Islamabad  - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to approve a second tranche of 800 million dollars of its 7.6-billon- dollar program to save Pakistan from defaulting on external payments, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"The Executive Board of the IMF will approve the second tranche for Pakistan by the end of March 2009," Pakistan's Finance Secretary Waqar Masood told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa from Dubai, where the sides concluded the talks.

Brussels  - European Union efforts to revive "zombie banks" poisoned by toxic assets and to jointly supervise the bloc's troubled financial sector gained momentum Wednesday as experts in Brussels issued a series of recommendations to member states.

But those pushing for the swift creation of a pan-European supervisory body were set for disappointment, with officials saying such an option was currently "unrealistic".

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P's) on Tuesday lowered the outlook on India's sovereign rating from 'stable' to 'negative', citing a deteriorating fiscal situation. 

With "high government debt burden and deficits", India's "weak fiscal profile" has been the single "largest negative factor" for the sovereign ratings on India, it added. In the interim budget unveiled by Pranab Mukherjee on February 16, the government disclosed that the fiscal deficit - the gap between revenues and expenditure - had risen to 6% of GDP from the 2.5% projected in February, 2008. And this figure excludes the off-budget subsidies of Rs 95,942 crore for oil and fertiliser companies.

India's credit standing internationally is now just a notch above junk. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P's) on Tuesday lowered the outlook on India's sovereign rating from 'stable' to 'negative', citing a deteriorating fiscal situation and a challenging economic environment, made worse by profligate spending by the government. 

The government on Tuesday announced a Rs 30,000-crore booster shot for the economy by cutting excise duty and service tax by 2% each and extending an earlier 4% reduction in excise beyond March 31, 2009. This is the government's third economic stimulus package in three months.

The tax cut will have no impact on passenger cars and two-wheelers. Only truck makers may cut prices. The real estate sector could benefit, as steel and cement prices are reduced. But several services which currently attract service tax at 12% will pay 10%, reducing your costs by small fleabites.

Washington - President Barack Obama will offer assurances that the United States can recover and emerge stronger from its worst economic crisis in decades, according to released excerpts of his speech to be delivered Tuesday evening to Congress.

"While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken, though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: we will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Obama will say, according to the excerpts released by the White House.