A US-nominated Korean-born president of an Ivy League university, Nigeria’s finance minister and a Colombian economist have been confirmed as the three candidates contesting to become the next leader of the World Bank. US President Barack Obama, whose country traditionally selects the president of the global lender, said on Friday that it was nominating Jim Yong Kim [...]
The government claimed that the rich will pay twice as much as they win back through the abolition of the 50p rate of income tax, as a Guardian poll showed the scale of the political gamble being taken by the coalition through the decision to cut the top rate. As the Liberal Democrats seek to [...]
Federal health officials are unveiling Thursday a $54 million national media campaign to get smokers to quit and prevent anyone else, especially children, from starting. The campaign, called “Tips From Former Smokers,” is intended to educate Americans about the dangers of smoking through the stories and graphic pictures of ex-smokers who have suffered severe health [...]
In Switzerland, the central bank has vowed to maintain its cap against the euro “with the utmost determination.” In the last few minutes the Swiss National Bank announced that it voted unanimously to maintain the swiss franc at a rate of 1.20 to the euro. That cap was brought in last September, after a rush [...]
Exports from Bangladesh to key North-American and European destinations maintained steady growth in the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal (2011-11). Export earnings from the USA, the largest market for Bangladeshi goods, was calculated at $ 3.316 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal. However, receipts from USA during the [...]
Quite a busy agenda today, with meetings continuing in Brussels, and various key players in the eurocrisis speaking – plus an interest rate decision in America. Here’s today’s agenda: • ECOFIN meeting in Brussels – all day • UK Trade data for January 9.30am • Germany’s ZEW economic sentiment survey – 10am GMT / 11am [...]
A German suggestion to debate once more the creation of an EU constitution won mixed responses on Saturday, with France’s foreign minister welcoming the idea but only nine countries planning to attend a seminar in Berlin. Germany’s foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said on Friday the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty, drafted after Dutch and French voters [...]
The finance ministry has advised the commerce ministry not to sign a free trade agreement with Malaysia if the issue of manpower export from Bangladesh is set aside. ‘Bangladesh should not sign an FTA with Malaysia at the moment as it would not benefit the country without inclusion of the manpower export issue in the [...]
The finance ministers of the eurozone say Greece can receive a first batch of bailout money of up to €35.5 billion ($46.9 billion) to fund a massive debt relief deal with private investors. The ministers also say that Greece has fulfilled the conditions to soon get approval for the remainder of the €130 billion bailout. [...]
In the face of pressure from the government high-ups, the Bangladesh Bank is going to approve about a dozen new private banks against its will. The central bank has sent a list of 16 proposed banks to the Prime Minister’s Office and finance ministry early this week for a “green signal,” officials concerned have said. [...]