Ankara - Turkey has revised upwards its inflation estimates for 2008, with Central Bank Governor Durmus Yilmaz saying recent falls in the Turkish lira amid the global economic crisis had contributed to the rise in inflation.

Speaking in Ankara, Yilmaz said inflation was expected to rise to 11.1 per cent by the end of 2008, an increase of 0.5 percent from mid- year forecasts, and a full 7.1 percentage points higher than the government's initial inflation target for 2008 of 4 per cent.

Yilmaz told reporters that the recent slide in the value of the lira had increased inflationary pressures.

Berlin - European inflation edged down in October, data released Friday showed, as a result helping to pave the way for the European Central Bank to deliver another hefty rate cut next week.

Based on its preliminary estimate, the European Union's statistics office said annual inflation in the 15-member eurozone edged down to 3.2 per cent this month from 3.6 per cent in September. Analysts had also expected inflation to come in at 3.2 per cent in October.

Prague - The Czech Republic's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, the lowest in 12 years, government data showed Friday.

The July-September rate, based on EU-wide International Labour Organization (ILO) methodology, was down 0.8 percentage points year- on-year, the Czech Statistical Office said. But the fall would not hold.

"The trend came to an end. We saw by the end of the third quarter that the decrease will not continue," said Dalibor Holy, office's head of labour statistics.

Brussels - The European Commission on Thursday cleared a French plan for re-financing troubled lenders, describing it as an "appropriate" system for injecting confidence in the country's financial

Tokyo - The Bank of Japan on Friday cut its key short-term interest rate to 0.3 per cent from 0.5 per cent to help the world's second-largest economy weather the global financial crisis.

The bank's policy board voted 5-4 to lower the rate for the first time in seven and a half years at the end of a one-day meeting.

Governor Masaaki Shirakawa cast a vote to support the rate cut, saying the nation's economy would need more time to recover amid weak exports and high raw material prices.