latest world business news

China's economic growth rose in the fourth quarter of 2012, helping the world's most populous nation end the year with a growth rate of 7.8%, according to figures released on January 18, 2013 from the National Bureau of Statistics. Last quarter, China's economy grew at a pace of 7.9%, slightly better than analyst expectations and breaking a pattern of seven straight quarters of decline.  China's growth rate had been steadily falling since the fourth quarter of 2010, when economic output grew 9.8%. The slowing growth rate bottomed out in the third quarter of 2012, when China's economy only grew at 7.4%.  Last March, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao lowered the country's 2012 growth target from 8% to 7.5%. While such growth would be the envy of most nations, China's economy has grown at an average rate of about 10% each year for the past 30 years. This has helped propel China to become the world's second largest economy, just behind that of t

Britain's economy shrank by 0.5 per cent in the last quarter of 2010, figures reveal, raising fears of a double-dip recession. The Office for National Statistics said December's severe winter weather was largely to blame for the surprising figures, which show the first contraction of growth since the third quarter of 2009. "The disruption caused by the bad weather in December is likely to have contributed to most of the 0.5 per cent decline, that is, if there had been no disruption, GDP would be showing a flattish picture rather than declining," it said in a statement. Analysts had previously been expecting modest growth of 0.4 per cent for that quarter. The figure is likely to spark concerns over the strength of the British economy as the coalition government brings in a raft of austerity measures aimed at curbing the country's national deficit. The measures include dramatic cuts to public services including hundreds of thousands of public sector job losses

The world economy is recovering moderately but still faces challenges such as the need for medium-term fiscal consolidation, the IMF's First Managing Director, John Lipsky, said on Sunday. "They are mainly confident that there is a moderate recovery underway globally," he told reporters, referring to delegates at the G20 meeting of deputy finance and central bank chiefs in South Korea. "Obviously there are risks and challenges, but things seem to be moving more or less in line with our forecast," he said, listing well-designed exit strategies and medium-term fiscal consolidation as challenges. He said some good progress has been made in discussing changes to the IMFs executive board, but did not elaborate. G20 members have pledged to reach an agreement on the issue by the time leaders meet in Seoul in November. The United States, frustrated at Europe's refusal to share more IMF power with emerging economies, took unprecedented action last month to block