year as it kept interest rates on hold at 1%. However economic activity is likely to remain weak this year.

• Friday, August 7th 2009 - 03:38 UTC

  Bank of England pumps an additional £ 50 billion to the economy

  

  The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee decided on Thursday to maintain the official bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5% and voted to boost the money supply with an additional £ 50 billion to £ 175 billion to aid the flagging UK economy. The announced program is expected to take another three months to be completed.

• Thursday, August 6th 2009 - 16:38 UTC

  Argentina tries to replace Colombia as supplier of vehicles to Venezuela

  

  Argentina's car and car part manufacturers will travel to Venezuela next week to attempt to capitalize on Venezuela decision to cancel imports from neighboring Colombia. The trade mission will be led by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the Production Minister said in a press release Wednesday.

• Thursday, August 6th 2009 - 16:17 UTC

  Soaring bad debts at Lloyds Banking Group but “worst is over”

  

  Lloyds Banking Group which has been partly nationalized by the British government blamed soaring bad debt charges of £13.4 billion on reckless lending at HBOS, but predicted the worst is over.

• Thursday, August 6th 2009 - 16:14 UTC

  China appeases peasants with partly subsidized new pension scheme

  

  The Chinese government is to introduce a new pension scheme for the country's hundreds of millions of rural workers. The minister for social security announced that a trial scheme would be extended across China by October.

• Wednesday, August 5th 2009 - 12:39 UTC

  Lula da Silva boasts Brazil now advises the IMF

  

  President Lula da Silva said that Brazil is climbing out, and strengthened, from the deep global financial crisis and underlined that “Brazil is now advising the International Monetary Fund, IMF”.

• Tuesday, August 4th 2009 - 10:44 UTC

  Argentina pays bond and seeks to return to global capital markets

  

  Argentina paid creditors a total of 2.25 billion dollars on government-issued debt Monday, as it sought to shed the last vestiges of its 2001 default and return to the financial mainstream. Economy Minister Amado Boudou said the payment, or coupon, had been made to holders of dollar-denominated Boden 2012 bonds -- meeting a debt obligation that aims to boost confidence.