The efforts of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's government to tighten control over the banking sector have failed. In order to qualify for loans from the IMF, the government has had to cancel its orders for the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) to buy government bonds... MORE

The Turkish government announced a comprehensive economic stimulus package on Friday. The decision comes against the background of deteriorating economic indicators that signal a serious recession and mounting pressure from market players for the government to act swiftly to alleviate the crisis. Industrial production showed... MORE

Russia took part in two different economic forums last weekend where conflicting propositions for overcoming the global crisis were advanced. Moscow had little to contribute to any course. Finance ministers of the G20 gathered in Horsham, UK, to prepare the agenda for the summit of... MORE

To date, there has been little other than optimistic prognoses from Belarusian government circles about the state of the economy. Unlike the situation in neighboring states, Belarus is not facing recession, and economic growth continues. Moreover, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has assured citizens of government protection,... MORE

On March 4 Russian Deputy Defense Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Lyubov Kudelina outlined defense spending plans in light of the global financial crisis, expressing confidence that although there would be some cuts in the overall budget of the Ministry of Defense (MoD), this... MORE

The State Council of the People's Republic of China (PRC) approved a proposal for a new round of health sector reforms (HSRs) on January 21. The policy paper, "Guiding opinions for further reforming medical and pharmaceutical system," is the blueprint for Beijing's renewed efforts toward... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko have managed to set their differences aside and agree on a reform package in an effort to save the economy from imminent collapse. Yushchenko and Tymoshenko agreed on March 2 on the content of a letter... MORE

The economic crisis is affecting Russia worse than most developed or emerging economies, but its direct impact, such as the recession in industry that is expected to become even more serious in February, is multiplied by the psychological shock from the sudden collapse of belief... MORE

The new economic data released by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics (Rosstat) last week surprised even the doomsayer-economists, who have become the mainstream in this discredited profession. The key statistic was the drop in industrial output in January by 16 percent compared with... MORE