According to the estimates from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, the United Arab Emirate (UAE) has total debt amounting to USD 184 billion at the end of 2009. The bank also added that the region faces a heavy redemption schedule until 2013.

In a report released, BofA-Merrill Lynch said that the restructuring undertaken by Dubai would be a serious blow to the Gulf region’s economic recovery prospects.

Dubai’s shocking announcement, earlier in the week, that it is seeking to suspend payments on debt of its state-owned conglomerate Dubai World and property subsidiary Nakheel has again raised fears the emirate which funded a spectacular building boom on a mountain of debt could default.

“The lack of official debt data may add up to uncertainty and cause higher risk premiums,” BofA-Merrill Lynch said.

Of the USD184 billion UAE debt, Dubai holds USD 88 billion while Abu Dhabi accounts for USD 90 billion.

Renowned personal computer maker Lenovo Group announced on Friday that the company is joining back the race to develop products that link phones and PCs by buying back a mobile phone business that it sold off the previous year.

Lenovo, the world’s fourth-largest PC maker, sold its mobile unit to focus on computers. However, the company said that it feels that the two technologies are now converging and creating ‘significant growth opportunity.’

Based in Beijing and in Morrisville, N.C., Lenovo said that it had paid USD 200 million in cash and stock to acquire its former mobile phone assets from a group of Hong Kong and other investors.

Like other computer makers, Lenovo too was battered by the worldwide fiscal crisis followed by a sharp slump in sales.

The US auto maker General Motors confirmed on Thursday that the company shall retain its all the four plants of its European subsidiary Opel in Germany. However, GM plans to slash another 9,500 jobs in Europe as part of restructuring to make the company profitable all over again.

Nick Reilly, the head of GM’s European operations assured the state premier of Thuringia in eastern Germany Christine Lieberknecht that Opel’s Eisenach plant in the state will remain open. “Eisenach is a highly efficient plant and we want to keep it as an important resource for Opel,” he said.

Reilly had earlier confirmed that the Ruesselsheim plant along with the two other German sites in Bochum in the state of North Rhine Westphalia and in Kaiserslautern in the state of Rhineland Palatinate will also be kept.

“The Ruesselsheim plant is extremely important for GM as it is not only a manufacturing plant but also a research and development centre,” Reilly said adding, “The General Motors’ recent decision to shift its European headquarters from Zurich to Ruesselsheim is an indication of how much importance the GM has for the site.”

According to the newly released official figures, Britain’s recession-hit economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter.
However this shrinkage is touted to be better than the anticipated level.

The data from OECD shows that Britain is rambling leading industrialized economies in pulling out of the recession. US, Euro-zone and Japan have reported positive growth and have successfully pulled out of the worst recession since the World War II.

The ONS announced in a statement that the revised British data for the July-September period was an improvement from the previous anticipated 0.4 per cent contraction.

The statement said, “GDP contracted by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2009. This has been revised from a fall of 0.4 per cent in the preliminary estimate of GDP, due to upward revisions to services. GDP is 5.1 per cent lower than the third quarter of 2008.”

On Wednesday, Japan posted a trade surplus in excess of USD 9 millions, for the ninth consecutive month in October. These are the clear signs of the world’s second largest economy emerging strongly out of it’s worst recession since the World War II.

In a sharp rebound from a trade deficit of 75 billion yen registered a year ago, the latest trade surplus figures posted by Japan finance ministry came to 807.1 billion yen, or USD 9.1 billion.

However, on the other hand, the country’s trade activities remained weak with exports in October falling 23.2 per cent to 5.31 trillion yen from a year ago, largely due to shrinkage in the exports of vehicles and steel.

Meanwhile, imports tumbled 35.6 per cent to 4.50 trillion yen, the ministry added.
Japan’s trade surplus with Asia rose 82.3 per cent to 827.0 billion yen, with exports falling 15.0 per cent while imports fell 30.0 per cent. In contrast to China, Japan logged its fourth straight monthly trade deficit of 26.2 billion yen.

For the second time in the present week, gold struck a record high, going beyond $1,170 an ounce on Wednesday, and reportedly, India was “open to buying” more gold from the International Monetary Fund.

Gold has already jumped nearly 13% since the beginning of this month as investors poured money into the metal after Reserve Bank of India announced it had bought 200 tonnes of bullion from the IMF. Many other countries including, Russia, Sri Lanka and Mauritius have followed suit.

Leading Indian financial daily, The Financial Chronicle also reported that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could buy the IMF’s remaining 201.3 tonnes of gold. The newspaper quoted a government official saying, “RBI is an independent body and the government does not interfere in its affairs. It will get the gold if its bid is successful and at the price it has offered.”
Spot gold rose to an all-time high of $1,177.90 an ounce after the report. Prices later eased to $1,176.50.

The International Monetary Fund announced on Tuesday that a lending scheme to aid countries hit hard by the financial crisis had been extended to USD 600 billion.

The Washington-based IMF said that the additional 13 potential countries have agreed to the present 26 nations in committing money to the so-called New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB). This agreement originally targeted USD 500 billion.

According to the IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, “Today’s agreement on an enlarged NAB marks an important moment for multilateralism and the Fund, which will help the IMF’s effectiveness in its response to crises and help strengthen the international financial architecture.”

The IMF executive board is expected to make a formal decision on the expanded NAB in the coming weeks. The global financial crisis sparked in the late 2008 by a home mortgage meltdown in the United States has led to a sharp increase in demand for IMF financing as even the world’s largest economies slipped into the worst fiscal crisis since the World War II.

The Russian post office said on Monday that it intended to cut its staff by at least eight per cent in the year 2010. This can result in about 33,000 job losses.

In a statement released by the Russian state-controlled post office, it was announced that the post office is planning “gradual cuts of the total staff of no less than eight per cent.” The statement also added that the cuts would affect the management at its branches.

According to the figures released by the post office, the number of postal workers has fallen by three percent since the beginning of the year, and now totals to 415,000 people. The Russian post office has 42,000 branches across the country.

After Kraft Foods, Hershey and Ferrero, Nestle too is weighing options, highlighting the possibility of a bid for Cadbury that would challenge Kraft Foods’s offer and a potential move by Hershey.

However, it is believed that there are equal chances that Nestle, who is reviewing its options with bankers at the moment, might end up deciding against the bid. Hershey and Ferrero said last week that they are weighing various options. Ferrero, the maker of Nutella, is unlikely to proceed with an offer.

Kraft’s unsolicited USD 16.5 billion bid for Cadbury would create the largest maker of candy, threatening Nestle’s and Hershey’s market positions.
“We’re the only offer on the table, and we’re confident we’re the best, most logical partner for Cadbury,” Mike Mitchell, a Kraft spokesman, said.

In its attempt to tackle the hostile offer by rival Kraft Foods, US chocolate maker Hershey is considering launching a solo bid of at least USD 17 billion for British chocolatier Cadbury.

The leading chocolate producer of US, Hershey, has lined up deal funding from Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase & Co to make a solo offer for Cadbury.

However the company is said to be still weighing different options which include a joint bid with the Italian leader, Ferrero. Kraft Foods had offered USD 16.5 billion for the same.

The source from the company however said, “It’s still very fluid and there are multiple prongs to this. It’s still very early. But they need at least $17 billion to top Kraft.”

A solo bid from Hershey would be the most transformative move the company has made in its 100-year history. The company’s market capitalization stands at USD 8.3 billion, in comparison to Cadbury’s USD 18.1 billion.