Yellen inherits US Federal Reserve chairman as Bernanke departs

Yellen inherits US Federal Reserve chairman as Bernanke departs

 

Washington (AFP)

 

Respected economist Ms. Janet Yellen was sworn in Monday as the first woman chair of the Federal Reserve, taking on the burden of winding down the Federal Reserve's stimulus without spurring more turmoil.

 

Ms. Janet Yellen inherits the mantle of the world's most powerful central banker from Ben Bernanke, who guided the US and the global financial system through its deepest crisis since the 1930s during his eight years in the job.

 

Nominated to the job last October by President Barack Obama, she will serve a four-year term concurrent to her ongoing 14 year term on the Federal Reserve's board of governors.

 

The respected economist has worked closely with Bernanke during her three-plus years as Federal Reserve vice-chair, and is not expected to depart from his policies aimed at helping lower still-high unemployment levels as long as inflation remains tamed.

 

Janet Yellen, 67, has served in a number of positions in the Federal Reserve, including head of its San Francisco branch, and also has held academic positions at Harvard University and University of California at Berkeley.

 

She is married to economics Nobel prize winner George Akerlof.

 

Bernanke will return to academia, meanwhile, including joining the washington-based think tank the Brookings Institution as a resident fellow.

 

"He will be a major contributor to the task of understanding the momentous events of the past eight years and crafting imaginative, pragmatic strategies to ensure the stability of the national and global economy," said Brookings president Strobe Talbott.

 

(Agence France-Presse, 3 Monday February 2014 The Roman)

IMF upgrades global growth forecast for 2014

IMF upgrades global growth forecast for 2014

 

Washington (AFP)

 

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that the global economic recovery is strengthening as countries move away from austerity budgets and financial systems improve.

 

The Fund increased its estimate for world growth this year slightly to 3.7 percent, after 3.0 percent in 2013, while warning that the rebound of the world economy is still "weak and uneven."

 

It was the first time in nearly two years that the Fund revised its growth forecasts upward: rougher conditions than expected have forced repeated downgrades of its predictions.

 

"The basic reason behind the stronger recovery is that the brakes to the recovery are progressively being loosened," said IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard, in the Fund's newest assessment of the global economy.

 

"The drag from fiscal consolidation is diminishing. The financial system is slowly healing. Uncertainty is decreasing," he said.

 

However, he added, there are significant differences between the United States, where growth looks "increasingly solid", and Europe, where growth remains weak and even weaker in the countries of the eurozone's southern rim.

 

(Agence France-Presse, 21 Tuesday January 2014 The Roman)

 

India's Infosys Q3 profit up 21.4%, raises sales outlook

India's Infosys Q3 profit up 21.4%, raises sales outlook



Mumbai (AFP)



Indian outsourcing giant Infosys reported Friday a better-than-expected 21.4 percent jump in quarterly net profit, led by improved demand from Europe and the United States.



The company also hiked its full-year revenue outlook, driving up its shares by around two percent.



Consolidated net profit for the Nasdaq-listed firm climbed to 28.75 billion rupees ($463 million) in the October-to-December quarter from 23.69 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier.



Analysts had expected Infosys to report a net profit of 27 billion rupees.



Revenues jumped 25 percent to 130.26 billion rupees in the third financial quarter from 104.24 billion rupees in the year-ago period.



The company's results kicked off India's quarterly earnings season.



It forecast revenues would increase by 11.5 to 12 percent in dollar terms for the fiscal year to March 2014 -- a notch above its earlier outlook of 9.0-10.0 percent growth.



"The year ahead looks exciting for the IT services industry. We believe the global economic environment has improved and our clients are gaining confidence to invest in their strategic initiatives," said Infosys's chief executive S.D. Shibulal.



Bangalore-based Infosys been undergoing major changes with a string of departures by some of its senior staff since co-founder and business icon N.R. Narayana Murthy returned in a bid to reboot the company's fortunes last June.



Infosys -- created three decades ago by Murthy and six others as they sat around a kitchen table -- has been losing market share to rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services and HCL.



Last October, Infosys said it would pay $34 million to the US government to settle an investigation into alleged visa fraud by the company.



Many of India's IT outsourcing firms have reported subdued growth in recent years due to a sharp global economic slowdown.



(Agence France-Presse, 10 Friday January 2014 The Roman)