NTUC Blog

Mr Trichet (left) noted that central bankers from industrialised and emerging economies meeting at the Bank for International Settlements agreed that ‘we were observing a confirmation of some better indicators than previously anticipated.’

NEW DELHI (AFP) – – Ministers from key trading nations who agreed to resume stalled talks on a new global free-trade pact say big hurdles remain to clinching a deal that has eluded negotiators for years.

GOVERNMENT officials who are eyeing elective posts have already spent at least P117 million in taxpayers’ money on their so-called infomercials, according to the Commission on Audit (COA), and that is not even the grand total because not all the disbursements and contracts for these infomercials have been submitted to the COA auditors.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine economy escaped from the threat of recession as it grew 1.5 percent in the second quarter – beating most market estimates – as the government’s stimulus package boosted spending in infrastructure and social services during the period, officials said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Encouraged by signs of improvement in the US and global financial markets, business sentiment turned bullish in the third quarter of this year.

MANILA, Philippines – More adult Filipinos remain optimistic that their lives will improve in the next 12 months, a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Turnabouts in European and Asian economies, along with recent gains in the US, are raising hopes that the worldwide recession is drawing to a close. That’s not to say the coast is clear.

PARIS – The world economic climate index rose significantly in the third quarter, its second consecutive increase resulting mainly from favorable future economic expectations but also from a slight improvement in the global economy.

China’s much-vaunted stimulus package has exacerbated structural imbalances in the economy and may delay the country’s transition to a more sustainable growth model, according to some leading economists.

SINGAPORE: Asia is outpacing the United States and Europe in the rebound from the global economic slump, thanks to multibillion-dollar stimulus packages and robust demand from China, analysts said.

Director-General Ralph Recto last week triggered much speculation that there must be more than meets the eye behind his unexpected and sudden departure from the Arroyo Cabinet. While he publicly explains that he has decided to leave to explore his political options for next year, the natural object of people’s suspicion has been the recent…

The Chinese government has been forced to cancel the privatisation of a steel firm following worker protests, the country’s state-run media has reported.

The automation of the 2010 elections is a step in the right direction to insure that the results are accurate and will be known in a matter of hours. But it does not necessarily insure that the winners are the best and the wisest choices of the electorate. More important than automation is the education…

Tomorrow morning, the Senate economic affairs committee will conduct yet another public hearing. This time the subject of the hearing will be the various infomercials airing on television extolling the achievements of various government departments.

MANILA, Philippines – With several sectors of the economy bouncing back after a brief slump over the past several months, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has boldly stated that the Philippines will not slip into a recession this year.

HUNDREDS of workers who helped build Yorkshire’s power stations are facing an “asbestos timebomb”, experts claim.

THANKLESS JOB: During the week of Cory Aquino’s passing, I learned all over again what decades of hard-boiled journalism supposedly had taught me — that giving opinion in a newspaper column is akin to cleaning an estero as a matter of civic duty.

KATHMANDU (AFP) – When Anita Gimmi was unable to find work in her native Nepal last year, she borrowed 1,300 dollars and travelled to Qatar to take up a two-year contract with a cleaning company there.

WASHINGTON (AP) – US employers sharply scaled back layoffs in July, and the unemployment rate dipped for the first time in 15 months, sending a strong signal that the worst recession since World War II is finally ending.

The moment I got the news I never wanted to hear, there was nothing else to do but cry. I have written two columns expressing my support for former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino after she started her battle with colon cancer. I had been praying fervently for a miraculous recovery for her, joining the rest…

WASHINGTON (AFP): The US economy showed signs of emerging from a long and brutal recession, according to data on Friday showing a narrower-than-expected  1.0% decline in output in the second-quarter.

Steady economic growth may have been President Gloria Arroyo’s biggest achievement in her nine years in office, but this did not solve the most pressing problems of this developing Southeast Asian country—joblessness, poverty and hunger.

While most of the focus today is on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, many of the people who should be accountable for the true State of the Nation will be more concerned about their seating arrangement, how they’ll look and what they will be saying during the ambush interviews post SONA.

Senior Chinese officials will hold meetings with their opposite numbers from the Obama administration this week.

PARIS: Euphoria on global stock markets might give the impression that the financial crisis is a thing of the past, but for unemployed workers or idling companies the effect of the turmoil is still keenly felt.

JUST like you, I’ve visited many comfort rooms of various shapes, sizes and smell. Some are exclusively reserved for executives, while the rest are for the general public—employees and customers alike.

THE Federal Reserve signalled overnight it sees an end this year to the brutal recession and hinted that it was preparing an “exit strategy” for its unprecedented stimulus efforts.

The Asian Development Bank yesterday said the Philippines is not going to experience economic recession this year because of the continuing growth in remittances and improving business confidence.

The Philippines’ economy will contract this year for the first time in 11 years, the World Bank said yesterday, cutting its 2009 growth forecast for the country to minus 0.5 percent.

A French nuclear expert says that the Philippines should not use the French experience to justify the reactivation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Yves Marignac, a consultant on nuclear and energy issues and Executive Director of the energy-information agency, WISE-Paris. wrote his remarks in a July opinion piece for Cleantech Asia Online, an opinion…