Paris/Brussels - The European Union is extending a loan of 6.5 billion euros (8.25 billion dollars) to Hungary to give the country added liquidity in the face of the economic crisis, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday.

France currently holds the EU presidency, and Lagarde chairs the council of EU finance ministers.

Officials from the EU's executive, the European Commission, confirmed the announcement in a statement released in Brussels.

Paris - The European Union is extending a loan of 6.5 billion euros (8.25 billion dollars) to Hungary to give the country added liquidity in the face of the economic crisis, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday.

France currently holds the EU presidency, and Lagarde chairs the council of EU finance ministers.

Manila - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday the worsening financial crisis could seriously impact on the world body's vital goals and programmes.

Ban expressed concern that the implementation of key programmes such as the Millennium Development Goals might be hampered as developed and developing countries battle the global crisis.

"I'm deeply concerned about the possible impact (of) this financial crisis (on) the overall United Nations goals and agenda," Ban told a press briefing after addressing the 2nd Global Forum on Migration and Development in Manila.

Washington - Hungary has received a commitment from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide as much as 12.5 billion euros (15.7 billion dollars) in loans to the Eastern European country as it seeks to weather the global financial crisis.

The IMF and Hungary made the agreement Tuesday after Hungarian stocks and the forint have plunged, its economy slows and the government runs a growing budget deficit.

Jakarta - Indonesia has ordered state companies to place their US dollars at home and plans to scrap a levy on overseas palm-oil sales to bolster the rupiah after the currency plunged to its lowest level since 2001, media reports said Wednesday.

The government and central bank also plan to buy bonds from the market to restore investor confidence, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Tuesday night after a cabinet meeting.

The rupiah fell as much as 8.7 per cent Tuesday to 11,900 against the dollar before recovering to 10,900 on suspected intervention by the central bank as Indonesian stocks declined to their lowest values since December 2005.

Tokyo - Japan's industrial output rose 1.2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in September, compared to the previous month, the government said Wednesday.

The September growth was supported by automobile, machinery and electronics device sectors, but the government downgraded its assessment, estimating overseas demand for Japanese products would slowdown amid the global financial crisis.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry expected the output to fall 2.3 per cent in October and 2.2 per cent in November.