Ahmadinejad Faces Another Tough Sell On Subsidy Cuts

Iran's parliament is putting the final touches on legislation to dramatically curb costly energy and food subsidies. President Mahmud Ahmadinejad says it will reduce energy consumption and allow for more equitable distribution of financial aid. Others say it could prove to be the government's Achilles' heel. More

Weak Dollar Helps Send Commodities To Dizzying Heights

Gold prices have reached another record high today. But gold isn't the only glittering prize among commodities -- the prices of many, from oil to copper and sugar, have soared this year. More

EBRD Economist Says Eastern Europe Lags On Recovery

Although many parts of the world are seeing a return to growth after the global financial crisis, Central and Eastern Europe are seeing a much slower recovery. That's the assessment of Erik Berglof, the chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. More

EBRD's Chief Economist Assesses Conditions In Central, Eastern Europe

Erik Berglof, the chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, joined other officials from international financial institutions at meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund this week in Istanbul, where one of the central topics was the global financial crisis. In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, he discusses how Central and Eastern European countries are faring amid the crisis. Berglof also discusses the conditions that the IMF is attaching to loans that it is giving to governments in the region. More

IMF, World Bank Revise Loan Conditions In Eastern Europe

International financial institutions have been lending billions of dollars to governments in Central and Eastern Europe during the past year to help them weather the global financial crisis. Unlike previous lending by the IMF and the World Bank, the new loans carry fewer, but more focused requirements on economic reforms. More

IMF Puts Lower Price Tag On Total Crisis Losses

$3.4 trillion. According to the IMF, that's the likely extent of total losses arising from the global economic crisis. Staggering though the figure is, it's actually lower than the International Monetary Fund's last estimate. More

G-20 Seeks To Avoid Repeat Of Global Crisis

G-20 leaders will meet this week for their third summit since the onset of the global economic crisis. This time they hope to come up with new rules to prevent a repeat. High on their agenda -- curbing bankers' bonuses and making banks stronger. More

U.S. Fed Chief Latest To See End Of Recession

They're not quite popping open the champagne yet. But in the last few days, top policymakers from some of the world's big economies have been giving markedly upbeat assessments. So, is the global recession coming to an end? More

Dollar Hits Year Low, As Gold At 18-Month High

The U.S. dollar has fallen to its lowest level against the euro this year at around $1.45. At the same time, gold has risen to above $1,000 an ounce. The dollar slide marks a reversal of what happened a year ago, when the financial crisis prompted investors to "flee" to the safety of the dollar. More

Why Joblessness Keeps Rising Even As Economies Improve

First came the crisis, then the recession. Now there are signs a number of the big world economies could be on the mend. But even once a recovery takes hold, one thing of close concern to ordinary people is likely to get worse – unemployment. More

Forget The Stock Market, Watch Copper

You could track consumer sentiment indexes, scour the latest numbers for U.S. home sales, or pore over the fine print of China's GDP data.Or you could look at the price of copper. More

Leaders Aim To Build On Growing Economic Clout

The name was coined by an economist to group together the world's biggest emerging economies. Now BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) is holding its first official summit. It's seen as a sign they want to show their growing economic clout -- especially amid a global economic crisis that has pushed the world into its first postwar contraction. More

Latvia Fights Devaluation Talk As Economic Crisis Bites Deeper

Storm clouds are once again gathering over Eastern Europe, with Latvia in the grip of a deepening financial crisis. For months it has been mired in the worst recession among EU members. And now there's renewed speculation that the country might have to devalue its currency. If it does, analysts warn there could be implications for other countries in the region. More

Russia's Artificial Middle Class

For the past decade, Russia's emerging "middle class" got a pretty good deal. The Kremlin was determined to create a stable and sizable cohort of happy, well-fed, and status-conscious consumers who would provide the regime with bedrock political support -- or at least tacit acquiescence. And now that is all at risk. More

Identifying The Correct Recovery Paradigm

The government panic and misguided activity regarding the global economic crisis of the last six months have made one thing abundantly clear: the world urgently needs a better-designed paradigm for stimulating recovery. More

Russians Ask Where All The Money Is Going

There are strange things going on in the world, ladies and gentlemen. Particularly concerning the global economic crisis, and particularly in Russia. Some small, little-noticed events are especially intriguing. The devil, as they say, is in the details. More

Financial Crisis Causing Drop In Media Freedom Worldwide

A report by the U.S.-based watchdog Freedom House says the global financial crisis is having a negative impact on freedom of the press. Released ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, the report indicates that the crisis is providing oppressive governments with new tools to tighten their grip on the media. More

Russian President Says No Trade-Off Between Prosperity, Democracy

In an interview with "Novaya gazeta," Dmitry Medvedev said there can be no trade-off between prosperity and democracy, and that democracy did not need to be "rehabilitated" in Russia. But perhaps more significant was that he gave his first interview as Russia's president to this particular newspaper. More

