Washington, April 3 : World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has called for global action toward ending extreme poverty by 2030 and improving the lives of most vulnerable people in the developing countries.

"Now is the time to commit to ending extreme poverty," Kim said in a speech at Georgetown University Tuesday.

To reach the goal, the global extreme poverty rate will have to be brought below 3 percent by 2030, Xinhua quoted Kim as saying.

London, March 19 : The latest global business outlook survey released by Markit revealed rising business confidence pointing to an economic upturn across the world.

Confidence among businesses across the world has revived from the post-financial-crisis low seen in the latter half of 2012, with expectations of revenue, new business, and business activity all rising to their highest since the beginning of last year.

Key Developments - International
Kuroda Confirmation Flags More Stimulus Even As Japan Upgrades Economic View: The upper house of Japan's Parliament endorsed Haruhiko Kuroda as the governor of the Bank of Japan, clearing the way for the long-term central bank critic to officially take charge of the top post. His confirmation has cemented expectations that the central bank will soon embark on aggressive monetary easing to beat deflation. The markets are betting on a move as early as next month. Kuroda holds the view that the policy easing conducted by the BoJ has not been enough to achieve the 2 percent inflation target. The new leadership is in favor of further monetary easing and purchase of longer term bonds to address part of the current economic woes.

Toronto, Feb 26 - The role of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies in the new global order tops the agenda of this year's global summit on corporate governance being held here in June.

The three-day summit will be held from June 7, the organizer International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) said here Thursday.

With over 450 leaders in corporate governance in 45 countries as its members, the ICGN aims to raise standards of corporate governance worldwide. Most of its members are institutional investors with management of funds to the tune of $9.5 trillion under them.

Under 'The Changing Global Balances,' the summit will debate the importance of good corporate governance after the global meltdown triggered by corporate greed.

The two major Asian countries, India and China have definitely helped the world a lot in coming out of the recessionary period, especially when the developed countries were down and were with lower consumption.

The demand for commodities in China and India is increasing and the increased demand has led to a surge in the mining activity of Australia, claimed the central bank of Australia. The Reserve Bank of Australia also stated that the surge could last for about 15 years or even more.

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported on Friday that the Dutch economy shrank 4 per cent in 2009. This is the highest drop ever measured by CBS and The Netherlands' worst since

1931. The 2009 downturn surpassed the previous record drop of 3.6 per cent in 1931 during the world depression. The worst economic drop in the post-World War II era was 1.2 per cent in

1982.

The economy dropped 2.2 percent in the last three months of 2009.

Due to the  SWIFT agreement ,The United States could still access European Union citizens' bank transfer data by cutting deals with individual European governments, despite a European

Parliament rejection of this practice. SWIFT agreement allowed the United States to analyses EU citizens' bank transfers for anti-terrorism investigations, and then provide EU

governments with intelligence on suspicious transactions.

Germany reported flat GDP numbers in the fourth quarter. Europe’s largest economy stagnated amid declined consumption & investment.

Only the exports were seen in positive territory as per the data published by the Federal Statistical Office. The gross domestic product remained flat on a sequential basis in the fourth quarter, after a 0.7% rise in the previous three months. The main contributing factors were the negative numbers for final consumption expenditure and capital formation as they slowed down economic growth.

Washington, Jan 22 - Calling India a "a country of endless unrealised potential," a strategic think tank has suggested that in the 2010s it "will grow, but in a wildly unpredictable and uneven manner" leaving "fantastic expectations" unrealised.

"India has always been a country of endless unrealised potential, and it will remain so in the 2010s," said Stratfor, which calls itself a global intelligence agency, suggesting the decade ahead would not be a period of decisive change for the world.

Brasilia, Jan 22 - The Brazilian economy will grow by 5.2 percent this year which would help create 1.6 million new jobs, an official said.

Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega Thursday offered the latest forecast in a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Mantega raised the forecast for economic growth from five to 5.2 percent. He said 1.6 million new jobs will be created in 2010.

Brazil has already pulled out of the recession caused by global financial crisis and is likely to attract substantial foreign investment in 2010, despite it's being an election year, Mantega said.

Washington, Jan 21 - The global economy is poised to grow 2.7 percent this year, but the recovery will be slow as the impact of fiscal stimulus wanes, the World Bank has said in a report.

