Japan’s economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter with a stimulus-fuelled rebound in domestic demand and a corporate investment revival masking rising deflationary pressure and the risk of a slowdown in 2010

Warren Buffett said the US economy has passed the worst of its troubles, but faces an uneven recovery as consumers keep a tight rein on spending

South Africa may need to enforce power cuts or raise electricity prices further if a disputed $3.75bn loan from the World Bank is not approved, according to a senior government official

Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, has its roots deep in South Africa, where it was founded in 1862

As financial markets panic about the risks to the euro from laxer governments in southern Europe, the northern Baltic states are already in tight fiscal bandages as they experience Europe’s most severe recession

An upcoming overhaul of the European Union’s budget will keep the bloc’s farm aid system and is unlikely to involve any pan-EU tax, the bloc’s new budget chief said

General Motors Co has posted a $4.3bn net loss from the time of its emergence from bankruptcy in July through the end of the year and said it believes a profit is possible in 2010

Paulson & Co, the hedge fund linked to civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs Group Inc, moved to head off investor concerns about its role in a deal that has scarred the reputation of the Wall Street bank and overshadowed blow-out quarterly earnings

The US trade deficit hit its widest point in more than a year in March, with a jump in imports swamping a rise in exports as the global economy strengthened, a government report shows

Europe’s southern rim has the potential to become an engine of growth for the region, but only after several more years in the economic doldrums, weighed down by brutal austerity plans, tight credit and fragile consumer confidence

The Greek debt crisis has brought about a new financial safety-net for the eurozone. But the coming decades will bring both demographic as well as financial worries for the European Commission

Transfer pricing requires full and proper documentation if you are to avoid the taxman’s wrath, RP Richter’s Michael Heckel tells The New Economy’s Roger St. Pierre