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Nations unveil stimulus measures to fight downturn

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-03 15:25

SYDNEY -- Australia unveiled a massive stimulus package and Japan announced a share-buying programme to assist banks Tuesday as part of efforts to buoy their economies in the face of the deepening global downturn.

The moves came as US President Barack Obama pressed Congress not to delay his own nearly 900 billion dollar stimulus plan, intended to kick-start the US economy and reverse a seemingly unending stream of gloomy economic data.

Australia's Reserve Bank in Sydney. The government has launched a 42 billion dollar ($26 billion) stimulus package as the global financial crisis dragged the economy towards recession. [Agencies]

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Australia announced a 42 billion Australian dollar ($26 billion) stimulus package, which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said was aimed at supporting jobs "in the face of the unfolding national and international economic emergency."

The plan was made public as the government slashed its growth forecast by half for the current financial year and upped the estimate of job losses in Australia, whose decade-long boom is grinding to a halt amid the slowdown.

"No country will escape the impacts of the global recession, which is causing falls in growth, job losses and budget deficits right across the world," Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a statement.

The government said the budget would plunge 22.5 billion Australian dollars into deficit -- a sharp reversal from the forecast less than a year ago of a surplus of 21.7 billion dollars.

Australia's central bank slashed interest rates by one percentage point to a 45-year low of 3.25 percent in the latest in a series of aggressive cuts sparked by the global crisis.

Japan's central bank meanwhile said it would spend up to one trillion yen ($11.2 billion) to buy shares held by commercial banks as part of efforts to ease the credit crunch in Asia's biggest economy.

"Global financial and capital markets remain under severe strain," the Bank of Japan said. It said it would start buying shares held by commercial banks through April 2010.

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