Yangon - The dramatic appreciation of the Myanmar kyat against the dollar over the past three months has cut into the earnings of Burmese working abroad, the Myanmar Times reported Tuesday.

"The kyat has recently risen in value for reasons not entirely clear, even against the US dollar, which now costs about 1,000 kyat," the English-language weekly reported.

For most of last year, the black market rate for the kyat was 1,200 to 1,300 to the dollar.

Hanoi  - Vietnam will have to offer higher interest rates if it expects to sell enough government bonds to finance its budget deficit, economic experts said Monday.

The government expects its budget deficit to jump to 5.9 billion dollars this year, to be financed in part by 3.1 billion dollars in new bonds. But the global financial crisis is scaring investors away from emerging markets, meaning Vietnam will have to offer high interest rates.

Singapore  - Singapore's economy is expected to recover slightly in the final quarter of 2009, just after sliding even deeper into recession during the first three quarters of the year, a survey by the city-state's central bank showed Monday.

A poll of 20 economists and analysts by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in February showed they expect Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) to fall 8.5 percent in the first quarter 2009 compared to the same period a year ago.

Belgrade  - Serbia and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were due on Monday to open negotiations on a new, 2-billion-dollar standby credit, which the Balkan country needs for macroeconomic stability.

The IMF already approved 530 million dollars in drawing rights for Serbia in a 15-month deal in January. But Belgrade says it needs more in order to cope with the adverse effects of the financial crisis.

Washington - US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in a television interview aired Sunday that the recession could end this year if the banking and financial systems can be stabilized.

"I do think that we will get it stabilized, and we'll see the recession coming to an end probably this year," he told news programme 60 Minutes. "We'll see recovery beginning next year. And it will pick up steam over time."

London - Finance ministers and central bankers from the world's big economic powers moved Saturday to paper over sharp differences in their efforts to combat the global recession with a pledge to return the international economy to growth.

"We are prepared to take whatever action is necessary." said British Chancellor of the Chequer Alistair Darling, who chaired the meeting of Group of 20's (G20) financial chiefs.