Paris - Stung by the impact of the global financial crisis, French bank BNP Paribas said its profits for the third quarter of 2008 had fallen significantly compared to the same period last year.

Third-quarter profits stood at 901 million euros (1.16 billion dollars), down 55.6 per cent from 2007, BNP Paribas said in a statement.

The loss was attributed to "a direct impact of the financial crisis," which the bank estimated at 1.1 billion euros.

Turnover fell by a more modest 1 per cent, to 7.614 billion euros, compared to the third quarter of 2007.

"The direct impact of the financial crisis was significantly greater than in previous quarters," the bank said.

Hong Kong - Around the world, families are looking with apprehension at the upcoming Christmas festivities, prepared to tighten their belts as the global financial turmoil takes its toll. In wealthy Hong Kong, however, people are still ready and willing to splurge, spending 17,600 US dollars a head on lavish Christmas extravaganzas.

One of the city's upmarket restaurants, Aqua, is advertising what it calls the ultimate Christmas feast - a flamboyant, no-expense spared seven-course dinner at 1,290 US dollars per person.

Manila - Inflation in the Philippines eased to a year-on-year rate of 11.2 per cent in October amid a slowdown in increases in food prices, the government said Wednesday.

The October index declined from an adjusted rate of 11.8 per cent in September, but up from 2.7 per cent in the same month in 2007, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The NSO said the decline was "brought about by the continued slowing down in the annual price increases of the heavily weighted food, beverages and tobacco and services items."

The food index alone decelerated to 15.6 per cent in October from 17 per cent in September.

Sydney - Economic growth is to slow, the government's budget surplus is to shrink and job queues are to lengthen amid the global financial crisis, the Australian government forecast Wednesday.

Over the fiscal year that began in July, the government expected growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) to come in at 2 per cent, down from a previous forecast of 
2.75 per cent. For the next fiscal year, GDP growth should be 2.25 per cent, down from the earlier projection of 3 per cent, it said.

Brussels - The European Commission on Tuesday approved a Spanish plan aimed at stabilizing its financial markets by providing liquidity to lenders in need.

The approval follows lengthy discussions between Madrid and Brussels over the exact scope of the plan.

Berlin - Germany's government is expected to decide Wednesday to spend an extra 15 billion euros (19 billion dollars) to help ward off the worst effects of a recession, according to a cabinet paper obtained by reporters in Berlin.

The government believes the two-year programme will generate 50 billion euros in investment and consumption by Germans, the documents seen in advance by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa showed Tuesday.