Economic News

Some of the world largest firms will join a "public-private partnership" to help the United Nations achieve its Millennium Development Goals. They called on all companies to help the "bottom one billion people" living on less than one dollar a day. Companies can pledge their specific contribution at a London summit in May, said UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. However, campaigner and rockstar Bono warned that pledges would not be enough and that a binding contract was needed. "Then the world  ...

(Updates prices, adds details) LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Oil climbed back above 90 usd as demand worries faded slightly amid a recovery in global equity markets, and after US lawmakers gave details of an economic stimulus package aimed at averting a recession. The US has proposed 150 bln usd worth of tax rebates and investment credits. The move comes just a week before the Federal Reserve is  ...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The dollar regained some ground against the euro as equity markets came off their earlier highs, although the general recovery in risk appetite is keeping it under pressure. The euro rallied strongly yesterday and overnight as stock markets began to recover some of the week's earlier losses, and as expectations for a euro zone interest rate cut began to fade. With lit ...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said authorities should not fall into the trap of excessive regulation, protectionism or inaction following the global market turmoil of recent months. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Brown said: "There is a real danger that we fall for the three familiar responses that we've seen in past difficulties over previous de ...

BANGKOK (Thomson Financial) - Thailand's economy is expected to grow by up to 6 percent this year but export-led growth could be stunted due to high oil prices and a slowdown in the US economy, the central bank said Friday. The economy is expected to expand by 4.5-6.0 percent in 2008, compared with the estimated 4.8-percent growth in 2007, said Duangmanee Vongpradhip, deputy governor of the Bank  ...

(Adds detail, further quotes) LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said authorities should not fall into the trap of excessive regulation, protectionism or inaction following the global market turmoil of recent months. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Brown said: "There is a real danger that we fall for the three familiar responses that we'v ...

(Adds Brown criticism of IMF, World Bank, UN) LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said authorities should not fall into the trap of excessive regulation, protectionism or inaction following the global market turmoil of recent months. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Brown said: "There is a real danger that we fall for the three familiar res ...

VILNIUS (Thomson Financial) - Lithuania's gross domestic product surged by 10 pct in 2007 compared with the previous year, according to preliminary figures released by the economy ministry. Like neighbouring Latvia and Estonia, Lithuania has one of the fastest-growing economies in the European Union, which all three Baltic countries joined in 2004, 13 years after winning back their independence f ...

(Updates with further quotes, details, background) CAPE TOWN (Thomson Financial) - Future large industrial projects in South Africa could be at risk due to the power crisis currently crippling the country, according to Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin. "There is no question of stopping contracted projects or freezing any new projects. What will happen is more systematic scheduling and ...

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged countries around the world to be less closed to trade and investment to help offset the risk of a downturn in the global economy. "We have to be less protectionist," Brown said at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday, where the top businessmen and policy makers have argued over how to respond to the prosp ...