Paris, France (AHN) – France registered an inflation rate of 2.4 percent in August, up from 2.1 percent in July.

It is the fastest rate of increase in almost three years following the jump in prices of manufactured goods and cost of energy. The 2.4 percent consumer price index rate was higher than economists’ expectation of 2.2 percent.

The rate was calculated on a harmonized European Union method.

Manufacturing goods prices rose 1.6 percent and energy prices went up 0.4 percent. However, food prices went down 0.2 percent due to a seasonal drop in fresh produce prices.

The European Central Bank raised key lending rates two times in 2011, but last week said the risk of recession is greater than the threat from inflation.

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Sao Palo, Brazil (AHN) – Brazil’s central bank cited a “substantial deterioration” in its outlook for the economy and unexpectedly announced a cut in its key interest to 12 percent from 12.5 percent.

Rising prices have been a problem in Brazil, and the central bank had raised its key interest rate five times this year in an effort to contain inflation.

However, inflation is still running at a six-year high of 7.1 percent.

The continued high inflation rate couple with the unexpected cut coming a few days after several politicians had called for a rate cut. Observers say it calls into question the central bank’s independence.

Brazil, which is the biggest economy in South America, grew at the rate of 7 percent last year. This year Brazil’s economy is expected to grow at the rate of 5 percent.

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Hanoi, Vietnam (AHN) – Inflation surged by 23 percent in Vietnam in August, the highest rate in Asia.

Vietnam’s consumer-price inflation index rose by 23.03 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the country’s General Statistics Office (GSO). In July, the CPI rose by 22.16 percent.

A representative for the General Statistics Office attributed the increases to higher prices for food and fuel, with prices for food and drink increasing by a whopping 34 percent. In addition, dollar-pegged currencies are causing more inflation in prices of many commodities as the U.S. dollar continues to weaken.

The increase in CPI came despite actions taken by the central bank and the government to tighten monetary and fiscal policy to curb inflation and stabilize the economy.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The U.S. Federal Reserve would likely keep the record-low interest rates, Treasury markets indicate.

According to a Federal Bank of Cleveland study, the U.S. economy is forecast to grow by only 1.1 percent in the 12 months ending June 2012. That rate is less than half of the central bank’s current forecast and would likely result in delaying any key lending rate increase.

The Fed has held benchmark interest rates from zero to 25 basis points since December 2008.

Given the slower growth of the American economy, analysts said that the Fed is not likely to hike interest rate until June next year. That would make it the longest period that the central bank has held on to a low key lending rate since the 1940s when the Fed was forced to buy Treasuries.

From 1937 through 1947, the Fed kept its rediscount rate at 1 percent. It was the last time the American central bank maintained a prolonged monetary support for the ailing U.S. economy.

Another restraint to the expansion of the U.S. economy would be spending cuts to be agreed by U.S. President Barack Obama and Congress before the Aug. 2 deadline to hike Washington’s debt limit of $14.3 trillion.

However, analyst said the biggest hindrance to raising the overnight lending rate from almost zero would be the U.S. economy’s failure to create more jobs. The recession and the global financial crisis led to the loss of 8.7 million jobs in the U.S. in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, only 1.7 million jobs were created, resulting to national unemployment rate rising to 9.2 percent in June from 8.8 percent in March.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke placed a condition of sustained period of strong job creation as a basis for declaring an economy recovery. That translates into a gross domestic product growth rate between 2.7 to 2.8 percent.

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Frankfurt, Germany (AHN) – The European Central Bank raised on Thursday key lending rates by a quarter point to 1.5 percent. The rate hike aims to curb inflation, said ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet.

He hinted of more benchmark rate increases in the future, despite weak economic growth in southern Europe and problems in the bond markets. Trichet made the rate hike announcement even if the ECB had been warned that the increase may be bad for the Spanish and Italian economies.

Trichet stressed that all eurozone nations are on the losing end if the regional central bank would fail to rein in price increases through the key lending rate increase. Inflation in the zone hit 2.6 percent in June due to pressure on fuel and food prices.

