Singapore - Singapore Tuesday revised down its forecast of economic activity for this year, expecting gross domestic product (GDP) to contract by 6 to 9 per cent, lower than the contraction of 2 to 5 per cent that it had forecast on January 21. Advance estimates for the Singapore economy indicate that economic activity slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2009, the Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement.

The decline in the first quarter affected every sector except construction, the ministry pointed out.

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Tokyo  - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday vowed create 1.4 to 2 million new jobs in the next three years to pull the domestic economy out of the worst recession in the postwar era.

Aso's long-term policy aims at increasing the nation's real gross domestic product (GDP) by 120 trillion yen (1.2 trillion dollars) and create 4 million new jobs by 2020.

Aso unveiled a plan to invest in low-carbon technology, expand nursing-care facilities and the workforce caring for the nation's ageing population, and improve medical services.

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Singapore  - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Thursday that the city state's economic growth forecast for this year will have to be revised downwards from the current minus 2 per cent to minus 5 per cent as exports continue to be hit by the global economic slowdown.

But Lee said he did not think the decline would be double-digit.

Singapore's exports have been hit hard and the global situation was not looking any better, Lee told reporters during a visit to a local training and jobs placement centre.

Berlin  - The German government's state banking fund Thursday made an offer of 1.39 euros for each share of the troubled mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate (HRE).

The offer was made by the SoFFin fund following Tuesday's signing into law by President Horst Koehler of a controversial bill enabling the state to seize control of HRE.

That measure, described as a last resort to stabilize the German financial market, marks the first time in modern-day Germany that bank shareholders face possible expropriation.