Word: zeroed
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...will be more Arab businesses. A milestone toward integrating the 300 million Arabs living between Morocco and Bahrain was achieved in January when Arab states signed a Middle East free-trade agreement that had been in the works for decades. Some countries have slashed tariffs to zero under the pact. Already, according to Egypt's Trade Ministry, inter-Arab trade rose 22% in 2005 compared with a 4% rise three years earlier. Last month an Arab trade-ministers meeting in Cairo took up the technical yet crucial issue of adopting common product standards. "There is a reshaping of the landscape...
...those advantages, coal is still thought of as a dirty, carbon-heavy source of fuel, unwelcome in a world concerned with global warming and the potential environmental crises it could unleash. But that dilemma may be solved by new technologies that could reduce CO2 emissions from coal to nearly zero. Coal-fired power stations using "supercritical" boilers produce hotter steam to run the turbines: 600?C compared to around 540?C in an older plant. Supercritical plants make more efficient use of the energy created by coal's combustion, so less carbon is emitted - around 25% less than the average...
...stock and property collapses of the early '90s, most businesses and consumers drastically cut their spending and investments. With demand falling, prices dropped too, exacerbating businesses' unwillingness to invest in new ventures, and Japan found itself in a disastrous deflationary spiral. In desperation, the BOJ reduced interest rates to zero in 1999, but it had little impact for years because Japanese companies were hobbled by so many other problems, like bloated payrolls and debt-laden balance sheets. Under the reform agenda initiated by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2001, however, Japanese industry began to modernize and streamline. Taking the helm...
...last fiscal year and the Nikkei stock index is up 66% in three years. Spending is up, wages are up, even property prices are rising again, and unemployment is at an eight-year low. With conditions improving, Fukui has made no secret of his desire to end the anomalous zero-interest era, saying he favors acting early and in small steps. In March, the BOJ declared an end to its quantitative-easing campaign, and it has since tightened the money supply considerably, draining an astonishing $181 billion from the system in four months. Economic growth has risen steadily since March...
...rate hike, claiming that deflation has not been conclusively vanquished and that higher rates could dampen growth. Bitter memories remain of 2000, when the BOJ prematurely raised rates from 0% to 0.25%, plunging Japan back into recession; six months later, the BOJ was forced to drop rates back to zero. Still, Jesper Koll, chief Japan economist at Merrill Lynch, says fears of a replay of 2000 are misguided: "The Japanese economy is fundamentally different today, fundamentally stronger...