Following the rate hike announcement, yields on 10-year Italian bonds went up to a high of 5.21 percent, while the Spanish bonds yielded 5.71 percent, but settled down slightly on Thursday/

The ECB, however, waived collateral requirements on Portuguese bonds, which would allow the country’s banks to continue tapping the ECB’s liquidity window after Moody’s downgraded Portugal’s debt to junk. The bank had already waived the rules earlier for Greece.

Trichet cautioned eurozone governments against initiating measures that the credit ratings agency may consider a default, which would trigger billions of euro-worth of complex financial instruments such as credit default swaps, and destabilize the European banking sector.

Analysts said that the announcement would increase borrowing costs and make like harder for nationals of several eurozone economies such as Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain – which are all pushing for belt-tightening measures to reduce national budget deficits amid weak economic growth or recession.

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Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – Trying to spur enrollment in a key new benefit of the 2010 health law, the Obama administration announced today it is slashing premiums for new high-risk insurance plans and no longer requiring applicants to submit a rejection letter from private insurers.

Since the plans were introduced in most states last summer, enrollment has fallen far short of expectations; only about 18,000 people have signed up. The Congressional Budget Office had estimated that as many as 4 million uninsured Americans would be eligible and that 200,000 would be enrolled by 2013. The government set aside $5 billion to fund the plans.

Citing the low enrollment, some Republicans including Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich, have criticized the administration’s handling of the program. Twenty-seven states run their own plans; the federal government operates them in 23 states and the District of Columbia. The changes, which occur July 1, affect only federally run plans. The plans are intended to serve as a bridge to help people with medical conditions until insurance market reforms required by the law are implemented in 2014. At that time, insurers will no longer be able to deny coverage or charge higher rates for people with pre-existing conditions, a major benefit of the law.

To be eligible for the plans, applicants have to be uninsured for at least six months and have a pre-existing condition.

In the states where the plans are run by the federal government, applicants will no longer have to prove they were denied coverage by an insurance company. Instead, they can provide a doctor’s letter stating that they have a medical condition. At least a dozen state-run plans do not ask for a denial letter from an insurer. The premiums will drop as much as 40 percent in 17 states plus the District where the federally administered plans operates, the administration estimates. These decreases will help bring premiums closer to the rates in each state’s individual insurance market. In the six states where high-risk plan premiums were already similar to what healthy people pay for individual plans, premiums will remain the same. States that will see a 40 percent drop in premiums are Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky and Virginia. In other states, premium reductions range from 2.1 percent in Mississippi to 38.3 percent in Minnesota.

In Florida, where 770 people have enrolled, a person 55 and over who subscribes to the so-called standard plan will see his or her monthly premium for the standard plan fall by $150 to $376.

To further generate interest in the plans, HHS this fall will begin paying insurance agents and brokers for signing up people.

“These changes will decrease costs and help insure more Americans,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The administration released a chart showing changes to premiums in states with federally administered plans.

pgalewitz@kff.org

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.

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London, United Kingdom (AHN) – People in the United Kingdom are not saving enough for retirement through an employer-sponsored or private pension, according to several surveys.

A survey done by HSBC of 17,000 people in 17 countries found that only 39 percent of people in the UK have a financial plan to save for their retirement compared to up to 84 percent of people in Malaysia.

While another survey of 4,177 UK employees by the National Association of Pension Funds and YouGov found that 49 percent of workers in the UK had savings for retirement through pension at their workplace or a private pension plan.

The latter survey also found that 34 percent are relying on a state pension, 21 percent say they plan to put money into an individual savings account and 17 percent say they plan to invest in real estate as a way to fund their retirement.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) – The world’s poorest country, Bangladesh, envisions alleviating poverty by half and will dramatically increase its human development budget by nearly 30 percent.

Planning minister A.K. Khandaker told journalists on Sunday that beginning July 1 government will invest in health services, education and infrastructure development.

Power, energy and transport sectors received top priority, Khandaker said.

After years of under-investment in power generation, the impoverished nation of 150 million has a daily shortfall of 2,000 megawatts, with rolling blackouts hitting the private sector, particularly manufacturing, hard.

The National Economic Council (NEC), chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday approved a 460 billion taka ($6.3 billion) budget, of which 251.8 billion Taka, or 55 percent, will be its own money, aimed at accelerating development activities, according to state-run news service Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.

