The latest IMF's World Economic Outlook report presents a grim picture on Pakistan’s economy. The report predicts that Pakistan’s gross domestic product may decline to 3.5 percent and the inflation rate may speed up to 23 percent in the fiscal year (2008-09).

For the fiscal year of 2007/08, the country registered a growth rate of 5.8 percent and for the current fiscal it has set a target growth rate of 5.5 percent. 

Washington - Members of the International Monetary Fund on Saturday "strongly endorsed" a promise by the world's advanced economies to do all they could to curb the ongoing financial crisis and restore confidence in global markets.

The IMF's top committee, which speaks for all 185 member countries, pushed for more coordination with developing countries that are beginning to feel the effects of the global credit crunch.

Singapore - Singapore is in a better shape to manage the ongoing economic recession today than during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the city state's Senior Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran said.

"The Asian financial crisis was an important catalyst for tightening up the financial systems in our part of the world. ... Not just the financial systems but corporate sector in terms of the level of debt it took on and how it structured its balance sheet," Iswaran said at the close of three-day Global Indian Diaspora Conference on Saturday.

Washington - Members of the International Monetary Fund on Saturday "strongly endorsed" a promise by the world's advanced economies to do all they could to curb a financial crisis that has brought the world to the brink of a recession.

The IMF's 185 countries also pushed for more coordination with developing countries, which are beginning to feel the effects of the global credit crunch.

Washington - The world's 20 leading economies on Saturday endorsed actions by wealthier nations to stem a financial crisis that has spread to much of the world.

The Group of 20, a bloc that brings together developed and developing countries, committed to using "all the economic and financial tools to ensure the stability of financial markets," in a joint statement after an emergency meeting in Washington.

Sydney - Australia is set to join other countries struggling to maintain investor confidence by raising the level at which it guarantees bank deposits.

The proposed threshold was 20,000 Australian dollars (13,200 US dollars) but the government is expected to raise this to 100,000 Australian dollars.