San Salvador, El Salvador - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Thursday joined calls for a "new financial world order" with stronger mechanisms for control and transparency.

At the Iberian American Summit in San Salvador, the centre-left Rodriguez Zapatero criticized the "myth of deregulation" which according to him put speculation and greed, and the unbounded craving for greater benefits, above the productive economy.

Islamabad - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday concluded the first round of technical talks in Dubai with Pakistani officials about creating a system to save the south Asian nation from economic collapse, officials said.

Pakistan's government is facing a tightening balance of payments. Its financing gap stands at around 7 billion dollars for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009.

Kampala - International economists and policy experts on Thursday warned that Africa could be devastated by the current global credit crisis if governments fail to take serious precautions.

Dangers include: a dwindling of aid from the United States, Europe and other developed countries; a downturn in tourism; and losses of revenue from the export of oil and other commodities. These dangers could disrupt national economic plans, warned experts meeting at a one-day summit hosted by the Copenhagen-based Africa Commission.

"We might see a downward trend for commodity prices. ... The crisis is already affecting oil revenues," said Greg Mills, director of the Brent Hurst Foundation and chairman of the conference.

Reykjavik - Cash-strapped Iceland was set to allow its currency to float as soon as the country secures new loans, Prime Minister Geir Haarde said Thursday in parliament.

Haarde further said the cost of the collapse of the North Atlantic nation's banks may total the equivalent of some 9.4 billion dollars or "85 per cent of GDP" last year.

A week ago, Reykjavik signed a 2.1-billion-dollar emergency loan with the International Monetary Fund to help stabilize Iceland's economy.

Prague - The Czech Republic should not set a target for switching to the euro at a time of global financial meltdown, the country's central bank governor said Thursday.

"At a time when waters are raging not even a good swimmer would jump in," said Czech National Bank Governor Zdenek Tuma.

Speaking before parliament's upper house, Tuma said the country should not fix its currency, the Czech koruna, in the pre-entry exchange rate mechanism when financial markets and exchange rates are highly unpredictable.

Washington  - The US economy contracted by 0.3 per cent i