Bratislava - Slovakia's inflation declined for the second time this year as the central European country prepares to switch to the euro on January 1, government data showed Thursday.

The annual inflation rate fell to 4.9 per cent in November, from 5.1 per cent the previous month and the 2008 peak of 5.4 per cent recorded in September, the Slovak Statistical Office said.

Consumer prices had climbed since January when the indicator stood at 3.8 per cent, the data showed.

London - British officials reacted angrily Thursday to an open attack by Germany's finance minister on the economic rescue policies adopted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Government sources in London suggested that it was Germany which was "out of step" with most other nations on how to handle the crisis.

Peer Steinbrueck, Germany's finance minister, said in an outspoken interview with US magazine Newsweek that Britain's conversion from economic and financial prudence to heavy state borrowing was "crass" and "breathtaking."

In particular, Steinbrück criticized the 2.5-per-cent cut in Value Added Tax (VAT), to 15 per cent, introduced by the government from December 1.

Manila - Developing Asia's economic growth will slow down to 5.8 per cent in 2009 as the impact of the global financial crisis spreads to emerging markets, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned on Thursday.

According to the Asia Economic Monitor of the Manila-based ADB, Asia's economic resilience will be tested by weakening exports and a sharp slowdown of private capital flows due to the global slump.

Washington  - The US House of Representatives Wednesday approved a 14-billion-dollar emergency loan to keep the country's car industry out of bankruptcy, sending the bill to a more skeptical Senate.

House lawmakers approved the legislation by 237-170 after weeks of negotiations. The Senate could vote on Friday, but a group of Republican senators have vowed to oppose the loan and appeared to have enough support to block the legislation.

Washington  - The US Treasury on Wednesday said efforts to stabilize the financial system were making good progress but legislators complained that billions of dollars were being spent with little oversight and few results for the wider struggling economy.

In a hearing on Capitol Hill, lawmakers criticized the government for plugging nearly half of a 700-billion-dollar financial rescue package into cash-strapped banks over the past two months while consumers still struggled to gain access to loans, the backbone of the US economy.

Prague  - The Czech parliament's lower house Wednesday approved a 2009 budget with a deficit of 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), well below the
3-per-cent limit required for adopting the euro.

However, the Czech Republic is in no rush to switch to Europe's common currency, as Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek wants to fix country's public finances first.