Wellington - New Zealand's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by an unprecedented 1 per cent to 6.5 per cent on Thursday, its third cut in 13 weeks after making no reductions for five years.

The Reserve Bank had cut its Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 8 per cent on July 24 after keeping it at 8.25 per cent - one of the highest in the developed world - for 12 months and reduced it again to 7.5 per cent on September 11.

Brasilia - The Brazilian government on Wednesday authorized the country's main state financial institutions - the Bank of Brazil and the Federal Economic Bank 
(CEF) - to acquire stakes in private banks as a temporary lifeline to the struggling sector.

The move - very similar to one that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown adopted recently - also allows the nationalization of banks that are facing financial difficulties in the light of the ongoing international crisis.

The new disposition authorized the Bank of Brazil and the CEF to create investment banks and subsidiaries abroad, and allows the Brazilian Central Bank to exchange reals for currency of other countries in direct negotiations with other central banks.

Vienna - The Austrian government decided Wednesday to spend a total of 2.9 billion euros (3.9 billion dollars) on an economic stimulus package focused on medium-sized business and infrastructure projects.

In 2009 and 2010, around 1 billion euros will be allocated each year to an investment fund for medium-sized companies, the government announced. The money will also be used to finance small loans.

Faced with slowing economic growth, politicians "should not discuss, but act fast," Infrastructure and Transport Minister Werner Faymann said after the cabinet meeting where the measure was decided upon.

Washington - An emergency summit of leaders from the world's 20 leading economies will be held on November 15 in the US capital to tackle the ongoing financial crisis threatening to plunge the world into recession, the White House announced Wednesday.

President George W Bush has been on the telephone inviting leaders from the Group of 20, a bloc that includes advanced and developing economies, to Washington to "review progress being made to address the current financial crisis," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Stockholm - Swedish banking group Handelsbanken on Wednesday outdid analyst expectations and reported higher third-quarter operating profits and net interest income.

Handelsbanken was the first of the Nordic nation's four major banking groups to report results amid the ongoing financial turmoil.

Operating profits were up 6 per cent to 3.78 billion kronor (510 million dollars), the group said attributing this to "higher net interest income and lower costs."