SINGAPORE, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Asian economic growth will remain strong this year and in 2008 despite higher energy costs and recent market turbulence, Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda said Saturday.

He said there would be no change to the bank's latest regional growth forecast of 8.3 percent this year and 8.2 percent in 2008 -- and that developing Asia, excluding Japan, could even beat that forecast.

ZAGREB, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Consumer spending helped boost Croatia's economic growth by 6.6 percent in the second quarter of this year, the best performance for the period in the past five years, the national statistics agency said Saturday.

Gross domestic product touched 9.5 billion euros, with consumer spending up 6.5 percent from the same period in 2006 to 5.4 billion euros.

Investment rose 5.8 percent, while exports shot up 8.9 percent, keeping on track a government forecast of more than six percent growth for the year.

VIENNA, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - The Austrian economy will grow strongly this year, but economic activity will slow substantially next year as a result of the fallout from the recent financial market turbulence in the US, two top think-tanks predicted on Friday.

Vienna-based Wifo said it was raising its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2007 to 3.4 percent from 3.2 percent previously.

And fellow institute IHS upgraded its forecast for this year to 3.2 percent from an earlier 3.1 percent.

DUBLIN, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - The end of Ireland's decade-old property boom is fueling a wider slowdown of the Celtic Tiger's long-roaring economy, heavily built on the construction industry, new figures suggested Friday.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) slashed its forecast for growth next year from 3.7 percent in its last report in June to 2.7 percent, down from 4.7 percent this year.

'The dominant factor in these downward revisions is house-building,' said the institute, Ireland's leading economic think-tank.

PARIS, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - The French economy grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter, unchanged from an earlier provisional estimate, statistics office Insee said on Friday.

The growth rate, in line with expectations, slowed from a rise of 0.6 percent in the first quarter. The first-quarter rise was previously estimated at 0.5 percent.

The figures are bad news for the right-wing government of new president Nicolas Sarkozy, which is banking on stronger growth to finance a 13.6-billion-euro (19-billion-dollar) package of tax breaks adopted by parliament in July.

DUBLIN, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Ireland's leading economic think-tank on Friday downgraded its forecast for the country's gross domestic product growth this year to 4.7 percent from 4.9 percent.

The latest quarterly commentary from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) says GDP will drop to 2.7 percent next year, compared to its forecast of 3.7 percent in its last analysis in June.

'The dominant factor in these downward revisions is house-building,' the commentary said.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The US economy carried strong momentum into the mid-year credit storm, expanding at a 3.8 percent pace in the second quarter even as housing remained weak, a revised estimate showed Thursday.

The final reading for gross domestic product (GDP) was reduced from last month's estimate of 4.0 percent, the Commerce Department said, but still appeared robust after the sluggish 0.6 percent pace of the first quarter.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The US economy carried strong momentum into the mid-year credit storm, expanding at a 3.8 percent pace in the second quarter even as housing remained weak, a revised estimate showed Thursday.

The final reading for gross domestic product (GDP) was reduced from last month's estimate of 4.0 percent, the Commerce Department said, but still appeared robust after the sluggish 0.6 percent pace of the first quarter.

PARIS, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - Two month after the eruption of the subprime crisis, tension persists in the banking system despite repeated action by central banks to soothe frazzled nerves in the sector.

One of the main effects of the subprime shock, caused by high-risk US home owners defaulting on their home loans, has been a tightening of credit conditions.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The US economy carried strong momentum into the mid-year credit turmoil, expanding at a 3.8 percent pace in the second quarter, the final estimate for gross domestic product (GDP) showed Thursday.

The April-June growth rate was reduced from last month's estimate of 4.0 percent, the Commerce Depatment said, but still robust after the sluggish 0.6 percent pace of the first quarter.

GENEVA, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The Swiss central bank said Thursday it was maintaining its growth forecast of 2.5 percent for the Swiss economy this year but voiced caution about the impact of recent turmoil on financial markets.

The Swiss National Bank said in its quarterly monetary policy assessment that 'the cyclical risks have increased as a result of the financial market turbulence.'

The outlook on inflation was also unchanged following the 0.25 percent cut in the bank's key three-month Libor interest rate last week to a range of 2.25 to 3.25 percent, it added.

DUBLIN, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - Ireland's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.4 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to official figures published on Thursday.

This compared to GDP growth of 4 percent in the same three months last year.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said gross national product (GNP) increased by 4.5 percent in the second quarter compared to 7.4 percent during the same period last year.

GNP is the more favoured Irish growth measurement.

