Business Digest, January 9, 2013
Record unemployment and fraying social welfare systems in southern Europe risk creating a new divide, the European Union warned yesterday as figures showed joblessness across the 17 countries that use the euro hit 11.8 per cent in November, the highest since the currency was founded in 1999. It rose from 11.7 per cent in October and 10.6 per cent a year earlier.
Record unemployment and fraying social welfare systems in southern Europe risk creating a new divide, the European Union warned yesterday as figures showed joblessness across the 17 countries that use the euro hit 11.8 per cent in November, the highest since the currency was founded in 1999. It rose from 11.7 per cent in October and 10.6 per cent a year earlier. AP
Top oil and gas producer PetroChina pushed its domestic crude oil output above 110 million tonnes last year for the first time in 17 years, while also achieving its fastest annual output growth in more than a decade. PetroChina and other state oil majors have been striving to boost their output and reserves to reduce China's dependence on oil imports, which rose to 56 per cent of the country's overall requirement in 2011. Reuters