Brussels - Most of the money given by the European Union to member states is well spent, though problems remain when it comes to payments designed to boost employment, EU officials said Monday.

Officials in Brussels said the bloc's annual audit debunked the "myth" that EU spending is either mismanaged or riddled with fraud.

It found that more than 98 per cent of direct payments made in 2007 to farmers or on administrative expenditure was error free.

Other budget areas such as research grants and humanitarian aid also registered errors of less than 5 per cent.

However, spending in so-called structural funds - money designed to boost employment in the EU's poorest regions - remains a problem.

Riga - A government bailout of Latvia's largest indigenous bank, Parex Banka, was set to be finalized Monday after the European Commission (EC) signalled it would not block the deal.

Latvian Finance Ministry spokesperson Diana Berzina told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that an "unofficial okay" had been received from the EC along with their comments on the deal.

She added that final confirmation from the EC was likely one or two days after the legal document was due to be signed in a closed meeting on Monday night.

Prague - The Czech Republic may set a eurozone entry date next year if the country shows it can meet the adoption criteria in the long run, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Monday.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Czech bankers, Topolanek said that the country should focus on catching up with the eurozone rather than on setting the euro target amid the global financial crisis.

"Next year will reveal whether we are meeting the criteria, whether we can meet them in the long term," he said.

With a view to bolster domestic demand and help avert recession, China unveiled a 'massive' economic stimulus program worth over half a trillion dollars. The package, to be spent over two years, is valued at about 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion).

The announced sum represents about 16% of China's economic output last year, and is roughly equal to the total of all central and local government spending in 2006.

Hong Kong  - Sixty-four per cent of Hong Kong residents believe tougher economic times lie ahead because of the global financial meltdown, according to a survey released Monday.

Only 3 per cent of the 1,000 people interviewed said they thought the economy would improve in the short-term while 32 per cent said they expected it to neither improve or deteriorate.

Tokyo  - Japan's foreign reserves totaled 977.72 billion dollars in October, down 18.17 billion dollars from the previous month, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

Japan held 853.02 billion dollars in foreign securities and 102.05 billion dollars in foreign currency deposits at the end of October.

Foreign reserves shrank as Japan's euro-based assets declined as the currency's value fell against the dollar, amid spreading fear over the global financial crisis, Japanese media said.