AISB IB Economics 2015

Excluding petrol sales, overall retail sales in March were up 1.4%, which was their biggest rise in four years.

March also saw the US economy reach a key milestone - when the total number of private sector jobs created since the recession overtook the number that had been lost during the downturn.

Private businesses shed 8.8 million jobs during the 2007-2009 economic downturn. With the March gains, they have now hired 8.9 million workers.

It is currently at its record-low of 0.5%

Bank's ultra-loose monetary policy to keep markets liquid and the cost of credit down, therefore boosting the economy by supporting lending to businesses and consumers.

mortgage lending is on the rise again off the back of cheap credit made available

These mortgages are being taken out at a time of low interest rates, leaving borrowers exposed to higher repayment costs when the Bank of England lifts its base rate – and runs the risk of a wave of defaults.

London that will faces the biggest threat from interest rate rises because house prices in the city have soared.

house price in London leapt by 18.2%

the growing economy is helping record numbers of people to find a job

The rise in employment is being fuelled by businesses and entrepreneurs across the country who are feeling increasingly confident with the improving economy

long-term economic plan is working

while youth unemployment had gone down, the rate was "still nearly three times the rate of unemployment as a whole

rise in employment was down to the increase in the number of self-employed

pensions secretary Rachel Reeves disagreed, saying "long-term youth unemployment has doubled

Earnings "remain below inflation"

North East of England has the highest unemployment rate in the UK, at 9.5%

South East, where the rate is lowest, only 5.2%

MPC members voted earlier this month to keep interest rates at 0.5%

The first quarter

revealed that youth unemployment had soared even higher, with 43% of the under 25s who are not studying now unable to find work.

"It is a dramatic and brutal increase," said Helena Pinto,

a leap in emigration by people desperate to find work.

Portugal's economy is expected to shed yet more jobs and shrink by a further 2.3% this year,

bidding of the troika of lenders who keep it afloat - the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission.

government forces ever-deeper austerity

Portugal has now been in recession for almost three years

sack one in twenty public employees,

he would cut another €4.8bn spending over the next three years is expected to harm short-term growth further.

Passos Coelho's announcement

increase civil service working week from 35 to 40 hours

raise the retirement age by a year to 66

austerity has so far failed

could have sold three times as much debt this week

increased last year from 4.4% of GDP to 6.4%.

country's constitutional court threw out €5.8bn in cuts to

civil service pay and sickness benefits.

the government selling ten year bonds

raising €3bn

taming the country's budget deficit

potential recovery in a country which needed €78bn of bailout money to escape bankruptcy

fail to spark growth

raising hopes that Portugal could wean itself off aid next year.

The government forecasts a third straight year of recession

unemployment rising to 18.5%

austerity

other southern European countries

5.7% interest

signs of softening

the troika

extended the repayment period for Portugal's bailout loans

seven years

the average Mexican drinks 163 liters (about 43 gallons) of soda a year, which is 40% more than the average U.S. citizen

tax measures come after Mexico jumped ahead of the United States to claim first place in a list of most-obese nations

A measure that cleared the Mexican senate on Thursday and that now awaits the president's signature puts an 8% tax on edibles with high caloric contents.

The subsidies are estimated to cost about $20bn a year, equivalent to almost 3% of Indonesia's total economic output.

Thousands of motorists rushed to fill up before midnight, after the measure was announced late on Friday.

petrol prices to rise by 44% and diesel by 22%.

The announcement sparked clashes in the capital, Jakarta, where protesters blocked roads and fought with police.

