The World Bank on Thursday completed its largest-ever bond issue, raising $6 billion through a globally-distributed fixed-rate note, said a news release.
   ‘The World Bank’s conservative capital structure and finances puts it in an excellent position to help its members sustain key development programs through this very tough economic environment,’ said WB treasurer Kenneth Lay. ‘We’ve been able to scale up quickly to help countries address the financing gaps faced by many, and today’s deal makes a notable contribution to that effort.’
    The money raised through this transaction will further enable the global agency to provide much-needed investments in developing countries dealing with the impacts of the global financial crisis.  IBRD could make new commitments of up to $100 billion over the next three years. This year, lending could almost triple to $35 billion.
    The bond issue comes at a time when developing countries are facing financing gaps of $270 - $700 billion, as private sector creditors shun emerging markets. Only one-quarter of the most vulnerable countries have the resources to prevent a rise in poverty.
    ‘This financing is evidence of the appreciation investors and dealers have for the strength of the World Bank’s finances and its members’ strong support for its work as a development institution. The Bank has been a major issuer in the international capital markets for more than 60 years. We remain focused, as always, on delivering for investors the credit quality and liquidity they value,’ said Doris Herrera-Pol, director of Global Capital Markets at the World Bank.
   Current World Bank estimates suggest that lower economic growth rates will trap 53 million more people on less than $1.25 a day than was expected prior to the crisis, or 65 million staying trapped on less than $2 a day. This follows on from the at least 130-155 million people pushed into poverty in 2008 because of soaring food and fuel prices.
   This global bond, the Bank’s second US dollar benchmark in 2009, was joint-lead managed by Citi, HSBC, J.P. Morgan and Royal Bank of Scotland. The bonds were priced with a spread of 82 basis points over the corresponding US Treasury note, which translates to a yield of 2.095 per cent, paying a semi-annual coupon of 2 per cent

The Golden Tulip Hospitality Group expressed its keen interest in bringing in the Golden Tulip brand to Bangladesh with the objective to become a major contributor to country’s hospitality, business and tourism sectors.
   Duco E de Vries, business development director of MENA region of the group, said it at a press release on Friday.
   ‘Introduction of Tulip to Bangladesh will open opportunity to expand business and tourism in this country as well as the opportunities for new different hotel jobs,’ he said.
   ‘Tulip has a lot on offer. Our success will be a result of the perfect combination of exciting brands, a dedicated professional team, and target markets with great potential for growth,’ he added.
   Golden Tulip, the hotel brand of Switzerland based worldwide hospitality company with more than 780 hotels and 75,000 rooms in more than 50 countries, was ranked 18th largest hotel chain around the world by Hotels Magazine in 2006.
   As a multi-brand hospitality firm, the Golden Tulip Hospitality Group also offers services in categories with different standards like Tulip Inns, Tulip Residence, Golden Tulip, and Royal Tulip with luxurious and high standard living facilities.
   In addition, Golden Tulip offers its services through its commercial alliance with TOP International, a German based hotel consortium.

Rice price declined further in the wholesale and retail markets in the past week that also pushed wheat and flour prices down.
   Sugar and potatoes became dearer in the week while further decline on the onion prices was recorded.
   Declined by Tk 50 per maund (37.32 kilogram) over the week in the primary wholesale markets, price of ordinary grade coarse rice dropped at Tk 650 per maund.
   At Ashuganj local wholesale depot, ordinary grade coarse rice ‘lali guti’ sold at Tk 17.43 a kilogram on Friday against Tk 18.77 a week ago and Tk 20.1 a month back.
   ‘Rice prices are on continuous decline when sales remain very slow,’ said Shonchoy Mohajon, an Ashuganj trader.
   In the retail markets, ordinary grade coarse rice sold per kilogram at between Tk 20 and Tk 23 on Friday while fine varieties of rice sold between Tk 28 and Tk 36. The trades observed that the rice prices in the retail markets declined by around 30 per cent in three months.
   The continuous declines in rice prices pushed another round of declines of wheat and flour prices in the past week, said Abdur Razzak, a wheat miller in Dhaka.
   Ordinary grade Russian or Ukrainian wheat sold as lowest as Tk 500 per maund against Tk 530 a week ago and Tk 580 a month back. Fine grade Australian what sold per maund at Tk 720 against Tk 820 a month ago.
   In the wholesale markets, coarse flour (atta) sold at Tk 16.2 per kilogram on Thursday against Tk 17.50 a week ago and Tk 18.40 a month back.
   The new stock of local variety of wheat hit the market in the past week and Thakurgaon variety wheat sold per maund at around Tk 560 in the wholesale markets in Dhaka and Narayanganj.
   Retailed between Tk 40 and Tk 42 on Friday, sugar price increased by at least Tk 6 per kilogram in the past two weeks. Retailed for up to Tk 18 per kilogram on Friday while onion prices declined further in the week.
   Among other essentials non-packed super palm oil between Tk 64 and Tk 66, non-packed soya bean at Tk 70 and Tk 74. Coarse flour sold between Tk 22 Tk 25 per kilogram and bottled and branded soya bean oil per litre sold between Tk 70 and Tk 74.

