Menu

comScore, Inc. released retail e-commerce data for April 2008, which showed that the year-over-year growth rate rebounded to 15 percent, following an increase of just 9 percent in March.

The European Commission is moving a step closer to making it easier for companies, in particular Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), to bid for public sector contracts anywhere in the EU; a crucial step towards achieving the Single European Market. The Commission will co-finance a pilot project, driven by eight European countries that will create the conditions to link existing national electronic public procurement (e-procurement) systems. Simplifying cross-border procurement will generate savings on administrative and transaction costs and will benefit taxpayers who ultimately pay for public purchases. The project will invest more than € 19 million over three years, € 9.8 million of which will come from the European Commission's Competitiveness and Innovation Programme.

Overall emissions of CO2 from businesses in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) increased by 0.68% in 2007 when adjusted for changes in the number of installations covered, according to the information provided by Member State registries. While well below the 2.8% growth in the EU's Gross Domestic Product recorded last year, the slight increase in emissions underlines the need for the tighter emission caps that have been set for the 2008-2012 trading period.

A report released by researchers at Tufts University, commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), presents two ways of estimating the costs of inaction on climate change, both leading to staggering bottom lines. A comprehensive estimate, based on state-of-the-art computer modeling, finds that doing nothing on global warming will cost the United States economy more than 3.6 percent of GDP - or $3.8 trillion annually (in today's dollars) - by 2100.

In Fitch Ratings' review of 72 operators from 27 different countries, total aggregate wireless subscribers reached 1.681 billion for 2007, representing an annual growth of 17.6%, which is lower than the 2006 annual growth rate of 18.9%.

Rules providing for systems providing mobile satellite services - such as broadband internet or mobile TV - to be selected at EU level in the future were backed by the European Parliament. MEPs approved a first-reading compromise, negotiated with Council beforehand, which aims to improve accessibility, speed, and quality of electronic communications services especially in rural areas.

The annual growth rate of the outstanding amount of debt securities issued by euro area residents decreased from 8.0% in February 2008 to 7.0% in March. For the outstanding amount of quoted shares issued by euro area residents, the annual growth rate was 1.3% in March 2008, the same as in February.

The World Bank Group welcomes a new report by the independent Commission on Growth and Development, a global panel of eminent experts, which reveals important lessons from countries that have achieved high, long-term economic growth. The experts say the lessons learned could help policy makers in developing countries as they seek to set their countries on a steady growth path.

In adopting a resolution on rising food prices in the EU and the developing countries, MEPs say that priority should be given to investment in agriculture, aquaculture, rural development and agribusinesses in developing countries.