Forex / Economy news

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The government has been severely criticised by a group of MPs for not outlining the costs of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and for spending in the current year without parliamentary approval.The House of Commons defence select committee said it was "entirely unacceptable" that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) refused to show all its estimated annual spending at the start of the financial year as other departments are required to...

RIGA (Thomson Financial) - Consumer prices in Latvia rose 8.8 pct in June from the same month of last year, compared to an 8.2 pct rise in May and 8.9 pct in April, the national statistics bureau said.Month-on-month, the June inflation rate was 0.9 pct, after a 0...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The UK's budgetary deficit in the 2006/07 financial year was 2.7 pct of gross domestic product and its borrowing was equivalent to 42.5 pct, updated data from the office for National Statistics showed.The figures, provided by the statistics office to monitor the UK's compliance with the Maastricht Treaty, are consistent with the initial readings of 2...

BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso will discuss the French deficit when he meets French president Nicolas Sarkozy here this afternoon, Barroso's spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said.Laitenberger told reporters that there is no formal agenda for the meeting, which he said will be "just part of the exchange of views between the two major actors who are often in touch over the phone"...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Government data out Monday is forecast to show consumer borrowing rose in May, compared with the prior month, signaling shoppers' willingness to spend and perhaps an economic rebound.The Federal Reserve releases its May consumer credit report at 3 p...

BERLIN (Thomson Financial) - German industrial output rose a seasonally adjusted 1.9 pct in May from April, beating a consensus forecast, according to preliminary data from the Economy and Technology Ministry.Economists polled by Thomson Financial had expected an increase of 1...

TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) - Taiwan's exports in June grew 11.0 pct year-on-year to a record 20.09 bln usd, compared with a 3.5 pct rise to 19.58 bln usd posted in May, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said.Imports in June rose 10.7 pct year-on-year to 18.68 bln usd, also a record, after a 0...

VIENNA (Thomson Financial) - The Austrian government said it expects the country's real gross domestic product to grow by more than 3 pct in 2007 on strong exports, and stated its goal of achieving a "nearly balanced budget" by 2009.In an economic report presented this morning, Austria's coalition government said that strong export-related growth in the production sector was playing a central role in keeping the country's economy growing at a rate similar to last year's real GDP growth of 3...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The pound resisted a temporary dip after the PPI data for June came in just short of market expectations to remain at strong levels.The PPI data showed that output prices rose 0.2 pct in June from the previous month, falling back from May's 0...

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japan's Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd said it will raise its long-term prime lending rate for July to 2.55 percent from 2.45 percent for June, effective Tuesday.The long-term prime rate is the interest rate charged on loans of one year or longer to a bank's most creditworthy customers...

BUDAPEST (Thomson Financial) - Hungary's Economy Minister Janos Koka said the budget deficit will fall to 3 pct of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2009, according to the financial daily Vilaggazdasag.At 9.2 pct of GDP Hungary recorded the highest deficit in the European Union last year but a series of austerity measures such as tax hikes and regulated price increases could see this reduced to 6...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Producers in the UK increased their prices at a slightly slower rate in June, while growth in their input costs edged up, official figures showed.The office for National Statistics said producers' output prices -- which are monitored by the Bank of England as a signal of pipeline inflation -- rose 0...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - Goldman Sachs forecast that China's gross national product (GDP) will grow 12 pct in the third quarter, powered by a 20 pct increase in industrial production and over 30 pct rise in fixed asset investment.The forecast was based on recent M3 money supply trends, it said...

BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - EU finance ministers are not expected to make a decision on a candidate to head the IMF during their monthly meeting tomorrow, a source for the EU's presidency said.The source said ministers are likely to exchange views on a replacement for Rodrigo Rato, the current managing director, who unexpectedly announced last month he will step down in October...

BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - France and other EU member states must respect their deficit commitments, a source with the EU's Portuguese presidency reiterated.The comment came as French president Nicolas Sarkozy prepares to tell tonight's gathering of euro zone finance ministers of his plans to delay by two years the elimination of the French deficit...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - The Ministry of Commerce said Switzerland has granted China market-economy status and also agreed to evaluate the feasibility of setting up a Sino-Swiss free trade area.The agreement was reached between Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and the Swiss economy minister, Doris Leuthard, during their talks in Beijing yesterday, it said...

COPENHAGEN (Thomson Financial) - The balance of payments showed a surplus of 5.1 bln dkr in May compared with a revised surplus of 1.4 bln dkr in April, Statistics Denmark reported.In May 2006, the balance of payments surplus was 6.4 bln dkr, it said...

WIESBADEN, Germany (Thomson Financial) - Germany's trade surplus in May rose to 17.5 bln eur from 15.0 bln in April and 12.8 bln in May last year, according to unadjusted provisional figures from the Federal Statistics Office.Economists polled by Thomson Financial had forecast a trade surplus of 15...

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japan's economy watchers' index, which measures the perception of workers with jobs sensitive to economic trends, dropped in June, posting its third consecutive monthly decline, the Cabinet Office said Monday.The index for current conditions fell to 46...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China's central bank is finding less room to mop up liquidity in the banking system through the issue of sterilization papers and should look to using other policy tools, a senior researcher at a government think tank said.Xia Bin, director of the finance department at the Development Research Center, a think tank under the State Council (cabinet), said that the increasing cost of paper is reducing the bank's ability to maneuver as it tries to offset the effects of a rising trade surplus and growing foreign investment...