The government has decided to resume wheat procurement from the local market on April 1 that will continue for three weeks.
   The decision was taken at a meeting of the Food Policy and Monitoring Unit under the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management on Wednesday.
   Earlier on February 22 the government had decided not to procure local wheat as the price of the grain at the international market was lower than the domestic market.
   But the decision was changed to protect the interests of the domestic growers.
   The price of wheat in the international market has dropped to $200 per tonne, a food ministry official said and added that the government could procure wheat from overseas market at a price of Tk 14 per kg, but it decided to procure from domestic market to ensure local farmers a fare value of their produce.
   The procurement price of wheat has been fixed at Tk 16 per kilogram, but the quantity is yet to be fixed, said a high official of the Department of Food.
   Last year the government’s procurement price of wheat was Tk 26 per kilogram though the local price was Tk 33, said an official who had attended the meeting.

Eleven of the world’s leading sustainable banks have created a new alliance to build a positive alternative to a global financial system in crisis. The banks, which have assets of over $10 billion and serve over seven million customers in 20 countries, came together for the first time at a special meeting in the Netherlands in 2-4 March.
   Founded by BRAC Bank in Bangladesh, ShoreBank in the US, and Triodos Bank in The Netherlands, the Alliance’s members are senior bankers, seven of whom are founders of the institutions themselves, a news release said.
   The Global Alliance for Banking on Values was launched at an event which included speeches from Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of The Netherlands, a former banker and former member of the United Nations Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors, and Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. The banks in the Alliance range from BRAC Bank — part of the BRAC Group, the world’s largest microfinance institution — to ShoreBank, a community bank based in Chicago, and Triodos Bank, Europe’s leading sustainable bank.
   Speaking at the launch, Peter Blom, CEO of Triodos Bank, said, ‘Unlike their enormous mainstream contemporaries, these banks are profitable, growing and crisis resistant. When it was unfashionable to do so they stuck to simple, core banking services that balance people, planet and profit. There’s no one single answer to the global financial crisis. There are many. But the leaders of these organisations, acting on an international stage, hold many of them. Together they are an extraordinary force for change.’
   The new partnership plans to develop new ways of working, build organisations better suited to long-term sustainable thinking, and new forms of ownership and economic cooperation. And, given the financial crisis, and its profound and lasting influence, the new Alliance believes its timing is crucial.
   Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson of BRAC, said ‘We are increasingly dependent on each other economically, wherever we live in the world. If we are to tackle the global problems we face, we are going to need international action to do it. We believe these banks have the potential to change the architecture of the financial world, and start delivering lasting solutions for unserved and underserved communities and sectors.’
   BRAC Bank in Bangladesh has pioneered and created access to finance for the small businesses. This sector, which has been one of the largest in terms of employment generation has been largely ignored by the mainstream financial institutions, comprises of 62 per cent of BRAC Banks lending book. Cumulative disbursement is $1.2 billion till end 2008. It serves around 2 lakh small businesses and has enabled the generation of more than 7.5 lakh jobs. Sixty per cent of its lending in small businesses is in the semi urban and rural areas. BRAC Bank has over 56 branches, 30 Small Enterprise Service Centres and 450 small business unit offices all over the country.
   ‘We will promote responsible finance — supporting existing banks and helping to develop new ones,’ said Mary Houghton, president of the ShoreBank Corporation. ‘We will lead the debate on the banking models we think could inspire profound changes in the mainstream financial industry. We won’t just talk about change, we will work together to deliver it. Given the need for a healthier, more sustainable economy — and the current failure of the mainstream to provide it — establishing the Global Alliance for Banking on Values could hardly be more important.’

