The U.S. government has reportedly dismissed a “nine-step plan” proposed by Iran to end Western sanctions over the Islamic state’s nuclear program, claimed the New York Times on Thursday, as protests continue to rumble in Tehran over a shocking 40 percent drop in value of the Iranian currency.
Spain’s Economy Minister Luis de Guindos has insisted that his nation “doesn’t need a bailout” despite calls from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to take up a bond purchase plan.
Speaking during a lecture at the London School of Economics on Thursday, de Guindos said that the Spanish government was already carrying out the policies that the ECB would demand in return for buying its bonds; while expressing confidence that the country could attract enough investors on its own to take up the nation’s debt.
Several major Chinese banks have pulled from annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to be held in Tokyo next week, claimed a report by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, with the territorial dispute between China and Japan now threatening to spill onto the global arena.
The head of an Italian tax collection agency, along with four other employees, have been arrested for using nearly 100 million euros ($129.35 million) of taxpayers’ money to organise private parties and other extravagant luxuries, reported Reuters on Wednesday.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Chief Economist Oliver Blanchard has warned that the fiscal problems in the U.S. stemming from the 2008 Financial Crisis remains unresolved till today; and said that it will take “at least a decade” for the global economy to recover from the crisis.
An underwater geological formation just off the Greek island of Crete could prove to be Greece’s economic salvation, claimed a report by Reuters on Wednesday, after a study predicted that it may hold up to $600 billion worth of natural gas – enough to clear the country’s debt and bring billions in annual cost savings.
Fellow-BRICS nations Brazil and South Africa are now locked in a bitter trade dispute over their respective poultry industries, said a report by the BBC on Wednesday.
The dispute arose after South Africa accused Brazil of dumping chickens on its market, forcing South-African farmers to cut jobs as they could not compete with Brazil’s “unfairly low” prices.
European Union nations may have to spend up to 25 billion euros upgrading their nuclear reactors to meet new safety standards imposed after the Fukushima disaster, said a report by Bloomberg on Wednesday, with 134 reactors presently in operation across the region.
The global economy must create an additional 600 million new jobs between 2005 and 2020 in order to absorb a growing number of youth – mainly from Africa and Asia – entering the work force, said the World Bank in its latest report on Monday.
According to the World Development Report 2013 , around 200 million people around the world are now unemployed – of which 40 percent are under the age of 25.
Chinese and Indian consumers are expected to spend nearly $64 trillion between 2010 and 2020, said a new study by global research and advisory firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on Tuesday, urging Western companies to in order to “capitalise on this opportunity.”
