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Nissan to shed 20,000 jobs as recession woes mount
AFP
AFP - Tuesday, February 10

TOKYO (AFP) - - Auto giant Nissan announced plans Monday to axe 20,000 jobs worldwide as a result of the global downturn which looked set to push France into recession and forced a sharp fall in Germany's trade surplus.

As US President Barack Obama warned of a "catastrophe" without immediate action as the Senate prepared to vote on his 800 billion dollar-plus stimulus package, evidence of the worst downturn in decades was piling high.

India's economic growth was predicted to decline to its lowest rate in six years, France's economy was forecast to shrink 0.6 percent in the first quarter and grim news abounded on the jobs front.

"The global auto industry is in turmoil. Nissan is no exception," said the Japanese giant's chief executive Carlos Ghosn as he announced the plans to shed 20,000 posts and forecast a net loss of 265 billion yen (2.9 billion dollars).

Japan has seen a slew of bad news in recent weeks amid slowing demand for its cars, electronics and other goods, deepening its first recession in seven years. The trade surplus alone plunged 67.3 percent last year to 4.03 trillion yen while exports slipped 3.0 percent. Imports rose 8.8 percent.

Its economic woes are being mirrored in Germany where official data showed the trade surplus fell 8.7 percent in 2008 from the previous year to 178.2 billion euros (226.8 billion dollars), as imports grew more than exports.

The total amount of goods and services provided by the world's leading exporter increased by 2.8 percent, while imports gained 5.8 percent, a statement from the Destatis statistics service said.

An export slowdown is especially bad news for the biggest European economy because it is the country's main engine of growth, and the data showed that exports were losing steam especially at the end of the year.

Germany entered a recession in the third quarter of 2008 after two three-month periods of shrinking economic output in a row.

France is now set to join the European recession blacklist with the country's central bank forecasting that the economy would shrink by 0.6 percent in the first quarter of this year.

The Indian economy meanwhile, which grew by nine percent last year, was expected to slow to 7.1 percent in the current fiscal year, according to official estimates released Monday. It would be the slowest level since 2003.

Obama meanwhile was due to take his case for a huge economic rescue plan directly to the US public, warning of a "catastrophe" without urgent action.

Confronting the biggest challenge of his new presidency, Obama was returning to barnstorming campaign mode with a "town hall" meeting in rust-belt Indiana before his first White House news conference in prime time at 8:00 pm (0100 GMT).

The president Saturday welcomed signs of a tentative deal by lawmakers on his stimulus plan as the Senate held a rare weekend session, following news that the US economy shed a staggering 598,000 jobs in January.

"Because if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe," Obama said.

Whatever bill emerges from the Senate will have to be reconciled with an 820-billion-dollar version passed already by the Democratic-led House of Representatives, which devoted more to infrastructure and less to tax cuts.

Fears that the US package may be delayed by wrangling in Congress impacted on stock exchanges with Japanese share prices closing 1.33 percent lower.

Europe's main stock markets dipped at the start of the week's trading, with London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares down 0.21 percent at 4,282.95 points.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 declined 0.8 percent to 4,607.00 and in Paris the CAC 40 fell 0.28 percent to stand at 3,113.96 points.