The Bank of Japan has said it needs to do more to foster economic growth and renewed its commitment to ultra-loose monetary policy even as it forecast consumer prices would start rising again sooner than earlier thought. As expected, the central bank refrained from new action at its policy meeting and kept its benchmark rate…
Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein told American television recently that he retains the support of the board as well as support from clients since the SEC accused the powerful but embattled bank of fraud earlier in April. Blankfein, after testifying for more than three hours before the Senate’s permanent investigations subcommittee, maintained…
Taiwan and China aim to sign a landmark free trade-style agreement by June aimed at bringing the political rivals closer while opening the often-isolated island’s $390bn economy to trade pacts around the world. The economic cooperation framework (ECFA) agreement between economic powerhouse China and export-reliant Taiwan would conclude two years of trade and transit talks…
US firms working in China are more concerned about regulatory and policy issues than about pushing China to revalue its currency, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce said in Beijing recently. American businesses are encountering new obstacles to market access as China’s growing economy leads them to expand deeper into inland provinces, AmCham…
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou asked for the activation of an EU/IMF aid package on April 23 aimed at pulling the nation out of a debt crisis. “It is a national and imperative need to officially ask our partners in the EU for the activation of the support mechanism we jointly created,” Papandreou said in…
New Zealand is growing more strongly than expected but the recovery is still patchy and the government will face high deficits and borrowing for several years yet, Finance Minister Bill English said in a speech recently. He said the economy had emerged from the global slowdown and domestic recession in better shape than many other…
General Motors Co has completed repayments totaling $5.8bn to the US and Canadian governments for loans that helped fund the US automaker’s bailout last year, the company has announced. GM, which emerged from bankruptcy in July 2009, had pledged to repay the balance of loans from the US Treasury and Export Development Canada “in full…
“We will present a Ukrainian draft programme for cooperation with the IMF over the next two an a half years. It’s a new programme aimed at supporting economic growth”, Tigipko told reporters. “I think such a programme might hover around $12bn,” he said. The ex-Soviet republic of 46 million people, which needs fresh IMF credit…
Goldman’s results came four days after the firm was accused of fraud by the US SEC in the structuring and marketing of a debt product tied to subprime mortgages. “On the face of it, Goldman’s numbers are pretty good, which they do time and time again,” said David Morrison, market strategist for GFT Global Markets…
The conflict between Serbs, Muslims and Croats may no longer be waged with heavy artillery and ethnic cleansing, but a toxic combination of de facto partition, obstruction and graft by politicians in each group keeps a stranglehold on the economy. “What sort of investment can we expect when our political leaders are sending such very…
