9:56 PM

(0) Comments

IMFs Lipsky says moderate world recovery underway Reuters

Addison Ray

GWANGJU, South Korea Reuters The world economy is recovering moderately but still faces challenges such as the need for medium-term fiscal consolidation, the IMFs 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 Europes refusal to share more IMF power with emerging economies, took unprecedented action last month to block plans that would have kept Europes long-running dominance over the 24-member board.

Emerging economies have called for a bigger say in international institutions such as the IMF in line with their increasing contribution to the global economy and the resultant importance in global economic policy coordination.

A senior Indonesian official told Reuters separately that emerging economies want not only more voting power, but some readjustment in the way the global economic policy is made.

"For emerging markets, the important thing is not only the size of the increase of the quota, but the general idea of the relationship between the quota and governance of the IMF -- and that needs to come in one package," Hartadi Sarwono, deputy governor of the Indonesian central bank, said in an interview.

South Korea will host the November 11-12 summit of G20 leaders in Seoul, with key issues also including reforming the global financial regulatory framework and drawing up plans to put the world economy on a balanced and sustainable growth path.

Reporting by Yoo Choonsik and Rachel Armstrong



Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

9:28 PM

(0) Comments

IMFs Lipsky says moderate world recovery underway

Addison Ray

GWANGJU, South Korea | Sat Sep 4, 2010 11:48pm EDT

GWANGJU, South Korea Reuters - The world economy is recovering moderately but still faces challenges such as the need for medium-term fiscal consolidation, the IMFs 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 Europes refusal to share more IMF power with emerging economies, took unprecedented action last month to block plans that would have kept Europes long-running dominance over the 24-member board.

Emerging economies have called for a bigger say in international institutions such as the IMF in line with their increasing contribution to the global economy and the resultant importance in global economic policy coordination.

A senior Indonesian official told Reuters separately that emerging economies want not only more voting power, but some readjustment in the way the global economic policy is made.

"For emerging markets, the important thing is not only the size of the increase of the quota, but the general idea of the relationship between the quota and governance of the IMF -- and that needs to come in one package," Hartadi Sarwono, deputy governor of the Indonesian central bank, said in an interview.

South Korea will host the November 11-12 summit of G20 leaders in Seoul, with key issues also including reforming the global financial regulatory framework and drawing up plans to put the world economy on a balanced and sustainable growth path.

Reporting by Yoo Choonsik and Rachel Armstrong



Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

2:38 PM

(0) Comments

Venezuela OKs payment for French retailer Casino

Addison Ray

CARACAS | Sat Sep 4, 2010 5:09pm EDT

CARACAS Reuters - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has approved a $690 million payment to French retailer Casino and other owners of a supermarket chain nationalized earlier this year, state media said on Saturday.

A first $138 million installment will be paid on September 7, added a statement by the Information Ministry on the website of state TV channel Venezolana de Television.

The statement said the government would take an 80 percent stake in the Cativen group, which ran the Exito and Cada supermarket chains taken over in January by the government which accused them of price-gouging after a devaluation.

"With the acquisition of a majority stake ... the transition to a socialist economic model will be reinforced," the statement said. "Now the people can buy and eat more."

The Cada and Exito supermarkets are being absorbed into a new state chain called Bicentenario, which Chavez says will be crucial to fair and accessible food distribution in the South American oil-producing nation.

During 11 years in office, the socialist Chavez, whose mentor is Cubas former president Fidel Castro, has nationalized large parts of the economy.

Saturdays statement said the government would pay 60 percent of the price for Cativen in cash and the other 40 percent in debt.

Casino held a 67 percent direct stake in Cativen, and further shares through a Colombian subsidiary, Almacenes Exito.

Venezuelas Empresas Polar also had a small stake.

Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Mohammad Zargham



Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

2:37 PM

(0) Comments

Venezuela OKs payment for French retailer Casino Reuters

Addison Ray

CARACAS Reuters Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has approved a $690 million payment to French retailer Casino and other owners of a supermarket chain nationalized earlier this year, state media said on Saturday.

A first $138 million installment will be paid on September 7, added a statement by the Information Ministry on the website of state TV channel Venezolana de Television.

The statement said the government would take an 80 percent stake in the Cativen group, which ran the Exito and Cada supermarket chains taken over in January by the government which accused them of price-gouging after a devaluation.

"With the acquisition of a majority stake ... the transition to a socialist economic model will be reinforced," the statement said. "Now the people can buy and eat more."

The Cada and Exito supermarkets are being absorbed into a new state chain called Bicentenario, which Chavez says will be crucial to fair and accessible food distribution in the South American oil-producing nation.

During 11 years in office, the socialist Chavez, whose mentor is Cubas former president Fidel Castro, has nationalized large parts of the economy.

Saturdays statement said the government would pay 60 percent of the price for Cativen in cash and the other 40 percent in debt.

Casino held a 67 percent direct stake in Cativen, and further shares through a Colombian subsidiary, Almacenes Exito.

Venezuelas Empresas Polar also had a small stake.

Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Mohammad Zargham



Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

1:06 AM

(0) Comments

Six million hit by tax mistakes

Addison Ray

Nearly six million people in the UK are to be told they have paid the wrong amount of tax.

About �2bn has been underpaid via the Pay as You Earn PAYE system in the past two years, with about 1.4 million people owing an average of �1,500 each.

But �1.8bn has also been overpaid and some 4.3 million people will get a rebate because they have paid too much.

HM Revenue and Customs HMRC said the "overwhelming majority" of PAYE contributions were correct.

Millions of letters will be sent to taxpayers across the UK informing them of errors in their contributions.

The first 45,000 are expected to arrive on Tuesday, with 30,000 informing recipients they are due a rebate of on average �418.

The remaining 15,000 letters will tell taxpayers they have underpaid and will have their tax code altered next year to recoup the money.

It is thought that some individuals may face both underpayments and overpayments, which could cancel each another out.

"Start Quote

The government accepts that the way we go about deducting tax at source needs to be much more accurate"

End Quote HMRC spokesman
Computerised

Discrepancies arise when the amounts deducted in tax and National Insurance by employers using the PAYE system do not match the information held on HMRC records.

This most often occurs when individuals change jobs, have more than one job at the same time, or because employers are using the wrong tax code.

In June 2009, the process of checking contributions was computerised, which HMRC says should help reduce errors in the future.

But in some cases officials say they will consider writing off demands for additional money if taxpayers can demonstrate they provided all the information necessary to calculate their tax correctly.

An HMRC spokesman told the BBC: "The overwhelming majority of PAYE cases - over 40 million - are right, so most people have paid the right amount of tax.

"But for a variety of reasons in some cases there will be a discrepancy.

"The government accepts that the way we go about deducting tax at source needs to be much more accurate and the introduction of the NPS [computer system] paves the way for a real time system which in turn boosts accuracy."

In June, the government ordered a review of how the PAYE system works and is encouraging the public to contribute their thoughts about how it could be improved.



Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network
http://tinyurl.com/27umo7q