Thursday newspaper round-up: OECD, IMF, Greece

26th May 2011 06:03

One of the leading advocates of George Osborne's deficit-cutting plans has warned that they may need to be watered down in the face of disappointing growth. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said that the Chancellor should cut spending more slowly if the muted pace of expansion seen so far this year continues, says the Times.The Independent reports that the OECD has said the UK will experience slower growth than previously expected, but called on the Bank of England to push the Bank Rate up to 1 per cent by the end of this year, and to 2.25% by the end of 2012, compared with the current historic low of 0.5%.Christine Lagarde insisted that being a European "shouldn't be a minus" as France's finance minister entered the increasingly heated race for the top job at the International Monetary Fund. "I'm not arguing for my candidacy because I'm a European," Ms Lagarde said at a Paris press conference on Wednesday. "Being a European shouldn't be a plus and it shouldn't be a minus," she said, according to the Daily Telegraph.A joint venture between Jamie Ritblat's Delancey and America's Area Property Partners has emerged as the front-runner to buy the struggling property developer Minerva. The Times understands that the joint venture has made an offer of 115p a share.Greece will have to ditch the euro unless it agrees tougher austerity measures, said a senior Greek official, delivering the strongest warning yet from a European insider as to what is at stake. Maria Damanaki, the European Commissioner for fisheries, who was appointed by Greece's ruling socialists, said her country faces having to exit the currency unless warring parties can agree to makes the sacrifices needed to resolve its debt crisis, says the Daily Telegraph.Robert Walters faced a stinging shareholder revolt at its annual meeting yesterday, with investors rejecting pay policies at the recruitment group. Of the votes cast, nearly 44 per cent were against the remuneration report. Another 16 per cent were withheld. The revolt came after the remuneration committee decided to award bonuses of more than the set limit of 100 per cent of salary for executive directors, the Independent reports.Peter Voser, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, has held talks with Igor Sechin, Russia's powerful energy tsar, about possible co-operation in exploration of the Arctic and the Black Sea as the country seeks alternatives to the failed strategic tie-up between Rosneft and BP. Coming just days after Rosneft's proposed $16bn share swap with the UK oil group expired last week, the meeting between Mr Voser and Mr Sechin earlier this week in Moscow will heighten speculation that the Russian state oil champion is preparing to replace BP with another partner, according to the Financial Times.The founder of Facebook says he will 'fight' to allow under-13s to use the social networking website - despite warnings it would put the most vulnerable children at risk. At present, those under 13 are banned from Mark Zuckerberg's site in Britain under a voluntary 'good practice' code, the Daily Mail reports.