Monthly Archives: January 2010

Kenya fiscal stimulus may still be needed

There are signs the global economy is rebounding but Kenya should keep assessing its economic performance before reducing or removing its fiscal stimulus, the World Bank’s country director said recently. Kenya put in about one percent of its GDP as fiscal stimulus in its 2009/10 budget after suffering the triple shocks of post-election violence, drought…

China tries to curb lending and avoid overheating

Chinese authorities ordered some big banks to curb lending for the rest of January, intensifying their efforts to prevent the world’s third-largest economy from overheating. The news weighed down stocks in Asia and Europe and oil fell towards $78 a barrel on fears that demand in China, the world economy’s main source of growth, may…

Japan Inc set to file for bankruptcy

Japan Airlines Corp is set to file for one of the country’s largest ever bankruptcies on Tuesday, marking the failure of the former state-owned carrier that once symbolised Japan Inc’s international aspirations. JAL, Asia’s largest airline by revenues, will remain in the skies under a state-backed restructuring plan as it tries to free itself from…

Uganda awaits formal oilfield deal from firms

Uganda’s oil minister said Kampala was waiting for documents about the sale of Heritage Oil’s assets, and stressed that neither Heritage nor partner Tullow Oil had consulted the government on the deals. Tullow has exercised a right to buy Ugandan oil fields from Heritage, potentially derailing ambitions to expand in Africa by Italy’s Eni, which…

UN to launch Haiti appeal for $550m

Thousands of people injured in Tuesday’s massive earthquake in the Caribbean country spent another night waiting for help, many lying on sidewalks, as their despair turned to anger. A spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 17 search and rescue teams were deployed in the capital Port-au-Prince, with six…

Car makers may face tougher CO2 curbs

The 27-country bloc has set manufacturers a goal of cutting emissions from new cars by around 15 percent by 2015, after a lengthy battle that pitted environmentalists against auto-making nations France, Germany and Italy. “It can be important to try and review – did we go far enough at the time? Because this is a…

UN sanctions no deterrence for Eritrean mining

Eritrea is seen on the threshold of a mining boom, with hopes it may boost an agriculture-based economy that has suffered from irregular rainfall. The UN voted last year to punish Eritrea for its alleged support of Islamist insurgents in Somalia. The decision initially weighed on Nevsun’s shares. Stanley Rogers, the head of the Bisha…

Japan retail mutual funds value jumps in 2009

The value of Japanese trust funds aimed at retail investors rebounded 18 percent in 2009 as global share prices and economies recovered from the previous year’s financial crisis, an industry group announced recently. Japanese individuals, who hold $15trn in savings – with much of that parked in low-yielding accounts – shifted some of their savings…

China fuel exports seen flat to lower

February gasoline exports will likely remain steady versus January levels due to high refinery runs, though icy weather has disrupted some cargo flows at northeastern ports, they said. Other than this, the key refineries in the northeast have so far seen few disruptions to inbound crude cargoes or outbound fuel shipments, industry sources said, after…

Greece pledges to cut deficit

Greece’s three-year fiscal consolidation plan targets a budget deficit of 2.8 percent of GDP in 2012, the finance minister has announced. Greece, whose fiscal ills have prompted ratings downgrades and higher borrowing costs, is under pressure from markets and EU peers to take drastic action to restore its public finances. “According to the plan, the…