A1SaudiArabia.com

RIYADH – Saudi Arabias bank lending growth is set to recover this year as confidence in the global economy rises and the domestic banking system is liquid and well capitalised, the countrys central bank governor said.

Muhammad Al-Jasser, Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, told Reuters in an interview that strong supply in the real estate sector will help keep inflation in check in the worlds largest oil exporter, adding that he expected this years non-oil sector growth to be similar to that of 2009.

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ATHENS – Greek civil servants led fresh strikes Monday against government spending cuts as Prime Minister George Papandreou sought to drum up support for his governments policies in Washington.

Tax collectors began a two-day walkout, court employees launched a week-long series of work stoppages and garbage collectors also mobilised against state spending cuts that are meant to save 4.8 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars).

State employees, which number around one million, are the main target of the Socialist governments belt-tightening drive.

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WASHINGTON – The US government, while pushing for tougher sanctions against Tehran, has given $107 billion in the last 10 years to US and foreign companies doing business in Iran, much of it in the energy sector, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Despite the threat of punishment for companies that seek US federal contracts while dealing with Iran, the Times said successive administrations have struggled to exert authority over foreign companies and overseas units of US firms.

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Reykjavik – A full 93.3 percent of Icelandic voters rejected a deal to pay billions to Britain and the Netherlands for the collapse of an Icelandic bank, according to official referendum results Sunday after 90 percent of ballots had been counted.

Only 1.7 percent of counted ballots were in favour of the deal, while the remaining votes were, according to the RUV public broadcaster which compiles all electoral statistics.

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BEIJING – Chinas central bank pledged on Saturday to keep the yuans exchange rate basically stable in 2010 and said it would be flexible in implementing its fairly loose pro-growth monetary policy.

The Peoples Bank of China has already ordered banks twice this year to increase the proportion of deposits they must hold in reserve, rather than lend out, in order to gently slow the red-hot economy and nip inflation in the bud.

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MADINA – Officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs here have been looking into the living conditions of the wife and children of a man described as mentally ill whose family locked him up in chains in a dark room for three years at a house in Al-Hara Al-Sharqiya.

Omar Al-Baghdadi was released two weeks ago on the direct orders of regional Emir Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Majed and taken to hospital to assess his mental stability, and officials then expressed concern over Al-Baghdadis impact on others in his family, notably his eldest daughter who is said to have shown signs of mental instability.

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OSLO – Norways vast fund for oil wealth posted a 25.6 percent return on investment for 2009 – its best ever – as international markets recovered from the global financial crunch, the central bank said Friday.

Norges Bank reported that the fund gained 613 billion kroner ($103.4 billion) on investments. Thats the best result since Norway established the sovereign wealth fund in 1996 to invest surplus oil revenue abroad and avoid overheating its domestic economy. The Government Pension Fund-Global, commonly referred to as the oil fund, grew 16 percent during 2009 to 2.64 trillion kroner ($445.3 billion) from 2.28 trillion kroner in 2008, when the fund posted its worst result ever _ a loss of 23 percent. A strong krone reduced the funds market value, Norges Bank said.

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TOKYO – The Bank of Japan is examining a further easing of its ultra-loose monetary policy and may decide on such a move this month, the Nikkei newspaper reported, weakening the yen and lifting government bond futures to a two-month high.

The government, its fiscal options limited by a ballooning fiscal debt, has been pressuring the BOJ to do more to beat deflation even as most other major central banks mull rolling back stimulus steps put in place during the global crisis.

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LONDON – World stocks slipped Thursday while the euro held above a recent 9-month low against the dollar as the European Central Bank prepared to announce next steps in stimulus withdrawal after its policy meeting.

The premium investors demand for holding Greek government bonds rather than those of Germany rose while Greek bank shares also rose after Greece announced it had mandated banks for a long-awaited 10-year bond issue.

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KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysias central bank raised its key lending rate, the first in the region to hike since the onset of the financial crisis, warning that record low borrowing costs could create financial imbalances that undermine economic recovery.

Bank Negara said Thursday it raised the overnight policy rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.25 percent. Outside of Australia, it was the first Asian central bank to hike rates as the global economy recovers from last years recession.

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