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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday it was encouraged by data showing the U.S. economy grew in the third quarter of 2011 but said faster expansion was needed to recover jobs and fortify the global economy.

"We are, nonetheless, at a fragile moment in the world economy, and cannot afford to do anything to undermine our economic ...

South Africa will launch a $3.2 billion package to boost the economy, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday, as he revised the 2011 growth forecast for the country down to 3.1 percent.

Gordhan told parliament the scheme would be a "competitiveness support package of 25 billion rand" class="inform">rand ($3.2 billion, 2.3 billion euros ...

HAKODATE, Japan (Reuters) - Bank of Japan board member Ryuzo Miyao said on Wednesday the country's economy may get less support than initially expected from overseas demand as the recovery in the U.S. and European economies loses steam.

"Japan's economy will continue a moderate recovery based on output and exports after supply constraints are resolved," Miyao said in ...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Austerity measures being adopted by many industrialized world governments in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis are undermining economic recovery, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.

Cuts in spending on health, education and other social programs in both rich and poor countries, it asserted, threaten to turn back decades of social progress, block new job creation ...

The International Monetary Fund said Friday it had okayed a sixth tranche of $225 million in financing for Iceland, citing Reykjavik's "impressive progress" in post-crisis restructuring.

The IMF said Iceland's economy would likely return to growth this year, but still faced risks from inflationary pressures, delays in investment projects, joblessness and slow private sector debt restructuring.

It also ...

VIENNA (Reuters) - The danger of an uneven economic recovery in Europe has fallen despite the patchy nature of the upturn that remains worrying, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said on Monday.

"One cannot exclude the possibility of a slowdown in recovery, but I think that the risks of an L-shaped or W-shaped development have decreased," he said ...

ATHENS (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings on Friday to 'B+' from 'BB+ and put the ratings on rating watch negative, it said.

The rating downgrade reflects the scale of the challenge facing Greece in implementing a radical fiscal and structural reform program necessary to secure solvency of the state and the ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. homebuilder sentiment slipped a notch in April as home prices continued to fall in most areas of the country amid widespread foreclosures, a survey released on Monday showed.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market index fell to 16 from 17, leaving the index in the pessimist range for a full five years ...

US President Barack Obama said Friday that a deal with his Republican foes on deep government spending cuts was "within reach," as lawmakers groped in private for a compromise by an April 8 deadline.

"Now, there's still details and differences to work out," he said a speech in Landover, Maryland, to employees of global shipping giant UPS. "Both sides ...

MADRID (Reuters) - An April rate increase is possible as the European Central Bank continues its mission to control inflation, ECB Executive Board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo said in an interview published on Sunday.

Asked about the impact of a rate hike for Spain, whose economy is recovering at a slower pace than others in the euro zone, Gonzalez-Paramo said the ...