TEHRAN (Reuters) - China has signed a $13 billion contract to build a railway network in Iran, where economic sanctions have hampered investment by western companies, Iran's state infrastructure company said on its website."The contract to build a railway network extending 5,300 km (3,300 miles) was signed when a Chinese delegation visited Tehran," the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructure Company said in a posting dated Monday.It did not say when the contract was signed or when work would start.China, the second biggest buyer of Iranian oil, after Japan, has long been involved in infrastructure projects in Iran, such as the building of Tehran's metro.As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China voted in favour of a fourth round of U.N.
WASHINGTON (Commodity Online) : Based on stronger US and emerging nations economic prospects, the IMF on Tuesday raised its forecast for global economic growth this year.
In its World Economic Outlook report, the IMF said global economy will grow 4.4 percent, more than the 4.2 percent expected in October. Expansion next year is projected to reach 4.5 percent, unchanged from October.
The IMF in a separate report said that financial conditions have improved, with equity markets and commodity prices rising. It also warned that global financial stability is not assured yet, with the interaction between banking and sovereign credit risks in the 17-country euro region remaining “a critical factor.”
The fund today also raised its 2010 global growth estimate to 5 percent, the fastest pace since 2007, from 4.8 percent in October.
The U.S. and Germany are leading the recovery among advanced economies, according to the fund. Still the pace of growth is not sufficient to make large unemployment cuts even as private demand recovers, the IMF said.
Estimates for the euro area were unchanged at 1.5 percent for 2011 and were cut to 1.7 percent in 2012. Japan is now seen growing 1.6 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from October, and 1.8 percent next year.
While growth in China and India is expected to slow from 2010, the nations are still among the fastest-growing emerging economies, according to the IMF. The fund left the forecast for China unchanged at 9.6 percent and held India’s growth outlook at 8.4 percent.
Asian stocks rose, driving regional benchmark indexes higher for the second day, on optimism about the outlook for U.S. and global growth. The Bank of Japan raised its gross domestic product forecast for the year ending March 31 to 3.3 percent from a 2.1 percent estimate made in October.
Monetary policy should continue to remain accommodative in advanced countries as long as inflation is anchored and unemployment high, the Washington-based institution said.
The IMF in the past nine months helped the European Union shore up economies of Greece and Ireland in an effort to stem the monetary union’s debt crisis. In today’s report, the fund warned that the risk of contagion to “the core of Europe is a byproduct of continuing weakness among financial institutions in many of the region’s advanced economies, and a lack of transparency about their exposures.”
Stress tests on the region’s financial firms should be “more realistic, thorough, and stringent” than the ones conducted by European authorities so far, the IMF said, adding they should be followed “quickly” by recapitalization where needed.
The IMF also warned about risks in the U.S., where the tax-cut extension will bring the budget deficit to 10.75 percent of gross domestic product this year.