Unrest Exposes Moldova's Fault Lines

On April 6 and 7, thousands of mostly young Moldovans erupted into violence to protest preliminary election results. The storming of the parliament and presidential residence were the first violent political actions in the country's post-Soviet history. As the smoke clears, the country is asking itself how events took such a turn. More

The Black Market In EU Travel Documents

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, another kind of barrier has gone up in Europe. Citizens of countries east of the EU need visas to visit the bloc, which has tightened controls to fight illegal immigration. For many EU outsiders, the bloc's visa policy is perceived as an unfair ruling on which states are truly part of Europe. More

Ukraine's Winter Of Discontent

Police raid the state energy monopoly. Truckers block a vital highway. Citizens line up outside banks hoping to withdraw their savings before it's too late. This is Ukraine, as it muddles through an economic and political crisis that could destabilize this strategically important country, which was once touted as one of Eastern Europe's most promising emerging democracies. More

Central Asian Migrants Head For U.S.

Millions of people flock from Central Asia to Russia in search of work. But a far less documented trend is illicit labor migration from Central Asia to the United States. Kyrgyz-born scholar Saltanat Liebert is one of the first to study the phenomenon in depth. More

Central European Banks Take Stand Against Warnings

Central banks in Central and Eastern Europe have criticized reports that lump their countries together in one stricken region. They're referring chiefly to warnings that Western European banks are at risk because of lending to the east. Such warnings, they claim, represent a "high risk" in themselves. More

Ukraine Bites The Bullet

It might be on the verge of economic collapse, but Olga Romanova says if you're tempted to compare Ukraine's situation with Zimbabwe's, there's at least one major difference. More

Armenian Currency Plummets As Intervention Ends

Armenia's national currency, the dram, has lost some 30 percent of its value in one day after the Central Bank stopped intervening to support it. The sudden drop is the first blow from the global economic crisis to strike Armenia, which until now has been largely shielded by its dependence on remittances from abroad. More

Russian Finance Ministry Battles The 'Siloviki'

As Russia's economy sags from falling oil revenues, potentially debilitating schisms continue to open up among the elite. The latest battle pits the technocrats at the Finance Ministry against the powerful "siloviki" who dominate Vladimir Putin's inner circle. More

Ukrainians Unconvinced By Czech Offer

As the global economic crisis leads to thousands of layoffs across Europe, Czech officials are offering free air tickets and 500 euros in cash to jobless migrants to allow them to return home. Some Asian laborers are using the opportunity to return to their native countries, but many Ukrainian workers say they prefer to stay put. More

Feeling The Pinch In Russia

Two weeks ago, Veronika Narozhnaya worked as a secretary at a large Western accountancy firm. She had been employed by the company for more than a year, the work was stimulating, and her prospects looked rosy, she said. Then everything changed. More

Is Russia's Social Contract Breaking Down?

Just how nervous is Russia's elite about the ongoing financial crisis? Demonstrations in Vladivostok over higher tariffs on imported used cars, and the Kremlin's response to them, could be a sign of things to come. More

Economic Crisis In Russia Holds Threat Of Social Unrest

The once-booming ruble has been hit hard by the global financial crisis -- after years of economic prosperity, Russians are suddenly having to tighten their belts. Could mounting public discontent become a genuine threat to the Kremlin? More

Migrant Workers First To Lose Jobs

From the closure of factories in eastern China to the collapse of construction booms in Europe and the Middle East, the global economic crisis has caused millions of people to lose their jobs. And the first to do so are the foreign migrants who formed a cheap labor pool when times were good. More

Video: No Work At Home, Crisis Abroad 

The village of Akner, in northern Armenia, has its share of economic trouble. There are few jobs, and locals depend on money sent home by relatives working abroad, mainly in Russia. But as the world economic crisis worsens, even that source of income is unreliable. More

Russian Protests A Danger In System Without Safety Valves

Recent demonstrations across Russia are one sign of growing social tensions resulting from the global economic crisis. However, opposition political groups are having a hard time translating the public's concerns into calls for change. More

Pink Slips Tell Only Half The Story

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's critics have long accused him of mishandling the economy, resulting in runaway inflation and creeping poverty. But now unemployement is rising -- and with it social discontent. More

Ukraine's Economic Woes Need Tough Medicine

In order to overcome its current economic crisis, Ukraine needs to not only eliminate financial deficits and debts but also recover the position of its enterprises on the global market and restore its production capacities for domestic needs, says Volodomyr Lanovy, a formerUkrainian economy minister. More

Ukraine Feels The Pinch

The bigger you are, the harder you fall. But the longer-term effects of the current financial crisis are beginning to be felt in smaller countries as well. One such place is Ukraine, where the central bank this week took the controversial step of restricting lending and withdrawal limits. More

Iran Gleeful Over Western World's Financial Crisis

Iranian leaders have appeared almost giddy over Western financial woes, but the fallout could adversely affect officials and ordinary Iranians alike. A heavy reliance on oil and gas revenues flies in the face of declarations that Iran is immune to shocks on the international economy. More