A free trade agreement with the European Union could create new export opportunities worth $9bn for Indian industries, EU trade chief Karel de Gucht said. De Ducht, on a visit to India, said he expected good progress in the coming months on trade negotiations between the second most populous country in the world and the […]

India will increase market borrowing by 1.3 percent in the next fiscal year, disappointing bond investors, as it counts on a surging economy and a partial rollback of stimulus measures to cut its fiscal deficit. Bond markets reversed earlier gains on worries over the government budget’s plans to increase market borrowing, and some watchers said […]

Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin is to step down this week to focus on his private banking interests, according to reports, following speculation that he would resign.  Tarin, who negotiated an IMF loan in 2008, was not immediately available for comment. In March 2008, a consortium comprising the International Finance Corporation, Bank Muscat, Nomura and […]

Ireland will transfer the first loans to the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) “bad bank” by the end of March, missing its latest deadline of late February, as it waits on European approval to begin the scheme. Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has said work valuing the total loans initially worth 80 billion euros ($109bn) was […]

US Federal Reserve officials moved to calm speculation that a surprise rise in its emergency lending rate could bring forward broader policy tightening, saying borrowing costs in the economy would stay low. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke flagged the move last week, saying the US central bank aimed to widen the spread between its main policy […]

France’s biggest listed bank BNP Paribas took fewer bad debt provisions than expected in the fourth quarter, helping it beat profit forecasts, and said these charges would be lower again in 2010. BNP struck a relatively confident note despite the economic uncertainty clouding the banking industry. Its profit was up on the previous quarter and […]

Japan’s finance minister said he would like to see price growth of one percent and urged the Bank of Japan to cooperate in beating deflation, putting fresh pressure on the central bank for more action to support a fragile economy. BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the central bank was willing to cooperate, but he offered […]

The Indian government’s first full-year budget since its resounding re-election may signal that increasing populism and ruling coalition infighting will triumph over policies to liberalise the economy and cut record borrowing. This could be the year for India. The world is looking for motors of growth in Asia, the $1.2trn Indian economy is recovering faster […]

Europe’s post-recession recovery has hit a roadblock as German economic growth unexpectedly ground to a halt in the final quarter of 2009, though France made up for some of the damage. The news comes at a hard time for Europe’s single currency bloc as governments struggle to sort out Greece’s debt difficulties and contain financial […]

US mortgage foreclosure filings dropped in January but the decline may prove only temporary as housing-rescue efforts fall short of addressing current drivers, a report released on Thursday showed. Foreclosures are by far one of the biggest threats to the US housing market, which remains highly vulnerable to setbacks and heavily reliant on government intervention. […]

Additional criminal charges have been filed against Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam as prosecutors alleged he and his co-defendant reaped $49m from illegal insider trading, up from an earlier claim of $40m. In the parallel civil case against Rajaratnam and co-defendant Danielle Chiesi, a judge ordered the two defendants to turn over wiretaps to […]

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet is cutting short a trip to Australia to attend a special EU summit, prompting market speculation initiatives are in the works to help resolve Greece’s debt problems. EU heads of state are due to meet this week in Brussels for a special summit on the economy under pressure to […]

Bank of Japan policy board member Seiji Nakamura rebuffed government pressure for more BOJ action to fight deflation, saying that pumping liquidity into the financial system alone will not put an end to debilitating price falls. The heavily indebted government fears deflation and a strong yen could push Japan back into recession in the run-up […]

Ireland’s services sector shrank by its fastest rate in six months in January, when a marked fall in new orders indicated that unusually bad weather was not solely to blame, a survey showed this week. The NCB Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 44.4 from 48.3 in December, when it had reached a level last equalled […]

Australia’s central bank shocked markets by skipping an interest rate rise this week, citing the impact of higher mortgage rates at home while noting tighter policy in China and concerns over sovereign debt abroad. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision to keep its key cash rate at 3.75 percent confounded expectations of a rise […]