Oman Observer - Business

Factories slash output, jobs around world

BEIJING — Factories in China and India joined much of Europe in slashing output and jobs at a record pace in December, another sign the biggest emerging markets were wilting under the recession gripping industrialised nations. Factory activity surveys in the United States were also expected to show a steeper contraction in December,...

Bank Medici under state supervision

VIENNA — Austrian private bank Bank Medici was placed under state supervision yesterday amid bigger exposure to the Bernard Madoff scandal than previously disclosed. A source close to the matter told Reuters yesterday the bank holds over
$3 billion in funds exposed to what could be Wall Street’s biggest fraud. It is still not clear how much cash has been lost.

SINGAPORE — The dollar rose against the euro and yen yesterday in thin volume on the first trading day of the new year.
The euro bought $1.3852 in Asian trade, down from $1.3969 late Wednesday in New York ahead of the New Year’s holiday on Thursday. Tokyo markets remained closed yesterday. The dollar traded at 91.14 yen, up from 90.63.

LONDON — Outgoing US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said that a failure to address the rise of emerging markets and resulting imbalances was partly to blame for the global financial crisis, according to an interview published yesterday. Paulson told the Financial Times that imbalances between fast-growing nations which save, such as China,...

UK credit squeeze set to intensify in 2009

LONDON — The credit squeeze for British families and businesses looks set to intensify into 2009 despite unprecedented measures to recapitalise the banking system and get lending flowing again, a survey showed yesterday. The grim news came
as a deluge of data suggested the economy was plunging deeper into recession.

Singapore sees biggest-ever quarterly GDP fall

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s economy could contract by as much as two per cent this year, the government said yesterday after data showed a deepening recession and the worst quarterly GDP decline on record. Real gross domestic product (GDP)
fell by 12.5 per cent in the fourth quarter, on a seasonally adjusted annualised quarter-on-quarter basis,...