Manila  - The Philippines' inflation rate increased to 9.3 per cent for 2008 as high oil and food prices battered the economy, the government said Tuesday.

The National Statistics Office said the annual rate shot up from 2.8 per cent in 2007, but stayed at the low end of the government's target of between 9 per cent and 11 per cent.

But December inflation eased to 8.0 per cent, the lowest monthly rate in nine months, down from 9.9 per cent in November as food and oil prices declined.

Berlin  - European inflation fell below the European Central Bank's (ECB) 2 per cent target in December, data to be released Tuesday is forecast to show, raising the prospects of the ECB delivering another cut in rates at its meeting set for next week.

Preliminary data to be released by the European Union's statistics office will show December inflation in what was then the 15-member eurozone sliding from 2.1 per cent in November to 1.8 per cent last month, analysts say.

Berlin - Amid a dispute over tax cuts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition prepared the groundwork Monday for a new economic stimulus package designed to protect Germany from recession.

A key element of the talks between Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and her Social Democrat (SPD) partners was how to secure jobs and increase investments, the chancellor said.

Hong Kong - Middle-class victims of the economic slump are seeking help from a food bank for the poor in Hong Kong, a charity said Monday.

The charity said there had been about 10 instances in the wealthy city of 6.9 million in recent months where former business owners who had fallen on hard times had sought help.

Connie Ng, supervisor of the Saint James Settlement Food Bank, told government-run radio station RTHK the number of people seeking help had doubled in the past three months.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong has the greatest rich-poor divide of any developed country with more than 1 million people living in relative poverty, a party political leader claimed Sunday.

Democratic Party leader Albert Ho called the divide between the rich and poor in the wealthy city of 6.9 million "an embarrassment to our society" and called on Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang to act.

"The government has made it an article of faith and told all of us to believe in the 'trickle-down effect' in the market economy," Ho said on state-run radio.

Seoul  - South Korea on Friday posted its first trade deficit since 1997, as exports nosedived in November and December because of shrinking foreign demand, officials said.

Exports in 2008 grew 13.7 per cent to 422.4 billion dollars, the sixth year double-digit growth in a row, despite a sharp drop in the last two months of the year. Imports rose by 21.5 per cent to 435.4 billion dollars, leading to a trade deficit of 13 billion dollars, the Economy Ministry said.