The country’s largest ICT and educational conglomerate, Daffodil International University appeared before the visitors with a new look and elaborate programme at the BCS Digital Expo-2009 on Friday to highlight their products and services.
   Daffodil Technokids organised a guided tour programme for students of different schools of the capital city everyday at the BCS Digital Expo-2009 to build awareness about ICT and familiar them with the latest innovation and development and their application in everyday life, a DIU news release said.
   At the end of each tour, Technokids organised a quiz competition and give attractive gifts to the winners. On Friday, the DIU organised a talk show titled ‘Only Technological Advancement’ can bring change in Bangladesh.
   Media personality M Hamid, dramatist Mamunur Rashid, poet Nirmalendu Goon, film director Tarek Masud and Katherine Masud, DIU chairman Md Sabur Khan, cricketer Shahriar Nafis, singer Asif Akbar and Dr Fokhray Hossain took part in the talk show.
   The DIU students upheld the origin and advancement of ICT through a drama, Life Change, on the fair premises, attracting the visitors most in the Digital Expo. They also presented four of their developed projects based on ICT to the visitors.
   During the Digital Expo, Daffodil Computers arranged several quiz contests on ICT product and services among the visitors, the press release said.
   Daffodil Institute of IT organised an ICT related magazine programme ‘Edutainment,’ which included latest information, development of ICT, news update, modernization of music using digital system, Quiz Contest, Digital Life Style and a picturesque of digital Bangladesh 2021.
   Besides, the DIU organised a debate competition on ‘Digital Life is the Best Life.’ A large number of ICT lovers took part in the debate, the release added.

The UAE foreign trade minister, Shiekha Lubna Al Qasimi, hoped that business and investment policies of the present government will encourage UAE investors to invest in various sectors of Bangladesh.
   ‘Investments from the UAE to Bangladesh will continue to grow’, Sheikha Qasimi made the remarks during a meeting with the visiting commerce minister, Faruk Khan, in Abu Dhabi at her office on Thursday.
   A release from the Bangladesh Mission said the commerce minister hoped that proportion of professionals and skilled workforces from Bangladesh to the UAE would continue to increase.
   He expressed Bangladesh government’s keen interest in sending more professionals and skilled workforces from Bangladesh.
   Sheikha Qasimi expressed her satisfaction about the work ethic and discipline of the Bangladeshi expatriates and their valuable contribution to the nation building endeavours of the UAE.
   Lauding the present level of FDI from the UAE to Bangladesh specially in telecommunications (Warid Telecom), banking (AL Falah), chemicals (RAK Ceramics, Emirate Cement) and other areas, the commerce minister welcomed more investments from the UAE specially in power, port and other infrastructural sectors.
   He thanked the UAE minister for continuing support to various economic and social causes of Bangladesh.

A UN expert panel led by US economist Joseph Stiglitz on Thursday made a strong pitch for a new global reserve system to replace the US dollar as the world reserve currency.
   ‘A new global reserve system — what may be viewed as a greatly expanded SDR (Special Drawing Rights), with regular or cyclically adjusted emissions calibrated to the size of reserve accumulations, could contribute to global stability, economic strength and global equity,’ the panel said in one of several recommendations to tackle the global financial crisis.
   ‘There is a growing consensus that there are problems with the dollar reserve system,’ Stiglitz told a press conference, pointing out that such a system was ‘relatively volatile, deflationary, unstable and (had) inequity associated with it.’
   The International Monetary Fund created the SDR as an international reserve asset in 1969, but it is only used by governments and international institutions.

