Economy

• Monday, March 2nd 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  “Public opinion” court will not accept UK banker's pension

  

  Sir Fred Goodwin will not get his ?650,000-plus pension even if he is legally entitled to it, Commons Leader Harriet Harman vowed in the strongest Government attack yet on the former banking chief.

• Monday, March 2nd 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Argentine peso slides under “managed devaluation”

  

  The Argentine peso continued to slide against the US dollar on Monday having lost four cents closing at 3.62. This has been the non official Central Bank policy of “managed devaluation” to help boost the country's exports and keep pace with the currency depreciation of Argentina's main trading partner, Brazil's Real.

• Monday, March 2nd 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Latam expansion forecast 0.7%, but recovery late 2010

  Latinamerican economies are forecasted to expand 0.7% this year, well below the 4.2% of 2008, but a surprising performance, if proved right, when all major economies face negative estimates.

• Sunday, March 1st 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  US economy recorded lowest growth in '08 since '01: 1.1%

  The US economy shrank by 6.2% in the last three months of 2008, official figures have shown, a far sharper fall than had previously been reported. Plunging exports and the biggest fall in consumer spending in 28 years dragged the annualised figure down from an earlier estimate of 3.8%.

• Sunday, March 1st 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Venezuela's Chavez sends soldiers to take over rice mills

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sent troops on Saturday to temporarily take over rice processing plants. Chavez accused some firms of overcharging by refusing to produce rice at prices set by the government and warned some companies could be nationalised if they tried to interfere with supplies of the grain.

• Sunday, March 1st 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Plant closures cause turmoil in Brazilian cattle industry

  Brazil's fourth largest Brazilian exporter of beef has halted slaughtering operations at all 11 of its plants and sent workers home, local Brazilian media reports. In addition, Independencia has not paid cattle suppliers for several days and has returned most cattle to suppliers.

• 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.