Inflation slows in Canada to 2%

MONTREAL: Inflation in Canada eased to two percent year-on-year in August, hitting the target set by the country’s central bank and marking its slowest increase since February 2021, official data showed Tuesday. The easing was due in part to lower gas prices, down 5.1 percent year-on-year after a 1.9 percent increase in July, Statistics Canada said in a statement. But prices of clothes and shoes also dropped month-on-month—a surprise for August when students in Canada are preparing to return to school, fueling demand and usually sending prices up. — AFP

UK train drivers vote on pay deal

LONDON: Train drivers in Britain have voted to accept a new pay offer, their trade union ASLEF said on Wednesday, bringing an end to a long-running industrial dispute and a series of disruptive strikes. About 96.6 percent of members voted to accept the deal, ASLEF said, on a turnout of 88.5 percent. The dispute saw around 13,000 train drivers staging 18 days of strike action over the last two years, affecting 16 train companies. Britain’s new government has held negotiations with ASLEF since taking office in July following a thumping election victory for the traditionally union-friendly Labour Party. The pay offer, announced last month, gives train drivers a 5 percent pay rise for 2022/23, 4.75 percent for 2023/24, and 4.5 percent for 2024/25. — Reuters

Ghana’s economy surges 6.9%

ACCRA: Ghana’s economy grew by 6.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2024, the fastest rate in five years, boosted by expansion in several key sectors, the country’s statistics agency said on Wednesday. The strong growth represents a significant recovery for the producer of gold, oil and cocoa which has been grappling with its worst economic crisis in a generation due to skyrocketing public debt. “The 6.9 percent growth rate is highest since the second quarter of 2019 and it was driven largely by strong expansion in the extractive sector, just as we saw in the second quarter of 2019,” government statistician Samuel Kobina Annim said. — Reuters

IMF holds talks with Kenya

NAIROBI: The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it has held productive discussions with the Kenyan government on its plans to address the country’s economic and fiscal challenges, after nationwide protests forced it to abandon planned tax hikes. President William Ruto abandoned this year’s finance bill in June, leaving the heavily indebted government with a bigger budget deficit for this financial year, mounting unpaid bills, and a delay in disbursement of IMF funding. “We remain fully committed to support the authorities on their efforts to identify a set of policies that could support the completion of the reviews under the ongoing program as soon as feasible,” the IMF said in a statement. — Reuters

Germany pledges billions for start-ups

FRANKFURT: The German government and private investors pledged Tuesday to work together to pour billions of euros into funding for start-ups over the coming years, in a bid to keep young companies from moving abroad. Under a new program dubbed the “WIN” initiative, Berlin secured financing pledges of up to 12 billion euros ($13 billion) by 2030 from investors to support the start-up environment in Europe’s largest economy. — AFP

The declaration—signed by the government, public lender KfW, business groups and companies such as Allianz, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank—pledges to make it easier for start-ups to get the funding injections they need to grow their business. — AFP