Confidence that the world economy may be moving out of its slump helped investors steady Asian markets Friday, while inflation data in Japan gave a little more relief.
   Investors took heart from announcements in Washington overnight of sweeping reforms to US financial institutions and payment systems the administration said will give traders greater protection.
   US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner’s reform proposals were echoed by world leaders who, with an eye on the upcoming G20 meeting in London, called for better regulation of global financial institutions.
   Meanwhile official data from France and South Korea showed their economies shrinking in the fourth quarter but by less than earlier predicted.
   The seeming optimism saw Asian markets on Friday taking an early lead from Wall Street’s healthy gains on Thursday, but largely pulling back from their morning bounce.
   Japanese share prices closed down 0.11 per cent as players locked in profits following robust gains during early trade.
   Sentiment was boosted by figures showing Japanese inflation stayed flat for a second month in February. The core Consumer Price Index was unchanged from a year earlier, despite market expectations of a small drop.
   Profit-taking also saw Hong Kong share prices end the morning 0.45 per cent down after a recent rally, and Australian share prices closed up 0.71 per cent, pulling back slightly from a bullish morning.
   Friday’s performance in Asia came after the Dow Jones Industrial Average vaulted 2.25 per cent to close Thursday at 7,924.56, up 20 per cent from March 9 lows.
   The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 3.80 per cent Thursday to turn positive for 2009, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 2.33 per cent, capping a 23 per cent rise from lows earlier this month.
   The consolidation in Asia came after Geithner unveiled reforms covering banks, hedge funds, money market funds and the derivative market.
   Under his proposal, the government will regulate the markets for credit default swaps, a form of insurance against loan defaults at the heart of the financial crisis, and over-the-counter derivatives, requiring advisers to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
   Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd called for a shake-up of the global financial system, warning that inaction at next week’s G20 summit could worsen the crisis.
   Rudd, on a visit to Washington ahead of the London summit, urged revamping the International Monetary Fund to give more power to China and other emerging economies.
   Japanese prime minister Taro Aso echoed the call Friday.
   ‘We will have to emphatically argue that the foundation of the International Monetary Fund is weak and that we must establish financial regulations and supervision,’ he told a legislative session.
   And in an article published in The Times in London, China’s vice-premier Wang Qishan said his country would help boost the IMF’s lending power.
   ‘China is ready to play an active part in exploring ways to raise resources and will contribute to this effort within its ability,’ he wrote.
   The global mood of cooperation was tempered slightly by a warning from the World Trade Organisation, which said governments should avoid the temptation to retreat into protectionism during economic hard times.
   Official data indicated Thursday the US economy contracted 6.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, and jobless claims rose 1.2 per cent to 652,000 in the week to March 21.
   South Korea’s economy shrank a revised 5.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2008 from three months earlier, its biggest drop in a decade, the central bank said Friday.
   Although better than an earlier estimate of a 5.6 per cent contraction, the fourth-quarter figure marks the steepest fall since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
   The French economy shrank a revised 1.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, slightly better than the initial estimate of 1.2 per cent, official figures showed.
   The national statistics body INSEE said, however, that the revision did not change its full-year 2008 growth figure of 0.7 per cent.

Oil weakened in Asian trade Friday after an overnight rally driven by the surge in US equity markets, analysts said.
   New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery, dropped 66 cents to $ 53.68 in afternoon trade.
   Brent North Sea crude for May delivery was off 56 cents to 52.90 dollars.
   Crude prices likely ran out of steam amid worries the worst is not over for the US economy, analysts said.
   ‘While the bounce in financials could run on, the broader economy is still in the doldrums and unlikely to turn the corner until next year at the earliest,’ research house Capital Economics said in a report.
   Revised data released Thursday showed the US economy shrank 6.3 per cent in the fourth quarter ended December, which was worse than the initial estimate of a 6.2 per cent decline.
   The slump was the steepest since 1982 but not as bad as the 6.6 per cent annualised drop expected on average by private forecasters.
   The president of oil-producer United Arab Emirates said in an interview published Thursday that an oil price of $70-75 a barrel would be ‘fair.’
   The current ‘weak level’ of around $50 ‘hurts everyone and, in our view, a fair price would be $70 to 75 a barrel,’ Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan was quoted by the official WAM news agency as saying.

