The Economist reports that the OECD, in a preliminary edition of its Economic Outlook, states that prospects for the world economy are more favourable than they have been for over ten years. However, the OECD added the caveat that, if central banks are mindful of inflation, interest rates will have to rise steeply. It is expected that US and Canadian companies, in turn, will increase timber product sales to Japan by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Japan is the world's second-largest building materials market.
The WTO dispute panel has published a ruling in favour of a complaint filed by the U.S. and Australia that South Korean restrictions on imports of fresh, chilled and frozen beef, are in breach of global trade rules. The finding, which recommends that South Korea bring its various measures into conformity with the WTO accords, is expected to sweep aside the barriers put in place by Seoul, and enhance market access to one of Asia's most lucrative beef markets, after Japan. The U.S. Treasury Department is setting up a new Internet gateway to streamline the handling of payments to the federal government. The project, called Pay.gov will allow the government to process, more cheaply and efficiently, any of the 80 million transactions it handles each year. The system is to be phased in starting in October.