The remaining 41 percent ($2.54 billion) will be from development partners as foreign aid, Khandaker said in briefing journalists after the meeting.

The World Bank says Bangladesh needs annual economic growth of 8 percent to achieve its goal of becoming a middle income country by 2021.

Nearly 13 percent has been budgeted for free primary schools and subsidies for controversial Koranic schools, while much-talked-about rural development and rural institutions have received 9 percent and 8.57 percent for health, nutrition, population and family welfare.

The government, after several hiccups, finally approved a national health policy on Monday to keep pace with visible success in reaching the health-for-all goal.

Opposition and economists are critical of the government for the slow and non-implementation of scores of development projects. The planning minister had no explanation for this widespread criticism, but said steps have been taken to vigorously monitor the performance of the projects.

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Pittsburgh, PA, United States (AHN) – H.J. Heinz Co. reported strong fiscal results on Friday but said it had to close some factories to fast-track productivity worldwide.

The Pittsburgh-based company is shuttering two plants in the United States, another two in Europe and one in the Pacific under a plan that will also centralize European supply chain operations in the Netherlands.

The closures will cut about 1,000 jobs and leave 76 factories worldwide.

Heinz said revenues for fiscal 2011 rose 2 percent to $10.7 billion. Net income for the year, which ended on April 27, was $990 million, or $3.06 per share, growing 14.4 percent from $865 million, or $2.71, last year.

The company said revenue from their North American consumer products grew 2 percent to $3.2 billion. The segment saw volume up 2 percent with strong performances from Heinz ketchup, Ore-Ida frozen potatoes and Smart Ones frozen entrees.

Sales of the U.S. Foodservice segment fell 1 percent to $1.4 billion. Pricing increased sales 2. percent.

Total fiscal revenue from the rest of the world dropped 12 percent to $470 million, largely due to the negative impact of foreign exchange rates, which reduced sales by 25 percent.

But higher prices raised sales by 17 percent. Emerging markets in Brazil, China, India and Russia also delivered 14 percent organic sales growth.

“Heinz delivered record sales, net income and cash flow in fiscal 2011, fueled by accelerating growth in key emerging markets,” president and chief executive William Johnson said in a statement.

“Through excellent execution of our long-term plan, Heinz enhanced its position as one of the best-performing global food companies while driving shareholder value and continued dividend growth,” Johnson added.

The company expects fiscal 2012 earnings per share of $3.24 to $3.32 at constant currency.

Heinz separately announced raising its annual dividend by 12 cents from $1.80 to $192 per share.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – A recent study on Americans and their spending found that many are holding back on nonessential spending, such as vacations or dining out, since the beginning of 2011 as a result of the rise in gasoline prices.

“The sensitivity to gasoline prices voiced by Americans cuts both ways. Any sustained pullback in prices would be a boost to the economy, but a renewed increase in gas prices would be a further drag on growth,” said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com.

A new USA Today/Gallup Poll finds that 54 percent of Americans think high gas prices are here to stay.

Across the country regular gasoline averaged $3.91 a gallon Friday, 7 cents less than the 2011 high of $3.98 a week earlier. Nationally gas is up 37 percent from May 2010.

Consumers already are making lifestyle changes. More than 50 percent say they’ve changed their daily habits to compensate for the spike in prices. Nearly 20 percent say they would consider adopting changes if prices remain high.

In addition to spending less, nearly 30 percent have changed their driving habits. They say they’re driving less and consolidating trips. Eleven percent more saying they will do so if prices don’t drop, with 15 percent saying they’ve switched to cars that are more fuel-efficient.

According to the Bankrate.com study on financial security:

• 35 percent of Americans are less comfortable with their savings now compared to 12 months ago, down from 42 percent in April. One in six, or 16 percent, are more comfortable, up from 14 percent in April.

• Americans are split on their overall financial security. Some 27 percent reported better overall financial security compared to 12 months ago, while 28 percent said they are worse off. Those reporting better overall financial security are higher-income earners ($75,000 and up), college graduates and those under age 50. Those reporting worse overall financial security are those with household incomes under $50,000, the unemployed and retirees.

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