The dollar fell in Asian trade Friday after an overnight rally on Wall Street hinted at an easing of the US recession, prompting investors to look for riskier bets elsewhere.
   The greenback was weaker against the yen as Japanese investors repatriated overseas assets in preparation for the end of the country’s fiscal year on March 31 when they close their books, dealers said.
   The dollar eased to 98.30 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 98.52 in New York late Thursday. The euro firmed to 1.3573 dollars from 1.3522 but slipped to 133.43 yen from 133.55.
   Sharp gains by financial stocks on Wall Street reflected ‘easing concerns of another crisis knocking the economy down further,’ wrote NAB Capital Strategist John Kyriakopoulos in a note to clients.
   The dollar, which has been considered a safe haven currency in recent months, loses some of its appeal when risk appetite improves and investors hunt elsewhere for assets with higher returns.
   ‘Markets are moving based on a sentiment of hope,’ said Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
   Revised data in the United States earlier showed a steep 6.3 per cent pace of decline in economic output in the fourth quarter of 2008, although it was better than the 6.6 per cent fall anticipated by analysts.
   A separate report showed the number of new jobless claims in the United States rose by 1.2 per cent to 6,52,000 during the week ending March 21, although analysts said that the pace of unemployment growth may be losing steam.
   Meanwhile markets gave a muted response to data from Japan, which showed consumer prices in the world’s second largest economy were unchanged in February from a year earlier.
   The core CPI, which excludes volatile fresh food products, stayed flat despite analysts’ expectations of a 0.1 per cent drop.
   Against regional Asian currencies, the dollar edged down to 1.5078 Singapore dollars from 1.5082 a day earlier, to 11,483.75 Indonesian rupiah from 11,580, to 33.75 Taiwan dollars from 33.82, and to 35.31 Thai baht from 35.42.
   It rose to 48.17 Philippine pesos from 48.13 and to 1,343.05 South Korean won from 1,330.40.
   Analysts played down the idea of the greenback losing its global dominance soon, but said Geithner would have to be more careful with his public pronouncements.
   Ahead of the G20 meeting next week markets reacted nervously to Geithner’s comments who does not yet seem to have grasped the effect of his statements on the financial markets, said analysts at Commerzbank.

Fast growing TV territories, China and the Middle East, as well as the new age of TV in the multi-screen world, are set to dominate this year’s MIPTV, the world’s largest audiovisual entertainment trade show.
   Despite the crisis, turnout at MIPTV, opening Monday in the French Riviera town, is unlikely to slump dramatically as TV execs need new programs to entertain viewers who stay at home rather than go out during a credit crunch.
   ‘The number of exhibiting companies at MIPTV will be much the same as last year when the full force of the credit crunch had yet to be felt,’ Loraine Garaude, acting Director of the TV Division at the show’s organisers, Reed MIDEM, told AFP ahead of the five-day show.
   The hunt will be on to buy more content for the growing numbers of TV platforms and channels around the world, with some 4,000 buyers expected and a higher number than normal from Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, Garaude noted.
   Two of today’s main TV growth territories, the Middle East and China, will be in the spotlight during the gathering of key players from broadcasting, Internet, advertising, video games and telecoms.
   Middle East Day on Monday will offer an insight into new opportunities in the region’s fledgling digital space.
   ‘We are looking for creative TV programming that will help us to engage our audience, while balancing the need to preserve family and community values,’ Baynounah Media Group’s Ahmad Zahzah told MIPCOM News .
   ‘Our region is witnessing exponential growth in media consumption and we intent to translate that into tangible social-bonding opportunities across all age groups,’ he added.
   China’s state administration of radio, film and television vice minister, Tian Jin, will lead a heavyweight delegation for China Day on Tuesday.
   ‘Despite the global economic crisis, China’s economy remains relatively vibrant,’ he said in an interview with MIIPTV News. ‘Our major aim at MIPTV is to develop television program exchanges and co-operation with other countries.’
   With the largest global market for both television and broadband access, China has been the focus of intense interest by many leading audiovisual and digital players, eager to get a slice of the action.
   And there are signs that more business opportunities are opening up.
   Russia’s Ren TV forged a co-production agreement with Beijing’s Zhongbei TV Art Centre at the last MIPTV and the two partners are now co-producing an action-packed TV drama series entitled “The Ultimate Secrets Of A Warrior”, currently being filmed in China, Russia and France.

