Global Financial Crisis – International

RP not alone, as bank halves Asia forecasts The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday further slashed the country’s economic growth forecast this year, because of weak consumer spending and investment caused by the global financial crisis.

BRUSSELS—Unemployment in the 16 countries using the euro rose in February to 8.5 percent to hit the highest level in close to three years, according to official EU data on Wednesday.

FAIR Trade Alliance called on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to review the country’s current external trade policies in light of the global slowdown.

LONDON (AFP) – The 20 world leaders heading for a London summit this week on how to save the global economy are fighting off talk of an inter-continental split even before they sit down for talks.

WASHINGTON – Newspaper ad revenues in the United States have fallen 23 percent in the last two years and because of the recession 2009 may be the worst year yet, said an annual report on the health and status of American journalism.

I MENTIONED LAST WEEK how various East Asian scholars, in a recent forum in Tokyo, affirmed the need for East Asia to rethink and rework the export-driven growth model that had propelled the region’s economies in recent decades.

PARIS (Xinhua) — The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said on Friday the world economy may need more stimulus in 2010, and governments should be prepared to do more.

THREE global crises converged to threaten development in Asia and the Pacific in 2008: A Great Recession in developed countries, food and fuel price volatility and climate change calamities.

THE Asia-Pacific region is not recession proof.

Brussels30 March 2009 (ITUC OnLine): A new report released by the International Trade Union Confederation predicts a worsening of the already serious global food crisis unless urgent action is taken by governments and international agencies. The number of people without enough to eat increased by 150 million in 2008, and the global economic crisis is…

BANGKOK: Asia and the Pacific face a “marked risk” of social unrest as the global financial crisis bites, but the region continues to lead international prospects for recovery, a United Nation survey said Thursday.

UN General Assembly, 25 to 27 March, 2009 Member States of the UN General Assembly participating in the Interactive Thematic Dialogue of 25 to 27 March 2009 viewed the dialogue as an opportunity to build worldwide consensus for global action to address the deepening crisis. The Interim Report of the Commission of Experts on reforms…

MANILA, Philippines – Nearly 90 million jobs are needed to absorb the new entrants in the labor market and cut short the ongoing global financial and job crisis, the International Labor Organization (ILO) reported yesterday.

Geneva (Kanaga Raja) — There has been an increase in tariffs, new non-tariff measures, and more resort to trade defence measures such as anti-dumping actions by WTO Members since the start of this year, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said on Thursday.

BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand’s government began handing out 2,000 baht ($55) checks to millions of low-income workers Thursday to stimulate an economy battered by the global financial crisis.

GENEVA (AFP) – – World trade volumes are expected to drop by an average of nine percent in 2009, the sharpest fall since World War II, the World Trade Organisation said Monday.

GENEVA (AFP): The state of the global economy remains “extremely worrying and difficult,” IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said yesterday as optimism surged worldwide thanks to a new US banking plan. “The situation remains extremely worrying and difficult. It is the first setback for the world economy in over 50 years,” Strauss-Kahn said during an International…

WASHINGTON — MUCH ATTENTION IS BEING GIVEN TO the April 2 Summit Meeting in London of the leaders of countries represented in the so-called Group of Twenty (G-20), who describe themselves as an informal grouping of finance ministers and central bank governors of “systemically important” industrialized and developing economies.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – One in five U.S. workers say the recession is causing them mental health problems, as they battle anxiety and fear over the potential loss of their jobs, new research shows.

WASHINGTON: The global economy will shrink for the first time in 60 years in 2009, the International Monetary Fund warned yesterday as EU leaders balked at growing US pressure to spend more to ease the crisis.

BEIJING: The world economy is likely to shrink in 2009 despite growth in Asian powerhouses China and India, the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurria said Friday, warning of a first global contraction in 60 years.

The EU has said it may double to 50bn euros (£47bn; $68bn) the amount of emergency funding to help member states that need urgent budget support.

TOKYO (AP) — A panel of Asian researchers said yesterday the global financial crisis has underlined the critical need for the region to grow less export-dependent and instead foster domestic demand.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the US sinking deeper into recession, the Federal Reserve launched a bold $1.2-trillion effort Wednesday to lower rates on mortgages and other consumer debt, spur spending and revive the economy.

The world economy is set to shrink by between 0.5% and 1.0% in 2009, the first global contraction in 60 years.

As vessels are laid up owing to sharp falls in world trade, up to 40,000 Filipino seafarers working for Japanese shipping companies stand to lose their jobs this year, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said yesterday.

It’s clear that the current recession is not going to be a fleeting phenomenon. Managers need to learn how to lead under extraordinary marketplace pressures and decreased morale, amid pay cuts, spending cuts on strategic projects, and staff reductions. As a leader, you can get through this mess in a positive manner if you take…

MANILA, Philippines—For Asia to overcome the global economic crisis, the region needs to develop more robust social protection systems for its people, a top ranking United Nations official visiting here said Wednesday.

BANGKOK – The Philippines and Indonesia will be the only economies in Southeast Asia to record growth this year but that growth will be sharply slower than in previous years with Indonesia hit by falling prices of commodities, the bulk of its exports.

Edited version of address at the Employment and Social Policy Committee, International Labour Organisation, 17 March 2009.