LONDON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The recent financial markets chaos which plagued banking group Northern Rock could put the brakes on Britain's economic growth, the OECD warned Thursday.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in an annual survey on the British economy, also predicted the Bank of England may be forced to slash interest rates to boost growth.

LONDON, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - The British economy grew at a faster than expected annual rate during the second quarter of 2007, official data showed on Wednesday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.1 percent during the three months to June 30 from the same quarter in the previous year, the Office for National Statistics said in a third and final estimate. That marked a modest upgrade from the previous figure of 3.0 percent.

ROME, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - The Italian government said Tuesday it was now forecasting lower economic growth for next year, 1.3 to 1.6 percent, than the 1.9 percent it had initially predicted.

But Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa stressed that the government would stick to its committment to reduce the public deficit from an expected 2.5 percent of gross domestic product this year to 2.2 percent.

He told a parliamentary committee that economic growth in 2007 would be just under 2.0 percent.

FRANKFURT, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - The US home loan crisis could damage German growth by pushing up the euro and crimping exports from the biggest eurozone economy, Economy Minister Michael Glos warned Wednesday in an interview.

'No one knows what the effects of the American financial crisis on Germany will be in the end,' Glos told the mass circulation newspaper Bild.

'The dollar's weak level against the euro and high oil price could slow our growth, which has been strong until now,' the economy minister added.

SOFIA, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Bulgarian gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007 from the same period last year, the National Statistical Institute said Tuesday.

The Bulgarian economy grew by 6.1 percent in 2006 and the government is targeting 5.8 percent GDP growth this year, after joining the European Union in January.

GDP expansion in the first quarter of 2007 was 6.2 percent.

STOCKHOLM, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Swedish authorities issued a downward revision Tuesday to their growth estimate for the second quarter, when the economy is now seen to have expanded 0.9 percent over three months rather than 1.0 percent.

However the outlook remains rosy, as compared to the first quarter the economy continued to expand. First quarter growth came to 0.6 percent from the the previous three months.

BUDAPEST, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Embattled Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who faced off rioters last year demanding his resignation, is once again feeling the heat, this time on the economic front with growth at its slowest pace in over a decade.

With gross domestic product (GDP) expanding by only 1.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, Hungary is lagging way behind its neighbours who joined the European Union at the same time in 2004.

Slovakia, for example, notched up growth of 9.4 percent in the period from April to June.

PARIS, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - The governor of the French national bank Christian Noyer said Thursday he expected France to achieve economic growth of 'close to' two percent this year and 2.0-2.5 percent in 2008.

'For 2007, we had a forecast of close to two percent, which is the most likely,' Banque de France (BdF) head Noyer told LCI television. 'But that supposes that we have good growth in the second half.'

BEIJING, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - The World Bank on Wednesday raised its economic growth forecast for China this year to 11.3 percent, while warning its growing trade surplus and inflation were the main threats to healthy growth.

In its latest quarterly update on China's economy, the World Bank raised its growth projection to 11.3 percent from 10.4 percent forecast three months earlier.

Economic growth next year is expected to slow to below 11 percent, it added.

VILNIUS, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - The Lithuanian finance ministry on Tuesday said that gross domestic product is to surge by 8.6 percent tbis year.

'The strong exports, which grew by 29 percent in the first half of 2007 as well as continuing growth of credit will result in faster GDP growth', the ministry said in statement.

The forecast for GDP growth in March was 7.2 percent, it was changed to 'over 8 percent' in June this year.

Lithuania's GDP shot up by 8.1 percent in January-June this year compared to the same period a year ago.

BRUSSELS, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Economic growth in the 13-nation eurozone has probably passed its peak, the European Commission said Tuesday, trimming its 2007 estimate due to financial market turmoil and a weak French performance.

But despite the downturn, the euro area countries can still look forward to strong growth although roller-coaster volatility has increased the risks to the outlook, the European Union's executive arm said.

BRUSSELS, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - The following are 2007 economic growth and inflation forecasts from the European Commission, which slightly lowered its eurozone estimate on Tuesday

The Commission said the estimates were interim forecasts based on only a handful of countries between more complete reports published twice-yearly in November and May.

Annual 2007 GDP forecast

(percentage year-on-year)

May September

Germany 2.5 2.4

Spain 3.7 3.7

BRUSSELS, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission on Tuesday trimmed its 2007 economic forecast for the eurozone to 2.5 percent owing largely to a sharply lower outlook for France.

Although economic activity remained solid in Europe, recent turbulence on financial markets prompted the European Union's executive arm to lower its eurozone growth outlook from its previous estimate of 2.6 percent.