US president Barack Obama’s administration proposed to Congress Thursday sweeping financial regulatory reforms, including a single entity to oversee key US financial institutions and payment systems.
   Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled the reforms covering banks and other financial firms as well as hedge funds, money market funds and the more complex derivative market, in the first major market revamp move since financial turmoil struck 18 months ago.
   ‘We need to strengthen our system of prudential supervision across the financial sector,’ Geithner told lawmakers, and demanded ‘comprehensive reform’ and ‘not modest repairs at the margin.’
   As part of the plan, Geithner called for a single regulatory body to regulate ‘systemically important’ institutions and critical payment and settlement systems and activities.
   The regulator will impose on them liquidity, counterparty, and credit risk management requirements that are more stringent than for other financial firms.
   The government also wanted to establish tighter capital requirements for institutions that posed ‘potential risk to the stability of the financial system,’ Geithner said.
   The requirements would be designed ‘to dampen rather than amplify’ financial cycles, he told the House of Representatives financial services panel in his second briefing to lawmakers in three days aimed at devising stiffer rules to prevent another financial debacle.
   A US home mortgage meltdown stemming from trillions of dollars in securities tied to high-risk home loans triggered a financial tsunami across the globe and plunged the world’s largest economy into recession in 2007.
   Among institutions exposed to the soured securities was US insurance giant American International Group, which had to be saved from collapse by an unprecedented government bailout of more than $170 billion.
   ‘Let me be clear: the days when a major insurance company could bet the house on credit default swaps with no one watching and no credible backing to protect the company or taxpayers from losses must end,’ Geithner said.
   Under his proposal, the government will for the first time regulate the markets for credit default swaps, a form of insurance against loan defaults at the heart of the financial crisis, and over-the-counter derivatives.
   Hedge fund, private equity and venture capital fund advisers would also for the first time have to register with the main financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission.
   This will ‘provide greater capacity for protecting investors and market integrity,’ Geithner said.
   US law generally does not require hedge funds or other private pools of capital to register with a federal financial regulator, although some funds that trade commodity derivatives must register and many funds register voluntarily.
   Geithner said that in the wake of a multi-billion-dollar scandal involving Wall Street fraudster Bernard Madoff recently, it was critical to ‘close gaps and weaknesses in regulation of investment advisors and the funds they manage.’
   The usually safe money market, which involves short-term borrowing and lending, including instruments such as Treasury bills, was also not spared from the proposed reform overhaul.
   Following top US investment bank Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy in September, ‘we learned that even one of the most stable and least risky investment vehicles — money market mutual funds — was not safe from the failure of a systemically important institution,’ Geithner said.
   These funds are already subject to strict regulation and billed as having a stable asset value — a dollar invested will always return the same amount.
   But the government wants the SEC to strengthen the regulatory framework around money market funds in order for them ‘to reduce the credit and liquidity risk profile’ and to make the industry as a whole ‘less susceptible to runs.’
   Lawmakers were expected to vigorously debate the reform plan over the next few weeks before voting on it.
   ‘It is certain that legislators in the House and Senate will seek to make the legislation reflect their own preferences and interests,’ said Joseph Brusuelas, director at Moody’s Economy.com.
   Geithner wanted lawmakers to consider the reform proposals ‘as quickly as you can,’ saying full regulatory overhaul was key as the US financial system had ‘failed in basic fundamental ways.’

Internet search giant Google said Thursday that it planned to cut nearly 200 marketing and sales jobs from its international operations.
   ‘We did look at a number of different options but ultimately concluded that we had to restructure our organisations in order to improve our effectiveness and efficiency as a business,’ Google senior vice-president of sales and business development Omid Kordestani said in a message at the firm’s website.
   Google’s rapid growth resulted in some job duplications and the company ‘over-invested’ in some areas, according to Kordestani.
   ‘When companies grow that quickly it’s almost impossible to get everything right and we certainly didn’t,’ Kordestani wrote.
   ‘In some areas we’ve created overlapping organisations which not only duplicate effort but also complicate the decision-making process.’
   The cuts come a month after Google announced it was getting out of the broadcast radio advertising business in a move that was expected to result in the Internet powerhouse shedding about 40 workers.
   Google said it would sell or terminate services it launched in 2006 to target broadcast radio advertising and automate programming.
   Google also recently abandoned a two-year-old Print Ads programme that put the California firm’s online expertise to work auctioning off space on newspaper pages to bargain-seeking advertisers.
   Google has been cutting costs in the face of a struggling economy that has slowed even the online advertising king’s money-making machine.
   ‘So, today we have informed Googlers that we plan to reduce the number of roles within our sales and marketing organisations by just under 200 globally,’ Kordestani wrote.
   ‘Making changes of this kind is never easy, and we recognize that the recession makes the timing even more difficult for the Googlers concerned.’
   Employees targeted to lose their jobs will be given time to find positions elsewhere in Google, according to Kordestani.

