Global Economy | featured news

China's second surprise rate cut and lending reform in the space of a month shows that Beijing wants borrowing to play a greater role in reviving an economy struggling with its weakest pace of growth since the global financial crisis.

The economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China account for 20 percent of the world economic output, and rising. That’s up four fold in the last decade, according to a report released yesterday by the International Monetary Fund. Despite the growth, problems in the core economies had made the post-2008 world a difficult one for the big four emerging markets.

The president of the European Commission sharply criticized Britain for blaming its economic problems on the euro zone, and warned against efforts to divide European nations.

Unemployment in the 17-country euro currency bloc hit another record in May as the crippling financial crisis pushed the continent toward the brink of recession, official figures showed Monday.

A closely watched survey by Japan's central bank has found big manufacturers have more confidence in the world's third-largest economy than they did three months ago.

China's factory downturn worsened in June as a key activity index hit a seven-month low, data expected to raise expectations the central bank may seek more policy easing to revive the world's second-largest economy.

Scotland's economy has improved slightly but is showing signs of stagnating, according to a survey carried out by a bank.

Japanese industrial production fell a worse-than-expected 3.1% in May from the previous month while consumer prices were lower in the period, in a sign that a recovery in the domestic economy has yet to take hold.

Cyprus, the fifth euro zone country to seek emergency funding from Europe, may need a bailout of up to 10 billion euros — over half the size of its economy — officials said.

The Indian government plans to take steps to boost exports and increase dollar inflows to give a much-need lift to the economy and arrest the slide in the Indian rupee, a senior official from the finance ministry said Saturday.