Teruaki Oda of the state-owned Japan Finance Corporation for Small Business says that many small firms are beginning to develop products on their own.

ECONOMIST: Small firms in Japan

Despite help with research from the state-owned bank, and finance from a state agency, low cattle prices meant that the ranchers could never raise enough capital to keep the co-operative going.

ECONOMIST: Can the rules be bent just enough to keep them alive?

Most of the money is sitting with the finance ministry and a state-owned export bank, and the money will need to be pooled to be an effective bulwark against speculators, the economist said.

WSJ: Myanmar Announces Currency Reform

The U.K. Chancellor recommended that auditors be installed into the new Nigerian Government's Central Bank, the State owned Oil Company and the Ministry of Finance - a recommendation long discussed by our Centre with President Obasanjo.

BBC: Why debt relief will not benefit poor

In Brazil, where it is often said that an activist industrial policy helps to explain why the economy has been thriving, a surging state-owned development bank, BNDES, is probably crowding out other sources of finance (see article).

ECONOMIST: The state and business

Having built up a consumer-finance business, last year it bought Meridional, a state-owned bank in southern Brazil.

ECONOMIST: Brazil��s investment banks

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that they discussed a proposal to create a state-owned energy company in Cyprus that would own natural gas fields open to Russian investors through a bond offering.

FORBES: Russian Banks Safe From Cyprus Fall Out, Official Says

The answer to that is a lot, since to finance its public-works programme the government is postponing reform of its state-owned banks and is forcing those banks to hand over a chunk of their deposits in return for government bonds.

ECONOMIST: Goodbye, Hashimoto

Anton Siluanov, Russia's finance minister, said the Cypriots were seeking to get Russian companies to invest in a state-owned firm managing revenues from the island's newfound offshore gas deposits and give Russian companies a stake in that company.

NPR: Cyprus Lawmakers Work On Economy-Saving Plan