Thailand - Thailand's economy is expected to contract by 3 per cent this year and could contract by up to 9 per cent if the government fails to push through stimulus programmes, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said Monday.

"If the government had no stimulus programmes the gross domestic product (GDP) could contract 8 to 9 per cent this year," Korn told reporters.

The Fiscal Policy Office has lowered its GDP growth projection for 2009 from minus 2 per cent to minus 3 per cent, he said.

Singapore - Singapore's poorest were hit hardest by rising prices for food, housing and electricity in 2008, as the city-state's inflation climbed to its highest level in 28 years, data published by the Department of Statistics on Monday said.

Singapore's consumer price index (CPI) for general households rose by 6.5 per cent in 2008, the highest level since
1981 when it came up to 8.2 per cent.

It was more than triple the 2.1-per-cent increase of 2007.

London - A leading British thinktank Friday warned of the "grave threat" of social unrest in response to the global recession over the next two years.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), in a paper published Friday, rated the risk of upheaval that could "disrupt economies and topple governments" as "high or very high" in 95 countries.

New York  - The United Nations called Friday for the injection of 15 billion dollars a year into the global water market to meet daily water needs of billions of people as it marks World Water Day on Sunday.

March 22 each year is dedicated to water, a commodity called "the most precious natural resource" by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"More than ever we need to work together to use it wisely," Ban said in a prepared message for World Water Day.

Budapest  - Hungary's economy is set to shrink by 4 to 5 per cent this year, the head of economic think tank Kopint-Tarki said on Friday.

The economic research institute has issued increasingly grim forecasts over recent months as Hungary's economic gloom has deepened.

In December, the estimate was a contraction of 1.3 per cent, said Kopint-Tarki head Eva Palocz.

Sacramento - A tent city that sprang up in the California state capital of Sacramento and became a symbol of the country's desperate economic plight is to be closed within three weeks, the Sacramento Bee reported Friday.

Mayor Kevin Johnston said the plan was to move hundreds of the tent city residents to "safer, more sanitary" quarters and cordon off the pasture which they had called home.