Category: Other

WASHINGTON, Jan 22, 2008 (AFP) – The Federal Reserve’s emergency rate cut Tuesday will deliver a jolt of stimulus to an ailing US economy but may be too little and too late to avert a painful recession, analysts say. Economists say the surprise cut of three-fourths of a percentage point, the largest since the central […]

LONDON, Jan 23, 2008 (AFP) – The current crisis in the world financial markets is the worst “in 60 years”, billionaire investor George Soros wrote in the Financial Times on Wednesday. In his comment piece, Soros warned that while a global recession could be held off by strong growth rates in the developing world, the […]

WASHINGTON, Jan 22, 2008 (AFP) – Southeast Asia will face stiffer export competition from China and likely bear the brunt of any impact in Asia from a major economic slowdown in the United States, an IMF official said Tuesday.But Beijing would probably raise government spending, particularly on infrastructure investment, to keep the economy chugging along […]

January 23, 2008 (LBO) — The Maldive Islands, a key market of two listed Sri Lankan leisure groups, greeted over 600,000 holidaymakers in 2007, the tourism ministry said, boosted by visitors from Britain, Italy and Germany. Tourism, which accounts for about a third of an economy of just under a billion dollars, grew a “record” […]

WASHINGTON, Jan 22, 2008 (AFP) – The US Federal Reserve slashed its key federal funds short-term interest rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 3.50 percent Tuesday amid sharp falls on global stock markets. The Fed announced its move shortly before US stock markets were due to open for trading and amid increasing […]

BRUSSELS, Jan 21, 2008 (AFP) – Top European finance officials sounded the alarm on Monday about a possible US recession as fears about the health of the world’s biggest economy plunged global stocks deep into the red. “The situation is continuing to deteriorate in the United States,” Luxembourg Finance Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said after chairing […]

RIYADH, Jan 22, 2008 (AFP) – The Saudi stock market, by far the largest in the Arab world, dropped sharply at the end of trading Tuesday, shedding almost the maximum permissible 10 percent on economic concerns and profit-taking.The Tadawul All-Shares Index shed 9.7 percent to finish below the 10,000-point psychological barrier on 9,338.54 points. The […]

PARIS, Jan 22, 2008 (AFP) – Leaders in Asia and Europe appealed for calm Tuesday and called for international cooperation in the face of a galloping global meltdown on world stock markets sparked by fears of a US recession. Asian markets experienced a day of heavy losses, with Hong Kong share prices suffering their biggest […]

BRUSSELS, Jan 22, 2008 (AFP) – The European Commission’s top economic official, Joaquin Almunia, called Tuesday on the United States to tackle its deficits, which he said were the root cause of financial market turmoil. Amid concern in Europe that a US government recovery plan would not avert a recession, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs […]

LONDON, Jan 21, 2008 (AFP) – Global stock markets plunged on Monday as US President George W.Bush’s tax plan to revive the world’s largest economy disappointed investors. “Investor scepticism over the impact of a temporary tax cut in saving the US economy from a sharp slowdown in economic growth prompted heavy selling” in equities, said […]