Global Financial Crisis – International

With the U.S. government racing toward $10 trillion in spending and loan guarantees to confront the recession, President Barack Obama on Monday will say it’s time to clamp down on federal expenditures.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday the global economy is rebounding better than anticipated after two years of crisis but warned the recovery remains fragile and fraught with risks.

MANILA, Philippines—The number of jobless worldwide reached nearly 212 million in 2009 following an unprecedented increase of 34 million compared to 2007, on the eve of the global crisis, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in its annual Global Employment Trends report.

Urgent Action Needed on Financial Reform and Jobs Brussels, 26 January 2010 (ITUC OnLine):  Trade union leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos this week will use the occasion to maintain pressure on governments to act urgently to tackle the deepening global employment crisis, and to move ahead with reform and restructuring…

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The global economy is poised to grow 2.7 percent this year after shrinking in 2009, the World Bank said Wednesday in a report highlighting risks to a “fragile” recovery.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund on Thursday declared that a global economic recovery has begun led by Asia, also cautioning that the strength of the rebound depended on a rebalancing of global growth.

The International Monetary Fund head has warned that the global economy could experience another downturn – a so-called double dip recession.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown certainly caused a stir at the G20 finance ministers meeting in St Andrews when he suggested a tax on financial transactions, sometimes called a Tobin tax after the Nobel Prize winning economist James Tobin.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US consumer prices barely rose in December amid a sluggish recovery from recession, official data showed Friday, as falling wages pinched spending that drives most of the world’s largest economy.

MANILA, Philippines – Prospects are bright for Asian economies this year as the region is expected to post higher growth compared to 2009.

WASHINGTON – Top US bankers Wednesday admitted mistakes that led up to the global financial crisis as they came under intensive grilling at a special inquiry into the economic calamity.

Outsourcing providers around the world predict that demand for their services is expanding rapidly, and they are adding staff and investing in new services to meet expected growth, according to a new survey from Duke University’s Offshoring Research Network and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

MANILA, Philippines – Investors in emerging market (EM) nations, including the Philippines, should prepare to exploit privatization opportunities once the economic crisis is over, according to Eurasia Group, a global research and consulting firm.

Spain prime minister has proposed setting binding economic objectives for the EU’s member states under a 10-year plan to boost growth and competiveness.

After meeting with several unemployed San Diego workers this morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka spoke at a rally of workers, union, community and faith leaders calling for creation of a local jobs program.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Factories in Asia stepped up production in December, with China’s output growing at its fastest pace on record, suggesting economic activity is gathering pace in the region that is leading the global recovery. China Manufacturing activity hit a seven-month peak in India last month and it also rose in South Korea, where…

The US manufacturing sector grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years in December, its fifth consecutive month of expansion, adding to hopes of economic improvement in 2010.

SINGAPORE – Asia is leading the world out of global recession, but the financial crisis may yet have a dangerous sting in the tail — the risk of social unrest as unemployment and inequality rise even as economies recover.

global imbalances, read here

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says growth and recovery are expected in 2010 in just about all world regions. For its 30 member countries, rich nations including the US and UK, it has more than doubled its growth forecast to 1.9% for next year, from 0.7%.

NEW YORK – Wall Street stocks edged higher Wednesday after a better than expected report on manufacturing activity, indicating that a recovery from recession was on track.

Asean +3 to set up crisis safety net SEOUL —Fourteen East and Southeast Asian economies said on Monday that they have signed a plan to set up a $120-billion emergency fund known as the Chiang Mai Initiative, Asia’s first move to devise a safety net to shield itself from a financial crisis.

Contact center executives concerned that a recovering economy may force up wages and benefit costs and staff turnover thanks to competition for labor from other employers need not worry about it.

TOKYO: Worries mounted Friday that Japan’s economic recovery is running out of steam as data showed the jobless rate rising and deflation continuing to hobble the World’s No. 2 economy.

MANILA, Philippines – The number of Filipino skilled workers hired in Dubai and other cities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) slightly dropped this year due to the prevailing financial crisis.

WASHINGTON – HOUSEHOLDS pushed their savings rate to the highest level in more than 15 years in May as a big boost in incomes from the government’s stimulus programme was devoted more to bolstering nest eggs than increased spending.

Warns inflation, exit strategies remain critical AFTER A DIFFICULT YEAR, things are looking up for most Asia-Pacific economies, including the Philippines.Ratings firm Standard and Poor’s said all its rated economies in the region were expected to post positive GDP growth in 2010.

HONG KONG: Laden with colorful bags full of gifts, Andy Xu makes his way through Hong Kong’s jam-packed Causeway Bay shopping district apparently unfazed by the past year’s global economic crisis.

We leave behind 2009 thankful that the global financial crisis that rocked the world’s strongest economies in 2008 had been kinder to our island community of 92 million Filipinos.

NEW YORK – More US workers, hoping to make ends meet in the recession, have turned to direct selling, but revenues are not keeping pace with growth in the sales force. The ranks of people selling wares out of their homes, at parties and door-to-door grew by 100,000 last year to 15.1 million in the…