European Central Bank. The World Bank And The Federal Reserve

THE ECONOMIST :

The European Central Bank provided a record €442 billion ($620 billion) to the euro area’s banking system through its offer of unlimited one-year funds at 1% interest. The measure has been dubbed a “stimulus by stealth”.

The World Bank predicted that the economies of the developing countries would grow by only 1.2% this year, significantly below last year’s growth rate of 5.9%. By contrast, the OECD raised its forecast of economic growth for the first time in two years. The Paris-based organisation of 30 industrialised countries now expects GDP among its members to contract by 4.1% in 2009 and to grow by a modest 0.7% in 2010.

The Federal Reserve sounded a bit more optimistic about the American economy than it has for a while. After a two-day meeting, the Fed said that the “pace of economic contraction is slowing”, though the economy would “remain weak for a time”. The central bank played down the threat from deflation, a threat it had emphasised earlier this year.