The Global Economic Prospects 2010 report released Wednesday said the recovery "that is now underway will slow later this year as the impact of fiscal stimulus wanes."

It said the global economy shrunk 2.2 percent in 2009.

Financial markets remain troubled and private sector demand lags amid high unemployment. However, the economy is expected to grow 3.2 percent in 2011, Xinhua reported.

"Overall, these are challenging times," said Justin Lin, World Bank chief economist and senior vice president.

Toronto, Jan 15 - The Canadian currency hit a new high Thursday, rising to a three-month high against the US dollar.

Supported by steady commodity prices, the loonie - as the Canadian dollar is called - rose as high as 97.61 cents US. The loonie, which is expected to reach parity with the US dollar any time this year, has gained as the greenback has slipped on poor US retail sales data.

Since sinking to 77 cents US in March 2009, the Canadian loonie has risen more than 20 percent agaisnt the US dollar. The loonie almost reached parity with the greenback in October last when it touched 98 cents US Oct 14.

But it retreated on fears of government intervention as the rising currency was - and is - harmful to the country's recession-hit manufacturing sector.

Singapore, Jan 4 - Economic activity in Singapore slowed in the fourth quarter, with gross domestic product contracting by 6.8 percent, the government said Monday.

The drop in the fourth quarter resulted in a 2.1-percent contraction for the year. The negative economic growth for 2009 fell within the Trade and Industry Ministry's forecast of a of 2 percent and 2.5 percent drop for the year.

Washington, Dec 17 - The US Federal Reserve Wednesday kept interest rates at their historic low of near 0 percent and noted signs that the world's largest economy is recovering from recession.

The central bank's board said economic conditions "continued to pick up" since its last meeting in November but were likely to "remain weak for a time," indicating it would keep rates at their current low for some time.

Toronto, Dec 15 - Touted as the best among all the G8 economies during the current global slowdown, the Canadian economy is set for a rebound, according to the country's top bank.

In a report Monday, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) said the economy will return to positive growth in 2010 after contracting at an average of 2.5 per cent in 2009. According to the report, the economy is likely to grow by 2.6 per cent in 2010. It will pick up further in 2011 to grow by 3.9 per cent.

Dubai, Dec 14 - Peer emirate Abu Dhabi Monday had a a pleasant surprise for the financial world Monday, stepping in with a $10 billion bail-out offer for Dubai World that is caught in a multibillion dollar debt crisis.

"The Government of Abu Dhabi and the UAE Central Bank have agreed to provide important support," said Sheikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Fiscal Committee. He is also the uncle of Dubai's ruler Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

"Specifically, the Government of Abu Dhabi has agreed to fund $10 billion to the Dubai Financial Support Fund that will be used to satisfy a series of upcoming obligations on Dubai World," his statement said.

Washington, Dec 14 - The US Senate Sunday passed a $1-trillion spending bill that will keep federal agencies and social programmes operational until the end of September 2010.

The measure, which already passed in the House of Representatives and combines six separate spending bills, was approved by a 57-35 vote largely along party lines with three Democrats voting against it and three Republicans supporting it. It has now to be signed by President Barack Obama.

Washington, Dec 11 - The World Bank has approved two projects worth $405 million designed to promote environment friendly modes of urban transport and to improve management and delivery of services in urban areas in Andhra Pradesh.

A $105 million loan for the Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) will finance capacity building and demonstration projects in select cities that will create models of sustainable transport solutions for Indian cities to replicate.

Hong Kong, Dec 8 - Nearly one in five Hong Kong companies plan to take on new staff as the city's economy recovers strongly from the downturn, a survey found Tuesday.

Seventeen percent of employers interviewed by recruitment company Manpower Professional said they planned new hirings in the first three months of 2010.

The response, from interviews with more than 800 employers, was a six percentage point increase on a similar survey conducted three months ago when Hong Kong emerged from a year-long recession.

Tokyo, Dec 8 - Japan Tuesday unveiled a fresh stimulus package worth 7.2 trillion yen ($81 billion) Tuesday to spur the world's second-largest economy facing deflation and a rising yen.

The government proposed increasing the package from 7.1 trillion yen to 7.2 trillion yen following a call for more pump-priming measures from the People's New Party, one of the two junior coalition partners of the Democratic Party of Japan.

The government did not unveil its proposal as originally planned due to differences within the ruling coalition.