Tuesday newspaper round-up: IMF, BP, Rolls-Royce...

The International Monetary Fund backed the British Government's austerity plans yesterday and declared the economy to be "on the mend". In its first official verdict on the coalition's policies, the Washington-based IMF praised George Osborne's debt-cutting programme as "strong and credible" and said that it did not expect it to derail the UK's recovery, reports the Times.Savers should stop complaining about poor returns and start spending to help the economy, a senior Bank of England official warned today. Older households could afford to suffer because they had benefited from previous property price rises, Charles Bean, the deputy governor, suggested. They should "not expect" to live off interest, he added, admitting that low returns were part of a strategy. His remarks are likely to infuriate savers, who are among the biggest victims of the recession, the Telegraph reports.An "international currency war" has broken out, according to Guido Mantega, Brazil's finance minister, as governments around the globe compete to lower their exchange rates to boost competitiveness. Mr Mantega's comments in São Paulo on Monday follow a series of recent interventions by central banks, in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan in an effort to make their currencies cheaper. China, an export powerhouse, has continued to suppress the value of the renminbi, in spite of pressure from the US to allow it to rise, while officials from countries ranging from Singapore to Colombia have issued warnings over the strength of their currencies, the FT reports.BP has admitted that a resumption of deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is likely to be slow, delivering a blow to the thousands in the region whose livelihoods depend on it. he US Interior Department is set to outline later this week temporary regulations for deepwater drilling, which was suspended for six months in early June as oil gushed from the Macondo well. It's likely to be "a phased restart," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer for exploration and production," told the Presidential commission investigating the spill, the Telegraph reports.Research in Motion, the company behind the BlackBerry smartphone, has launched its rival to the iPad ? the BlackBerry PlayBook. The 7-inch display touchscreen device ? smaller than the iPad ? is aimed at business and corporate users, RIM's core customers for its e-mail and messaging phones, the Times reports.Rolls-Royce has been accused of misleading the United States Government in its application to patent a new engine design. Pratt & Whitney filed a lawsuit yesterday claiming that its rival had engaged in "unfair behaviour" and had sought to mislead the US Patent and Trademark Office in its attempt to control new technologies. The action is a counter-suit to one filed by Rolls two months ago alleging that Pratt had infringed the British company's patents, the Times reports.Royal Bank of Scotland has begun the process of shedding a further 500 back-office staff in its investment banking unit, as the group continues to cut costs. Four weeks ago, RBS unveiled a plan to cut 3,500 back-office jobs supporting its high-street operations. Together the cuts take to more than 27,000 the number of staff cut since Stephen Hester took over as chief executive of the troubled UK bank close to two years ago, the FT reports.Pension funds responsible for the retirements of hundreds of thousands of people have backed a plan calling on fund managers to engage better with listed company boards and hold them to account. The railway workers' pension fund RailPen, the academics' Universities Superannuation Scheme and pension funds for BT and the BBC have backed the new Stewardship Code. With pension funds of council workers from Strathclyde, the West Midlands and Merseyside also joining, funds with more than £180 billion of assets have pledged to their support. Investors are being encouraged to publish statements by a deadline of this Thursday explaining whether they comply with the new code, and if not, why not, the Times reports.Topshop, the fashion retailer owned by Sir Philip Green, has signed a lease on its second US shop, in Chicago. The 35,000 sq ft store on the city's North Michigan Avenue will open in autumn 2011. It is currently a branch of bookshop Borders, the Telegraph reports.More than 100 debt management firms face being forced out of the business as part of crackdown on the controversial sector, the Office of Fair Trading will reveal today. The watchdog has identified a string of failings by companies in the debt management business - which is expected to generate fee income of £250m by the end of the year, the Independent reports.Citigroup's new investment banking deal maker in the energy sector will be paid around $30m over the next three years, signalling that elite bankers are once again able to make big-money pay demands, even at companies which have not paid back US taxpayer bailout funds. Stephen Trauber, one of the most powerful bankers in the energy sector in Houston, home of the US oil and gas industry, was poached by Citigroup after his previous employer, UBS, baulked at a string of financial demands, the Independent reports.