Hollingsworth Daily Post

• The Irish government has insisted it will not raise the country's low corporation tax rate in return for a European Union-led bail-out.Deputy Prime Minister Mary Coughlan said the 12.5% rate - much lower than the EU average - was "non-negotiable".Her comments come as speculation grows that France and Germany want Dublin to raise the tax in return for aid.The Irish government is in bail-out talks with officials from the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF.An aid package is expected to emerge next week, according to an unnamed source quoted by the Reuters news agency.
• US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has criticised countries like China that run large trade surpluses."Currency undervaluation by surplus countries is inhibiting needed international adjustment," he said in a speech to the European Central Bank.He said that by buying dollars, these countries were hurting the US recovery and the global economy with it.He also defended the Fed's policy of "quantitative easing", which has been criticised by China and Germany.Defending QE.China, Germany and others have attacked the Federal Reserve in recent weeks for its decision to purchase another $600bn of US government debt in a bid to stimulate the US economy.They say that the policy will unfairly devalue the dollar in currency markets, and that this could lead to inflation and asset bubbles elsewhere in the world.
• China's central bank has raised the amount of money that lenders must keep in reserve, as it moves again to try to control the country's high inflation.The People's Bank of China said the reserve ratio would go up by a further 0.5 percentage points on 29 November.It is the fifth time this year that the central bank has made such a move, and the second announcement this month.It comes after Chinese inflation hit a two-year high of 4.4% last week on the back of the fast-growing economy.The central bank hopes that increasing the level of funds Chinese banks have to keep in reserve will help to dampen inflation, as it will limit the amount of money the banks can lend.
• China's exports to Japan of rare earths could resume next week, the Japanese trade minister has said.Shipments of the minerals, vital for making a number of hi-tech products, have been halted by Beijing for almost two months.This came after the Japan's navy arrested a Chinese fishing boat captain near disputed East China Sea islands.Japan's Trade Minister Akihiro Ohata said he hoped shipments would now return to normal.He added: "I think the Chinese understand that stalled exports of rare earths to Japan would in turn have a big impact on China's production of computers.
• Further details have been released of the difficulties faced by the pilots of the Qantas A380 superjumbo that saw one of its engines explode.Airbus, the plane's manufacturer, has said that flying debris from the Rolls-Royce engine severed cables in the aircraft's wing.A separate report by the AP new agency said the explosion caused a series of system failures in the plane.The pilots made a successful emergency landing in Singapore on 4 November.Airbus made its comments in its latest report to airlines.
  

BBC Business News 19th November 2010