The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed its forecasts for 2009 global growth to 0.5 percent from 2.2 percent in its last economic outlook in November, a Group of 20 (G20) finance official told Reuters on Monday. The fund forecast the U.S. economy to contract 1.6 percent this year compared to an earlier forecast of
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Europe's crisis-hit banks unveiled further job cuts and billions of euros more in losses on Monday but shares in ING and Barclays led a share recovery on hopes they are getting to grips with the financial crisis. ING said it faced a 2008 loss of 1 billion euros, ousted its chief executive and cut 7,000
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The rapidly unraveling U.S. economy is piling pressure on President Barack Obama to try bolder recession-fighting tactics even before all his economic advisers have found their desks. The headlines in the first 72 hours of Obama's term included up to 5,000 job cuts at Microsoft Corp, a gloomy economic outlook from General Electric Co <GE.N>
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An EU policy on mobility should be inseparable part of the general employment policy of the member-states and should be accompanied by measures on a national, EU and bilateral level, Cypriot Minister of Labour and Social Insurance Sotiroulla Charalambous has said. She was addressing the informal meeting of Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs in
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Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyiannis expressed hope that the ongoing direct talks between Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will achieve an agreed settlement, which will terminate the Turkish occupation and reunify the island as a bizonal bicommunal federation with a single sovereignty, international personality and citizenship. Speaking before the
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President of the Polish Parliament (Sejm) Bronislaw Komorowski arrives Tuesday in Cyprus on an official visit, at the invitation of President of the House of Representatives Marios Garoyian. Komorowski will be received by Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and he will have a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Marios Garoyian. He will also have contacts with
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Toyota Motor expects to produce 6.5 million vehicles globally on a parent company basis this year, down more than 20 percent from an estimated 8.2 million last year, the Chunichi newspaper reported. It would be the carmaker's lowest production volume since 2003 and 2004, said the daily, a regional newspaper where Toyota has its main
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Intel Corp Chairman Craig Barrett, the courtly former academic credited with building the company into the world's foremost chip maker, will retire in May after 35 years at the company. Barrett, who turned Intel into one of the technology sector's powerhouses and a global household name, is leaving just when the company is slashing jobs,
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Crisis-hit European banks announced losses and job cuts on Monday, including a shake-up at Dutch financial group ING and a worse-than-expected final quarter from top French bank BNP Paribas. France's biggest bank by market capitalisation expects to post a fourth-quarter net loss of around 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) hit by writedowns and a rise
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Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) Irish unit, Ulster Bank, said on Monday it was merging with its sister lender First Active resulting in the loss of up to 750 jobs. Ulster Bank said the move to amalgamate 60 branches of mortgage provider First Active would mean the reduction of up to 550 staff in the
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