A U.S. drive to build a more balanced global economy gained the qualified support of China on Wednesday in a sign that Group of 20 leaders may be ready to take joint action to prevent future economic crises. U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders of the G20 major developed and developing countries are due
More
The price index of construction materials for August 2009 reached 117.43 (base year 2005=100.00), recording an increase of 0.28% over the previous month. However, compared with the same period of the previous year, construction prices were down 6.9%. For the period January – August 2009, the index recorded a decrease of 3.07% over the corresponding
More
On the basis of the results of the Passenger Survey, revenue from tourism reached EUR 234.8 mln in August 2009 compared to EUR 278.0 mln in the corresponding month of the previous year, recording a decrease of 15.6%. For the period January – August 2009 revenue from tourism is estimated to EUR 1,033.1 mln compared
More
Travelling abroad on holiday was not as fashionable among Cypriots in August 2009 as it was in August 2008, according to the latest figures from the Statistical Service’s Passengers’ Survey. According to the Survey, 166,548 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in August 2009 compared with 173,062 in the corresponding month last year,
More
The unemployment rate in Cyprus climbed to 5.2% in the second quarter, from 3.1% in the same quarter of 2008, according to the results of the EU-compatible quarterly Labour Force Survey. The male unemployment rate was 4.9% and the female unemployment rate 5.5%. Youth unemployment remained much higher than the average. The unemployment rate for
More
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner argued forcefully on Wednesday for creating a government agency to protect financial consumers, while giving cautious support to paring back its scope. Amid stiff resistance by banks and Republicans to the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Geithner told a House of Representatives committee the new watchdog is needed to fix
More
U.S. mortgage applications jumped last week to their highest since late May as interest rates tumbled below 5 percent, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchase and refinance loans, for the week to September 18 increased 12.8 percent
More
U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Wednesday to work for "balanced and sustained" growth at a G20 summit in Pittsburgh this week, saying financial regulation needed strengthening to put an end to the "greed, excess and abuse" that caused the financial crisis. "We will work with the world's largest economies to chart a course for
More
U.S. stocks were little changed in early trading on Wednesday as investors cooled their heels ahead of a Federal Reserve policy statement. With the Fed likely to keep interest rates unchanged, investors will focus on whether the central bank will signal any change in a policy that has flooded markets with cheap money. The Fed's
More
Bank of England policymakers papered over August's split on the appropriate scale of quantitative easing this month, after Governor Mervyn King held back on pressing for a bigger expansion to the scheme. Minutes of the BoE's Sept. 9-10 Monetary Policy Committee meeting showed King and external MPC member David Miles voted with the rest of
More