BOSTON - TREASURY Secretary Tim Geithner announced on Wednesday that organisations working in 33 states would receive US$1.5 billion (S$2.2 billion) in business tax credits fueled with federal stimulus money and aimed at creating and saving jobs in areas hit hard by the economic downturn.

The New Markets Tax Credit program was established in 2000 and is credited with creating an estimated 210,000 construction jobs and 45,000 full-time permanent jobs.

NEW YORK - MOODY'S Investors Service affirmed its top credit rating for the United States on Wednesday, amid concerns in financial markets that a rising debt burden could threaten the creditworthiness of the world's largest economy.

But the rating agency warned if the US failed to reduce current debt levels once economic growth returns, the AAA credit grade could eventually come under pressure.

UNITED NATIONS - THE UN revised its 2009 global economic growth forecast down sharply on Wednesday, accounting for a deeper financial crisis that threatens to push unemployment past the 50 million mark.

In a mid-year update to its World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009 report issued in January, the United Nations now expects a global economic contraction of 2.6 per cent this year, compared to its prior worst case scenario of a drop of 0.5 per cent.