Indonesians had been demonstrating on the streets of many major cities all week in anticipation of the rise.

measures to curb the rising tide of diabetes

Taxes should be seen as "a small part of a comprehensive strategy to address obesity,

sugar taxes

a growing body of studies suggests that fat taxes might work,

concluding that a 10% reduction in US sugar consumption would avert 240,000 diabetes cases annually

marketing to children, stop selling junk food or stop selling anything

That means companies would have to prove that such oils are safe to eat

Americans ate about one gram a day last year, down from 4.6 grams in 2006

Despite high demand for the redesigned sports car, GM will not add a second shift

"We've seen this again and again. You bring out a new Corvette and the demand is sky-high at the beginning, and then it tapers off,"

"It's not worth making that investment [of a second shift], even though for awhile we make a lot more money getting those cars out there."

GM produced 14,960 Corvettes in 2012 in the car's lone plant. If GM sticks to its current production plan for the redesigned 2014 model, output will nearly double to about 30,000 units for a full year.

GM has banked enough orders from dealers to keep the plant cranking out cars at 160 per day for at least the next six months.

A greater number of exports will reduce the number of cars available in the United States.

First, GM plans to offer the redesigned Corvette in nearly all 140 countries that sell Chevrolets.

GM spent $131 million to retool the Corvette plant to assemble the 2014 model, which uses a new frame, body and suspension.

The taxes will increase the price of junk foods – those high in saturated fat, sugar and salt – by 8%

9.2% of children in Mexico now have diabetes.

It will also put one peso (about 4p) on a litre of sugary drinks such as Coca Cola

"the Danish saturated fat tax is a dream from a researcher's point of view. We're beginning to get the preliminary results of the introduction of the tax. Of the data they have already got, it had a 4% effect on saturated fat levels. It is completely wrong to say it didn't work."

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Treasurer Chris Bowen said the move would achieve "several purposes". "It will provide funds for cancer and stroke-related health services, it will deter young people from taking up smoking, and it will help return the budget to surplus," he said. It adds to Australia's move to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products in December after a landmark High Court victory again major tobacco firms.

Kevin Rudd, who successfully challenged Julia Gillard for the ruling Labor Party leadership last month amid dismal polling figures, has not yet specified when the election - originally set for 14 September - will be held, but it must take place by 30 November.

The proceeds will go to charities involved in clearing up the environmental damage caused by the bags rather than the government or the retailers.

Tougher action and ambitious targets are needed to cut waste and boost recycling, and bring England in line with the rest of the UK and much of Europe.

marketing, raising awareness of the fruit's health benefits,

fruit as a high value product, rather than a commodity.

Australia had been the largest overseas market for more than a decade

Most cars built in the UK are exported.

Thousands of new jobs were created in the industry as both Jaguar Land Rover and Bentley expanded their operations in the UK.

UK economic activity holds up well through 2014 and beyond

"The public, as well as investors, will benefit from a financially strong industry which can now invest to keep its product updated and in international markets competitive with foreign carriers."

the French government has suspended its implementation until 2015

26 blockades on France's main road arteries on Saturday

Up to 4,500 trucks caused significant disruption from the Paris region to Bordeaux and Aix-en-Provence in the south, affecting transit towards Spain and Italy

Meanwhile, in Brittany, up to 40,000 people took part in a rally in Carhaix, many wearing “bonnets rouges” (red caps) that have become synonymous with rising anger against President François Hollande’s punitive tax hikes.

“Brittany is being scorned and ignore

The government is due to propose a “Pact for the future of Brittany” on Wednesday which it hopes will finally quell the protest movement and stop it spreading to other regions.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, the prime minister, has promised a “total overhaul” of France’s tax system to quell tensions – an overhaul that Mr Hollande says will take his entire five-year mandate to complete

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of the Front de Gauche (Left Front) party, warned that “France is in 1788”, namely on the verge of revolution. “The tax system is rejected by all as everyone knows that it protects the privileged wealthy,” he told Le Parisien.

“We are asking for a tax reform respecting a simple principle: everyone pays and the more you earn, the more you pay.”

4.6% more

British Gas, the UK's biggest energy supplier, has already announced that it will cut prices by 3.2% on 1 January, following the government rebate.

"Farmers already pocket huge amounts of cash without having to farm in ways that reduce their effect on wildlife