Paris - Although much of the world appears to be emerging from the economic crisis, joblessness is expected to remain high in the United States and Europe at least until 2011, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Thursday.

"It is only sometime down the line that the recovery will become sufficiently strong to reduce unemployment," the OECD said in its semi-annual Economic Outlook, issued in Paris.

Singapore  - Singapore on Thursday said its export-reliant economy might grow between 3 and 5 per cent next year after the city-state emerged from its worst recession in history, adding to evidence that Asia is leading the rebound of the global economy.

"A sluggish recovery in final demand in the advanced economies will moderate Singapore's growth prospects in 2010," the Ministry of Trade said in a statement.

Brussels  - Following tough negotiations, European Union governments and the European Parliament agreed Wednesday night on the 16-member bloc's budget for 2010.

A decision was reached to increase expenditure by 6 per cent to 122.9 billion euros, EU diplomats said Wednesday night in Brussels. The budget must still be approved by parliament in December.

"The budget is a powerful response to the economic crisis," said Hans Lindblad, Sweden's state secretary for finance, after the nearly 12-hour-long discussions.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong's unemployment rate fell for the second consecutive month, another sign of its economic recovery, according to government figures Tuesday.

Hong Kong's jobless rate fell by 0.1 percentage points to 5.2 per cent of the working population for the period August to October, compared to 5.3 per cent for July to September.

Unemployment figures in Hong Kong are released every month and are based on the most recent available quarterly figures for the city of 7 million, which has a working population of 3.6 million.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong's unemployment rate fell for the second consecutive month, another sign of its economic recovery, according to government figures Tuesday.

Hong Kong's jobless rate fell by 0.1 percentage points to 5.2 per cent of the working population for the period August to October, compared to 5.3 per cent for July to September.

Unemployment figures in Hong Kong are released every month and are based on the most recent available quarterly figures for the city of 7 million, which has a working population of 3.6 million.

Singapore  - Singapore's external trade lagged in October, government data released Tuesday said, as key exports fell 6.1 per cent from a year ago, a slight improvement from the 7.3-per-cent decrease posted for the previous month.

Singapore's non-oil exports slipped a 18th straight month because of lower exports of electronics and non-electronic products, the International Enterprise Singapore said.

Non-oil exports fell 13 per cent in October month-on-month, a sharp contrast to the 2.9-per-cent increase in September, said the agency.

Manila  - Remittances of millions of overseas Filipinos rose 4.2 per cent in the first nine months of 2009 amid strong global demand for Filipino workers, the central bank said Monday.

Remittances from January to September reached 12.8 billion dollars, compared to 12.3 billion dollars in the same period last year, the bank said.

In September alone, remittances totalled 1.4 billion dollars, up 8.6 per cent year-on-year.

Tokyo  - Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) grew unexpectedly strongly in the third quarter at an annualized rate of 4.8 per cent, the government said on Monday.

The growth was the highest since 2007 and beat analysts' expectations.

GDP grew 1.2 per cent compared to the previous quarter.

The government said that the figures proved that the economic recovery is continuing.

Paris - The French economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2009, the same level of modest growth as in the second quarter, the government's statistics office INSEE said Friday.

Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said that GDP growth would nevertheless be negative for the entire year.

However, she noted that the rate of job losses was decelerating, which was another sign that the French economy was gradually emerging from the crisis.

Singapore - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday urged Asia-Pacific nations to press ahead with their vision of free trade in the region, saying that the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP), including Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore, was a promising tool to reach that goal.

"We have to work together not to protect our markets, but to take steps towards the vision of a free-trade area of Asia-Pacific," Lee said at the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Berlin  - Germany's economic recovery is gaining ground with analysts predicting data to be released Friday will show Europe's biggest economy grew by 0.8 per cent during the third quarter.

This comes after the nation emerged more swiftly than expected from recession to report a 0.3-per-cent expansion rate in the three months to the end of June.

Singapore - Ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on Thursday said the recovery of the global economy was still shaky and expected to be uneven while warning of still-high unemployment rates in some nations.

"The global economic situation has eased considerably," the APEC trade and foreign ministers said in a joint statement after a meeting at the annual APEC summit in Singapore.

Singapore  - Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan on Thursday urged economies worldwide to maintain their stimulus packages, saying there were still no clear signs of a sustained pick-up in private demand and challenges like rising unemployment lying ahead.

"We have to maintain stimulus because there is not yet firm evidence of a sustained improvement in global private demand," Swan said before joining a ministerial meeting at the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Singapore.

Singapore, Nov 12 - World Bank President Robert Zoellick has said in 15 years the Chinese yuan can become an alternative to US dollar as a global reserve currency, with China's fast economic growth and efforts to internationalise the currency.

Singapore - World Bank president Robert Zoellick on Wednesday said he was comfortable about the prospects for the world economy in 2009, but advised governments not to remove their stimulus packages in 2010.

"I feel relatively comfortable about the growth prospects in 2009," Zoellick said on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Singapore.

"I see some risks for 2010," he added, noting that one downturn risk was the handover from the public to the private sector after governments introduced financial and fiscal stimulus packages to overcome the global recession.

Berlin - German investor confidence fell for the second month in a row in November, a key indicator released Tuesday showed.

The Mannheim-based Centre for European Economic Research's (ZEW) index measuring the mood among analysts and institutional investors slipped more-than-forecast to 51.1 points this month.

This was despite the release of a round fresh data showing Europe's biggest economy on a recovery path.

Berlin - German investor confidence fell for the second month in a row in November, a key indicator released Tuesday showed.

The Mannheim-based Centre for European Economic Research's (ZEW) index measuring the mood among analysts and institutional investors slipped more-than-forecast to 51.1 points this month.

This was despite the release of a round fresh data showing Europe's biggest economy on a recovery path.

Brussels - The European Commission faced accusations of favouritism Tuesday as it prepared to issue different deadlines for European Union governments to restore their public finances.

Latest figures from the European Commission show a majority of European Union member states posting 2009 budget deficits well in excess of the 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) limit set by the bloc's Stability and Growth Pact.

Deficits have soared as a result of governments spending aimed at mitigating the impact of the recession.

Hanoi  - The US dollar rose sharply against the Vietnamese dong Tuesday on the country's black market as the central bank failed to keep up with demand for the foreign currency.

Gold shops and black market traders were selling dollars at 19,000 dong each, while the government's reference rate remained at 16,936 and commercial banks asked 17,872 dong to the dollar. Banks are allowed to trade within a band of 3 per cent on either side of the reference rate.

In Ho Chi Minh City, some shops were asking 19,100 dong to the dollar.

Tokyo  - The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan fell in October for the third month in a row, a credit research agency said Tuesday.

The 1,261 bankruptcies represented an 11.7-per-cent fall from the same month a year earlier, Shoko Research said, attributing the decline to government economic stimulus measures, including loan guarantees.