Washington
Pantaloon's woes: High debt, slow sales
Pantaloon Retail's problems could escalate, if it fails to raise resources quickly to pare debt, say analysts tracking the company. Amid slowing sales and sagging cash flows, tackling the mounting debt burden is paramount among its string of problems.
The world's most business-friendly countries
The global economic downturn may have temporarily slowed business activity around the world, but many countries are playing their part to improve domestic regulations aimed at helping facilitate business.
According to the World Bank's global economy standings – which ranks 183 countries on the basis of how easy it is to conduct business – Singapore tops the rankings, followed by Hong Kong and New Zealand.
Vietnam wins WTO anti-dumping case against US
Vietnam scored a victory on Monday in its first challenge at the World Trade Organization against the US over anti-dumping measures imposed by Washington on frozen shrimps.
The trade watchdog found that Washington's use of the so-called zeroing method to calculate dumping margins were "inconsistent" with international trade rules, and must therefore halt such action.
HK's Ladies Market on US list of notorious piracy spots
Ladies Market, the popular open-air shopping corridor for tourists in Mong Kok, has been flagged by Washington as one of the world's most "notorious markets" for counterfeit and pirated goods.
The Luohu Market, the mall just over the border in Shenzhen favoured by bargain-hunting Hongkongers, and other mainland shopping areas were also pinpointed by US authorities as dens of fake goods.
Indians favour US apples over domestic
For Indian food marketers, "times could never be better than now in India" as Indians are changing their food consumption patterns powered by growing income levels and an increasing awareness of healthy living, according to Keith Sunderlal, Indian representative of the Washington Apple Commission.
Despite the domestic production of apples of around 1.5 million tonnes and the import of 40,000 tonnes of Washington apples, the gap between demand and supply may never be bridged.
China economy overtakes US based on purchasing power
China overtook the US last year as the world's biggest economy when measured in terms of purchasing power, according to Arvind Subramanian, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
China's GDP per capita would increase to USD11,047 from the USD7,518 estimated by the IMF in its World Economic Outlook, according to Subramanian's calculations. That would still leave US GDP per capita 4.3 times higher than China's, he said.
Further trade liberalization urged for Japan
Japan should step up efforts for further trade liberalization as it faces the risk of marginalization amid growing momentum among rival economies for bilateral or regional free-trade agreements, former US trade representative Charlene Barshefsky said in a recent interview.
On the Japanese market, Barshefsky said import barriers "remain high", not in terms of tariffs but various nontariff measures and informal barriers to trade.
India says will intro. financial regs. to shield poor from market volatility
India is considering bringing in financial regulations to protect the poor from market fluctuations, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Washington.
Mukherjee says, "However, if we over regulate, we will kill innovation and harm economic growth." He went on to add, "Our substantive GDP [gross domestic product] growth will be accompanied by direct inclusion of the underprivileged, who will in turn contribute to our rising growth trajectory."
US credit card issuers in breakthrough antitrust settlement
The US' Department of Justice said on Monday that Visa and MasterCard have agreed to a proposed settlement of a civil antitrust action against them that will allow merchants to begin steering customers towards lower-cost methods of payment, marking a major victory for retail groups.
China tries to cool yuan dispute with US
China on 19 March said it was sending an envoy to Washington to try to ease trade frictions as its currency regime comes under fire, warning that threats from US legislators could stifle room for progress.
The announcement, along with conciliatory comments by China's commerce ministry, appeared aimed at cooling an increasingly rancorous dispute that has US senators threatening to slap duties on Chinese products if Beijing does not allow the yuan to rise.
