Economic downturn to end in 2009

Ben Bernanke, head of the US central bank, has made an interesting announcement recently. He simply said that he expected the recession to come to an end in the year of 2009. Let’s quote what he told to CBS TV channel: “This decline will begin to moderate and we'll begin to see a levelling off.” 

Mr Bernanke also said that in order to solve the problem the governments had to act quicker than they had done last time. Their reaction was very slow and almost brought the world close to a financial meltdown. Even though BBC thinks that this in an unusual behaviour from Mr Bernanke, i.e. having an interview with a TV channel, but he said these were desperate times and he needed to make an announcement. 

What he told to CBS he had already told to the US Congress back in January. He firmly believes that only politics can stand in the way to make the world recover if there is no appropriate will to make a start. But are there any signs justifying all that Mr Bernanke claimed? Well, the Dow Jones index started to rise again and the economic bail-out seems to solve the problem of the mortgages, however, the US unemployment rate is still the highest since 1983. 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7945385.stm

Japanese exports shrink

Japanese current account shows deficit after 13 years by reaching 1.8 billion dollars. It seems people do not want to buy Japanese cars anymore, not because of their quality, but because of the ongoing recession that has recently been compared to the Great Depression. 

A current account is an economic figure that is used to measure the balance between a country’s exports and imports. If the account has a positive balance, it means during a specific year there were more exports than imports, however, a negative balance indicates the opposite: more imports than exports. In the case of Japan the exports halved in the last couple of months, whereas imports only decreased by a third. 

Not only did car exports go down, but the recession also affected the semiconductor and electronic parts exports. As Michito Yamagami finance ministry official said: “We incurred the current account deficit due to a plunge in exports. Our exports to key regions, including the United States, Europe and Asia, were all down sharply due to the deteriorating global economy.” Hiroshi Watanabe economist also made comment on the current situation of the country: „Japan's export-driven economy is really engulfed by waves of the global economic crisis.” 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7931806.stm

Europe worried about the fate of General Motors

The European Commission had an emergency meeting to discuss the matters of the automotive industry which had been severely hit by the recession and could cause the end of General Motors. They simply did not accept the way GM had reacted to the ongoing crisis and were in fear of being too late to set things right. 

But what do the figures show for General Motors? According to their auditors the company is in a desperate situation as it had a loss of approximately 31 billion dollars just last year and the situation for 2009 would be far from being rosy, either. GM’s shares have gone down with at least 15% so far. If the company goes bankrupt, it will cause job losses for 300,000 European citizens. So as not to let it happen the EU expects European governments to come up with a solution to give aid to GM so that the company will not run out of money by the end of this spring. Mainly those EU countries that have GM sites or GM-related plants within their borders are expected to react to this dire situation: Britain, Belgium, Poland, Germany, Spain and Sweden. 

What is definitely out of question is that General Motors will cut almost 50,000 jobs and will require at least 22 billion dollars to survive in the near future. So far the company has received a 13 billion dollar federal loan to fight the “worst vehicle sales market” in three decades. Auditors wrote in their annual report that "The corporation's recurring losses from operations, stockholders' deficit, and inability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet its obligations and sustain its operations raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.” The company’s sales decreased by 53% compared to last year’s figures. In its annual report GM says: „Our future is dependent on our ability to execute our viability plan. If we fail to do so for any reason, we would not be able to continue as a going concern and could potentially be forced to seek relief through a filing under the US bankruptcy code.” 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7927463.stm

ASEAN takes steps towards the restoration of economy

ASEAN is the abbreviation of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations which is – according to the Wikipedia – is the economic organisation of 10 Southeast Asian countries. Its member states are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The bloc that seeks to become as significant union as the European Union was formed back in 1967. 

Leaders of the 10 member states sat down and had round-table discussions to evaluate current economic situation. Among the topics was the stimulation of economic activity, easier access to credit and, most importantly, avoiding trade protectionism. At the end of the summit held in Thailand they also expressed their idea of forming an economic community similar to EU by 2015. According to BBC correspondent Jonathan Head it will take more than six years for them to reach their goals, what is especially problematic because of the issue of human rights – Vietnam and Burma are not democratic countries. And even though the first charter of rules is ready, member states are not forced to adhere to them. 

The community whose vision is “One Vision, One Identity, One Community” has so far achieved some significant results. Free trade agreement exists between the member nations and its trading partners such as Australia and New Zealand. Human rights are also very important for the community, but understandably, during last conference more emphasis was on the ongoing economic downturn. 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7917323.stm