Global Economy, Eurozone | featured news

President Obama and leaders of the world’s other leading economies Saturday embraced a policy of growth over austerity in Europe as they met on the cloistered grounds of Camp David to talk about fending off a spread of the Eurozone crisis.

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.

Unemployment in the euro zone reached its highest level in almost 15 years in February, with more than 17 million people out of work, and economists said they expected job office queues to grow even longer later this year.

The global economy has stepped back from the brink of danger and signs of stabilization are emerging from the euro zone and the United States, but high debt levels in developed markets and rising oil prices are key risks ahead, the IMF said on Sunday.

The euro zone is showing tentative signs of improvement, the latest monthly readout from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed on Monday.

Unemployment across the 17 countries that use the euro ended 2011 at a record high of one person in every 10, official figures showed Tuesday, a day after EU leaders acknowledged that they would have to boost economic growth with the same urgency that they had shown in combating their nations' debts....

Germany and France clashed on Wednesday over whether the ECB should take bolder steps to stem the euro zone debt crisis, with Chancellor Angela Merkel issuing one of her starkest warnings yet against fiddling with the central bank's strict inflation-fighting mandate.

The leaders of Germany and France, the eurozone's two biggest economies, say they have reached agreement on strengthening Europe's shaky banking sector.

France is ready to do whatever it takes to rescue Greece, the government said, and urged the debt-laden euro-zone member to swiftly implement the July 21 plan to prevent bankruptcy.

U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the eurozone crisis and financial-market turbulence on Saturday and vowed action to bolster the global economy, the White House said in a statement.