New Delhi, Apr. 4: Economic experts are of the unanimous view that access to investments, new technologies, knowledge, goods, services and interaction with transnational companies exert a positive influence on any country''s development, but at the same time, acknowledge that such advantages are not necessarily available to all.

Bern, Switzerland  - E-mail, internet bill paying and other electric substitutes had already been hitting the world's postal services hard when the global economic crisis struck, leading individuals and companies to cut back anywhere they could including in the mail.

"Some of our largest mailers are in financial services, catalogue sales, manufacturers," said Lea Emerson, the head of the international division at the United States Postal Service (USPS). "Those are some of the ones hardest hit by crisis, and they are mailing much less."

Jakarta  - Indonesia's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 per cent Friday to stimulate growth amid the slowing global economy.

Bank Indonesia has reduced the rate by 175 basis points so far this year and has cut it for five-straight months.

"The global economy is still grappling with uncertainty even though there has been positive sentiment related to the G20 agreement to push for improvement in the global capital and financial markets," Bank Indonesia said in a statement.

Manila  - The Asian Development Bank said Friday that it was extending a 151-million-dollar loan to help Vietnam expand and improve electricity services in poor and remote communities.

The Manila-based bank said the loan would fund a project to develop up to 10 mini-hydropower plants to serve communities in mountainous areas in north and central Vietnam.

It would also provide financial support to the government's ongoing rural electrification programme.

Washington  - US lawmakers on Thursday approved a 3.5-trillion-dollar budget outline for 2010 that closely mirrors President Barack Obama's priorities for the country.

The vote in the House of Representatives was 233-196, largely along party lines, and came after weeks of polarizing debate that exposed deep differences between majority Democrats and opposition Republicans over how to resuscitate the US economy.

London  - US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh affirmed the strong relationship between their two countries during their first meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London.

Obama said that they discussed terrorism, both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and how the US and India can effectively coordinate their counterterrorism efforts.