UK double-dip recession revised away

The UK economy did not experience a double-dip recession at the beginning of 2012, official figures have shown.

RBS to decide on branch sale plan in July: Sources

LONDON: Royal Bank of Scotland will make a decision on how to offload hundreds of branches it has been ordered to sell by European regulators in the next month, industry sources told Reuters on Friday.

Bank of England calls for assessment of interest rate rises on borrowers

Significant numbers of households could have to pare back on spending or work longer hours to keep up their debt repayments if interest rates were to rise suddenly, the Bank of England warned, as it called for an urgent assessment of the impact from a sharp rise in rates after four years of low borrowing costs.

France confirms to cut spending for first time since 1958

PARIS: French government spending will fall next year for the first time since 1958, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Tuesday, as the country begins shifting the austerity effort away from tax hikes.

Dudley Says Financial Stability Critical to Policy

NEW YORK--A central bank official at the heart of the monetary policy-making process said on Sunday that the Federal Reserve must consider the state of financial markets when making monetary policy.

BIS: Central banks must end 'whatever it takes' policy

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) says banks have done their bit to help economic recovery and now governments must do more.

Accounting rules mask banks' financial health: investors

LONDON (Reuters) - Major UK shareholder groups took a fresh swipe at "unreliable" accounting rules which make it harder for them to assess the strengths of the companies they invest in.

Euro zone business slump eases but second quarter contraction likely: PMI

(Reuters) - The euro zone's private sector slump has eased more than expected this month, business surveys showed on Thursday, but a continued slide in new orders suggested a full recovery is still some way off.

World stock markets fall after Ben Bernanke hints at easing stimulus

World stock markets fell sharply on Thursday and UK government borrowing costs hit a 15-month high after the chair of the Federal Reserve gave the clearest signal yet that America's huge stimulus package will be slowed this year.

IMF says Spanish recession 'may end soon'

MADRID: Spain's biting recession may end soon but the outlook is tough and Madrid must do more to battle the country's unacceptably high unemployment rate, the IMF warned Wednesday.

G8 countries agree to tackle tax evasion

The west's leading industrial countries have agreed a set of core principles designed to combat tax evasion and reveal the true owners of shadowy companies.

German economy to slow in summer: Central bank

FRANKFURT: The German economy will slow this summer after a spring recovery, the central bank predicted in a report on Monday, citing weaker industrial orders and export data.

Egypt in late stages of verifying reform plan with IMF

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Egypt's government is in the late stages of verifying its economic reform programme with the International Monetary Fund before obtaining a $4.8 billion IMF loan, its central bank governor said on Saturday.

Riksbank Chief Highlights Monetary Policy's Role in Financial Stability

STOCKHOLM--The governor of Sweden's central bank said Wednesday that the recent global financial crisis has shown monetary policy needs to play a greater role in maintaining financial stability.

Royal Bank of Scotland faces struggle to find CEO amid political meddling

LONDON: Royal Bank of Scotland will struggle to recruit a suitable replacement for ousted chief executive Stephen Hester, someone who must steer it through privatisation and accept that political interference comes with the job.

EU Parliament, IMF defend ECB's bond-buying scheme

KARLSRUHE: Germany's highest court wrapped up its examination of the legality of the European Central Bank's key anti-crisis measure on Wednesday, with both the European Parliament and the International Monetary Fund riding to the ECB's defence.

Unemployment rate rises in eurozone, eases in US: OECD

PARIS: A total of 48.5 million people were unemployed in advanced countries in April, an increase of 200,000 from the March level, the OECD said on Tuesday.

Fitch warns on risks from shadow banking in China

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - China's unregulated shadow banking sector poses an increasing risk to the country's financial stability that could spread to other countries, credit rating agency Fitch said on Monday.

Japan PM Shinzo Abe hints at possible tax hike delay

TOKYO: Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday an upper house election will take place on July 21 and voiced the possibility of delaying a consumption tax hike scheduled for next year if the economy remains weak.

China’s Export Growth Slows Amid Concern of Slowdown

HONG KONG — Chinese exports showed only modest growth in May, rising just 1 percent from a year earlier, officials said Saturday, an increase that was much lower than analysts’ expectations.

Fed's Plosser says jobs report another reason to trim QE3

(Reuters) - The latest U.S. jobs report on Friday showed that government spending cuts have so far not been as damaging as some feared, Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said, adding it only entrenched his opinion that the central bank should reduce its bond buying "now."

Bank of England keeps rates at 0.5% and QE steady

The Bank of England has kept its stimulus programme of quantitative easing (QE) unchanged and also held interest rates at 0.5%.

ECB searches for ways to boost sagging eurozone

FRANKFURT, GERMANY: Europe's economy badly needs a push. The European Central Bank says it stands ready to help.

Franco-German EU deal puts onus on Francois Hollande to reform

PARIS: A Franco-German deal to strengthen the euro zone has ended months of bickering between Paris and Berlin and raised the onus on French President Francois Hollande to embark on potentially explosive social and economic reforms.

Fed may need to let inflation rise to boost jobs: Kocherlakota

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve may need to let inflation run a little higher than its 2-percent target in order to bring down unemployment faster, a top Fed official said on Saturday.

IMF Approves Greek Disbursement and Seeks Better Tax Collection

The International Monetary Fund agreed to disburse 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to Greece under its second bailout to the country after the government took measures including a bill to dismiss public-sector employees.

Russia's economic outlook worsens, rate cuts seen in Q3: Poll

MOSCOW: Russia's central bank will resist political pressure to lower interest rates in June as the economy slows, but will cut in the third quarter if inflation returns to target as expected, a Reuters poll showed.

Fed's Pianalto: Financial Stability Mandate Should Be Made Clearer

WASHINGTON--A U.S. Federal Reserve official said on Friday there's scope to extend bank stress tests beyond the companies already involved in the process, and added that the central bank's new financial stability mandate needs to be made clearer.