British economic slowdown faster than expected in third quarter

June 30th, 2009 LONDON - The British economy shrank by 2.4 percent in the first quarter - the fastest rate of shrinkage in more than 50 years, according to official figures released Tuesday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the contraction between January and March was the fastest since 1958.

June 11th, 2009 LONDON - A father of three in England is the proud owner of a 1979 VW Golf that can blow away a Bugatti Veyron supercar. Forty-two-year-old Andy Waite, of Fordham, Cambridgeshire, purchased the Mk 1 Golf for fifty pounds, about 1million pounds less than the price of the Bugatti, the world's most expensive motor.

April 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - China's central bank chief has said the country's economy has done better than expected in the wake of the ongoing economic slowdown. 'Facing the impact of the financial crisis, the Chinese government has promptly introduced a policy package to expand domestic demand and maintain financial stability, striving to respond to the impact of the financial crisis,' Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People's Bank of China, said at the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) meeting held here Saturday.

April 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A majority of chief information officers (CIOs) of companies in India expect the economic slowdown to end by October-December 2009, a survey conducted by market intelligence IT consulting major IDC India showed Monday. The survey, titled 'Identifying Opportunities in the Current Economic Scenario', was conducted among 467 CIOs from mid-sized and large enterprises across 18 industry verticals in February-March 2009, IDC said.

April 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - The Third Front should try formulating alternative economic policies to deal with the economic slowdown if it came to power at the centre, West Bengal's ruling Left Front chairman Biman Bose said here Thursday. 'The economic condition of the country is affected due to the slowdown.

March 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Indian economy, grappling with the current global slowdown, would start reviving in three to six months, a senior government official said here Thursday. 'I am reasonably hopeful that the monetary and the fiscal policies (taken by the government) would play themselves out,' Suresh Tendulkar, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said at a seminar here.

March 2nd, 2009 DUBAI - The global economic slowdown is affecting Saudi Arabia, home to over 1.5 million expatriate Indians, with three-fourths of companies there expecting a freeze in hiring in the next two quarters of the January-December 2009 accounting year, according to a new survey. The 'Saudi Arabia's Business Confidence Q1-2009,' the quarterly survey of HSBC Bank's Saudi affiliate SABB, found that along with a freeze in hiring, there has been a significant dip in business confidence in the next two quarters as compared to the third quarter of 2008.

February 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The fears of a sharp slowdown in India were confirmed Friday, with official data showing economic growth at just 5.3 percent for the third quarter of the current fiscal - the slowest since 2003 - against 8.9 percent in the like period the previous year. The growth in gross domestic product (GDP) has dipped from 7.6 percent for the second quarter and 7.9 percent for the first quarter, showed statistics released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).

February 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government estimate of 7 percent gross domestic (GDP) growth for the current fiscal year will certainly be missed and the 'overly optimistic projection' needs to be substantially revised downward to below 5 percent, according to the research arm of global rating agency Moody's. 'With the recent deterioration in global economic conditions, it is almost certain that India's growth will slow to under 5 percent in the first half of 2009,' said Sherman Chan, an economist with Moody's Economy.com.

February 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) have put on hold their plans to invest in ethanol projects in Brazil due to the current economic slowdown, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said here Tuesday. The oil marketing companies - Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp - had explored the possibilities of acquiring sugarcane farms and setting up ethanol manufacturing units in Brazil, Deora said while answering a question in the Rajya Sabha.

January 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US economy suffered its biggest slowdown in 26 years in the last three months of 2008 as consumer spending recorded the worst slide in the post-war era - a trend that is likely to continue in the coming months. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity, fell at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter, adjusted for inflation, according to official figures released Friday.

January 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US economy suffered its biggest slowdown in 26 years in the last three months of 2008 as consumer spending recorded the worst slide in the post-war era, a trend that's likely to continue in the coming months. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity, fell at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter, adjusted for inflation, according to official figures released Friday.

January 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Reserve Bank of India Monday said the economy after exhibiting strong growth in the second quarter this fiscal is now slowing down in the wake of the global meltdown. 'The global economic outlook has deteriorated sharply since September 2008 with several countries, notably the US, the UK, the Euro area and Japan experiencing recession.

January 21st, 2009 SEOUL - South Korea's economy contracted at a more-than-expected rate of 5.6 percent in the final quarter of 2008 - its biggest drop since the Asian financial crisis a decade ago - and may be heading towards a deep recession. As exports shrank, domestic consumption waned and business investment declined, the central bank said Thursday.

December 22nd, 2008 AHMEDABAD - Despite the global economic slowdown, Gujarat is still on 'investors' radar' and has the potential to take the maximum advantage of the economic situation, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday. Laying foundation stone for Dishman Pharma's chemicals and engineering special economic zone (SEZ) at Bavala-Bagodara near here, he said: 'Gujarat is marching on the path of progress when global banks, insurance companies and firms are in the grip of economic crisis.' 'The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project is going to change the contours of industrial development maps.