WASHINGTON, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Leading US business economists foresee softening growth ahead that will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, but they believe a recession will be averted, a survey showed Monday.

The National Association of Business Economists panel concluded that recession is a growing risk, but that the world's biggest economy will maintain modest growth.

LJUBLJANA, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Slovenian gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.3 percent in the second quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2006, the Slovenian Statistical Office reported on Monday.

The economy expanded 1.2 percent from the first quarter, the office said.

'High export growth continued in the second quarter, increasing by 13.6 percent,' the office added.

It also revised its 2006 GDP growth, raising it 5.7 percent from 5.2 percent published earlier this year.

TALLINN, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Estonian economic growth slowed to 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007 on an annual comparison, the national statistics office said Monday, issuing revised figures.

In the first quarter of 2007, gross domestic product expanded by 9.8 percent on a 12-month comparison.

The office attributed the slowdown in the second quarter to weaker domestic demand and a considerable deceleration in exports.

TOKYO, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's economy contracted in the second quarter of 2007 as firms cut spending on new factories and equipment, the government said Monday, adding to jitters over the global economic climate.

The setback to Japan's economic recovery, which comes just as the US economy shows signs of faltering, further reduced expectations of the Bank of Japan raising its super-low interest rates again any time soon.

ROME, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Italian economic growth slowed to 0.1 percent in the second quarter of the year compared with the first, when output rose 0.3 percent, the statistics body Istat reported Monday.

The economy expanded 1.8 percent in the second quarter from the same period last year, Istat said.

ANKARA, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Turkey's economy grew by 3.9 percent in the second quarter of 2007 compared to the same period last year, the Turkish Statistics Institute said Monday.

The figure shows the change in gross national product (GNP) over the period, the preferred measure of Turkish economic growth, which includes the output of millions of Turkish workers abroad.

Turkey's GNP increased by 6.7 percent in the first quarter of the year and by 5.2 percent in the first six months, the institute said.

TOKYO, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the three months to June from the previous quarter as firms cut spending on new factories and equipment, the government said Monday.

Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 1.2 percent on an annualised basis, the Cabinet Office said, worse than an initial estimate of positive quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.1 percent for an annualised rate of 0.5 percent.

MADRID, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - Spanish GDP growth is expected to fall to three percent in 2008 from an expected 3.8 percent this year, according to a survey of private sector economists published in newspaper El Pais Sunday.

The paper, which polled a dozen economists for its survey, said that the fall in growth was a consequence of the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States and a slowdown in the construction sector.

WASHINGTON, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - The US economic outlook has suddenly darkened in the wake of data showing a stalling of the job growth machine, raising risks that a housing slump will lead to a full-blown recession, analysts say.

Friday's data showing the first contraction in employment in four years, a loss of 4,000 US payroll jobs in August, stunned even the bearish analysts on Wall Street and flew in the face of most forecasts for slow but steady growth.

BUDAPEST, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - The Hungarian economy grew at its slowest rate in more than a decade in the second quarter, expanding by just 1.2 percent over 12 months, the central statistics bureau KSH said Friday.

Growth in gross domestic product has been hit by the government's austerity measures, aimed at reining in the public deficit which reached 9.2 percent of GDP last year, the highest of any European Union member state.

BEIJING, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - China's domestic stock market valuations have ballooned with spiraling share prices to the point that they now exceed the value of the entire economy, state media said Friday.

By the end of August, total market capitalisation of the 1,504 listed companies on China's bourses topped 23 trillion yuan (three trillion dollars), the Shanghai Securities News reported.

WASHINGTON, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - The IMF said Thursday it was scaling back its projections for economic growth in the United States and Europe following recent turmoil on global stock markets tied to the US housing downturn.

Rising US home foreclosures and a persistent housing slump have triggered a US credit crunch which has unsettled global markets and raised concerns about a possible US economic slowdown.

WASHINGTON, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - The IMF said Thursday it plans to scale back its US and eurozone economic growth projections amid a lingering US housing market slump and global financial market turmoil.

'There will be some downward revision to our growth projection, more so next year than this year,' said Masood Ahmed, spokesman for the International Monetary Fund.

'We can already say that the downward revisions are likely to be the largest for the US but we will also see some impact in the euro area,' Ahmed told reporters at a briefing.

FRANKFURT, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - The European Central Bank published its latest forecasts for inflation and growth in the euro area on Thursday, trimming the growth forecast for this year, while maintaining the outlook for inflation in the single currency region.

Following is a table of the ECB's latest staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area which it publishes each quarter. Figures expressed as percentage changes.