President-Elect Obama Moves to Reassure Market - Blame It on the U.S.
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BLAME IT ON THE U.S.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe
Calderon blamed the United States for starting the crisis and called
for better banking regulations.
In other developments, Britain prepared plans to inject billions of
pounds into the economy to stave off recession amid slumping house
prices, rising unemployment, and shrinking manufacturing output.
Finance Minister Alistair Darling will unveil the package of tax
cuts and extra public spending expected to total up to 20 billion
pounds ($30 billion) on Monday, newspapers said.
A cut in the so-called value added tax or VAT, is aimed at giving a pre-Christmas boost to consumers' spending power.
"Doing nothing is not an option," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said
in a speech he will give to businessmen on Monday. "We need timely
action now to prevent permanent damage."
ASIA LEARNS TO FLINCH
China also planned more ways to support its economy, now showing
signs of being infected by the crisis after years of extraordinary
growth.
State television said provincial governments have made plans to
invest a total of more than 10 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion) over the
next several years. It was unclear whether that would be on top of a 4
trillion yuan stimulus package announced by the central government
earlier this month.
South Korean officials said they had further policy options to
combat the global downturn, putting pressure on the central bank to cut
interest rates in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
"We need financial support for small companies and exporters," Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said.
In the Gulf, also feeling the crisis despite its oil riches, Saudi
Arabia's central bank slashed its benchmark lending rate from 4 percent
to 3 percent, the second reduction in a month to keep credit markets
moving and boost liquidity.
In Cairo, President Hosni Mubarak said Egypt's already-wide budget
deficit would increase as it spends more to avert economic slowdown. He
called for cheaper credit to boost the economy.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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