Economy, Global Economy | featured news

Germany and the European Commission on Tuesday called on EU nations to stick to their promised budget cuts despite mounting voter discontent, but promised some new efforts to boost growth to alleviate economic hardship.

The economy may be king on the American campaign trail, but as President Obama sets out on his re-election bid and Mitt Romney tries to unseat him with a free-market-centered message, foreign policy is clearly creeping back into the mix.

Investors nervous about the changing political winds in Europe initially drove down the euro and sent stock markets falling across the region Monday morning, though markets were bouncing back later in the day following renewed signs of strength in the German economy.

Unemployment rose to 10.9 percent in April, the 11th monthly increase in row, and is likely to add to tension ahead of national elections in Greece and France on Sunday.

After several official predictions that India would grow by 7-8% in 2011-12, the finance minister finally admitted in his Budget 2012 speech that the growth would be 6.9%. The actual figure may be lower at 6.5%, thanks to the statistical error in sugar production, which dragged down January's industrial production growth figure from 6.8% to 1.1%.

Taiwan snapped two straight quarters of contraction, but an uncertain outlook for its major trading partners prompted Taipei to revise growth forecasts for the year.

Fiscal austerity and tough labor reforms have failed to create jobs, leading to an "alarming" situation in the global employment market that shows no sign of recovering, the International Labour Organization said on Sunday.

Spain's latest credit rating downgrade has thrown into sharp relief the need to revive a banking sector that could need another 100 billion euros to cover bad debts in order to avoid exposing another weak flank in the euro zone crisis.

Figures released Wednesday provoked an outcry on the day that Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, shifted his rhetoric on the debt crisis.

Far-rightist Marine Le Pen threw France's presidential race wide open on Sunday by scoring nearly 20 percent in the first round - votes that may determine the runoff between Socialist favorite Francois Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.