WPI inflation rises to 7.23% in April
Prices of food articles rose 10.49% in April, compared with 9.94% the previous month; prices of vegetable soared 60.97%, and that of egg, meat and fish 17.54%. Manufactured products, with a weight of nearly 65%, inched up to 5.12% in the last month from 4.87% in March.

RBI takes measures to ease foreign currency flows
To augment foreign currency inflows to banks and facilitate their foreign currency loans to exporters the interest rate ceiling on Foreign Currency Non-Resident [FCNR (B)] deposits of banks has been raised from 125 basis points above the corresponding LIBOR/Swap rates to 200 bps for maturity period of 1 year to less than 3 years, and to 300 bps for maturity period of 3 to 5 years. The ceiling rate on export credit in foreign currency which was constraining the availability of credit to exporters in foreign currency has been deregulated by allowing banks to freely determine their interest rates on such credit.

Trade deficit at 7-month low on weaker imports
Merchandise exports rose a modest 3.2% from a year earlier to $24.5 billion, import growth decelerated 3.8% to $37.9 billion mainly because of a sharp slide in imports of gold and silver. A slowdown in petroleum imports also helped keep the overall import growth under check.

U.S. logs first monthly budget surplus in 42 months
The government notched a larger-than-expected $59.12 billion surplus last month, compared with a $40.39 billion deficit in April 2011, on a rise in tax receipts and a drop in government spending. Even so, the cumulative budget deficit for the first seven months of the fiscal year totaled $719.86 billion, compared with a shortfall of $869.81 billion over the same period in fiscal year 2011.

US job growth slows for second straight month with just 115,000 jobs added
The recovery in the jobs market has stalled for a second month as the US added just 115,000 new positions even as the unemployment dropped to 8.1%.

Euro zone economy avoids recession
Euro zone GDP was stable recording no change in Q1from Q4 2011; Germany surprised with 0.5% growth even as the French economy stalled and Italy reported contracting 0.8%.

Euro zone industrial production falls back in March
Industrial production in the Euro zone fell by 0.3% on a 8.5% fall in energy production. Spanish production fell by 1.8%, while that in Greece contracted by 1%. Production in Germany rose by 1.3%.

UK manufacturing output rose 0.9% in March
The wider measure of industrial production fell 0.3%, due to a drop in oil and gas production. Sectors including chemicals, transport equipment, computer and electronics were behind the recovery.

China cuts banks’ reserve requirements
It is the third time the central bank has made such a move in six months. It follows recent economic data suggesting that the Chinese economy is slowing down, as in April industrial output growth slowed to 9.3%—the slowest rate since 2009.
China Economy by Numbers—April