A vending machine that bakes fresh pizza in minutes for a few euros has got Italian chefs in a whirl before it hits the streets in the coming weeks.
   The bright-red ‘Let’s Pizza’ machine uses infra-red rays and technology developed at the University of Bologna to knead flour and water into dough, spread it with tomato sauce and a choice of topping, and cook it — all in less than three minutes.
   Its developer, Claudio Torghele, says the machine has proved popular in trials in two Italian regions, but gourmets say it is an affront to traditional methods of cooking the classic dish.
   ‘This is not just a vending machine, it’s a mini-pizzeria,’ said Torghele, 56. ‘It has windows where you can watch the pizza-making process. Kids, including my own, love it: when the machine is working, there’s always a crowd.’
   The device was developed with help from Anglo-Dutch group Unilever, which tested it in Germany, Torghele said. He hopes to launch the machines across Europe and in the United States, with ingredients varying according to local tastes.
   At present it offers four toppings — cheese and tomato, bacon, ham and fresh vegetables — at an average cost of 4 euros. Torghele thinks ‘Let’s Pizza’ will appeal to Europeans looking for cheap options as a recession hits their pockets. ‘If I want to eat a great pizza, I go to a pizzeria. But our product is satisfactory, low cost and available 24-hours a day,’ he said. ‘This is crisis proof ... McDonald’s is increasing its sales. Low cost, fast food is in demand.’
   Italy is famed for its cuisine and has seen a movement develop against fast food, called ‘Slow Food.’ But it has more vending machines than any other country in Europe, according to an industry body, mostly doling out hot coffee drinks.
   Purists say the Italian pizza — invented in the 18th century in the southern city of Naples — cannot be rushed: the dough must be mixed and left for 12 hours, the ingredients kept fresh, and the oven pre-heated to around 300 degrees.
   ‘This machine is a toy,’ Pino Morelli of the Association of Italian Pizzerias said. ‘Perhaps it will find a niche overseas, but Italians are born with pizza: their mothers feed it to them as babies. They understand it.’
   In Pizzeria Brandi, nestling near the centre of ramshackle Naples, the reaction to Torghele’s invention was cool.
   The restaurant invented the pizza Margherita in 1889 in honour of the queen of the newly unified country, its tomato, mozzarella and basil toppings mimicking Italy’s flag.
   ‘Unfortunately, today people invent many things, but you can’t make any comparison, especially in terms of quality,’ said chef Marcello, taking a break from sliding pizzas on a wooden pole into the dome-shaped oven. ‘The only benefit is the price.’
   ‘We should scrap this ‘pizza machine’ and bring back the old jukeboxes: at least they were charming,’ said Paolo Pagnani, who owns the historic restaurant.

The economy slowed more sharply than previously thought in the last three months of 2008 as construction output plunged and firms ran down stocks, revised official data showed on Friday.
   The Office for National Statistics’ final GDP data showed the economy shrank by 1.6 per cent in the fourth quarter, the sharpest decline since 1980. Analysts had expected a reading of -1.5 per cent, unchanged from the preliminary figure.
   The annual rate of decline was revised down to 2.0 per cent, the sharpest fall since 1991.
   The pound slipped after the figures, which reinforced fears that Britain would be one of the economies hardest hit by the global downturn.
   ‘The GDP contraction was depressingly even greater than previously thought,’ said Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight.
   The ONS said a huge downward revision to construction output was the main reason for the revision. Construction output fell 4.9 per cent in the quarter, the biggest quarterly fall since Q4 1980.
   The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 0.5 per cent and started pumping money into the economy to ward off a prolonged recession. Its chief economist Spencer Dale said the risks to growth were weighted to the downside.
   The household saving ratio jumped to 4.8 per cent between October and December, the highest since the start of 2006, from 1.7 per cent in the previous quarter.
   ‘Households have been helped by the cuts in interest rates and are reluctant to spend because of the economic climate,’ said Philip Shaw, economist at Investec.
   There was also evidence that firms ran down inventories even more aggressively that previously thought — by more than 4 billion pounds after a build-up of 1 billion pounds in Q3.

Japan’s parliament on Friday passed a record 88.5 trillion yen ($910b) budget for the 2009 fiscal year designed to boost the recession-hit economy.
   The budget sets aside one trillion yen in special emergency reserves to be used for projects such as public works.
   The bill was rejected in the opposition-controlled upper house. But under Japan’s constitution the lower house, where the ruling bloc holds a comfortable majority, was able to pass it as a law with a re-vote..
   Prime Minister Taro Aso plans to launch an additional budget for the new fiscal year, starting April, to pump up the world’s number-two economy, which is facing its worst recession in more than three decades.
   The economy, Asia’s largest, shrank at an annualised pace of 12.7 per cent in the three months to December — its worst performance since 1974, when the country was reeling from the global oil crisis.