“His leadership of the world economy in the turbulent years of the late 1980s, the 1990s and the early years of this century is something not just the American people but the people of the whole world are very grateful for and would like to express their gratitude,” he said.Mr Greenspan was awarded the freedom of the City of London. Towards the end of the 1990s, he was criticised for not hiking rates more sharply to curb the speculative “dot ” boom. After the boom turned to bust and the US slipped into recession, he cut interest rates several times from 6.5 per cent to as low as 1 per cent. He will be succeeded by Ben Bernanke, a former Fed member and chairman of the Council of Economics Advisers at the White House.In the early part of his career, he continued the fight launched against inflation by his predecessor, Paul Volker. But John Snow, the US Treasury Secretary, would not comment on a report that China would revalue by 7.2 per cent in the New Year.

Beijing this year ended its decade-old rigid currency peg to the dollar.On exchange rates generally, the G7 is unlikely to make any significant change to its traditional statement. Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, indicated he would continue to push for greater transparency in oil markets to limit speculative surges in prices.Mr Greenspan, who was appointed as head of the Fed just weeks before the Black Monday stock market crash in October 1997, will step down on 31 January 2006. The meeting will focus on imbalances such as excess liquidity in global markets, record trade and current account deficits in the US, the moribund state of the European economy, and China’s artificially low exchange rate with the dollar.The US looks sure to keep up pressure on Beijing to let the yuan rise against the dollar to ease pressure on American exporters. At a meeting of finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations, which was called specifically to celebrate Mr Greenspan’s achievements, the 79-year-old said trade and budget deficits posed the greatest threat to the world economy.
He said: “If the pernicious drift toward fiscal instability in the United States and elsewhere is not arrested and is compounded by a protectionist reversal of globalisation, the adjustment process could be quite painful for the world economy.”Concerns over global imbalances and the need for a fresh deal on world trade will be top of the agenda for the meeting of the G7 in London that starts today. Alan Greenspan, the outgoing chairman of the US Federal Reserve, issued a strong warning about the danger from global economic imbalances in a speech yesterday that effectively marked his departure from the international arena after almost two decades as the world’s most important central banker.

W&D has been highly acquisitive, and said yesterday that Burtonwood, Jennings and English Country Inns had been successfully integrated and would bring higher-than-expected cost savings of £8.6m.W&D reported a 16 per cent increase in annual pretax profits to £90m, with like-for-like sales up 2.8 per cent at both its managed Pathfinder Pubs and its tenanted Union Pub Company. He also estimated that the new 24-hour drinking laws would boost sales by 1 to 2 per cent, as most of its pubs will stay open an extra seven hours a week.. Sales growth has slowed since the financial year ended on 1 October, and Mr Findlay warned the market would “stay tough for the foreseeable future”, with few signs of an upturn in consumer confidence. On Wednesday, M&B said it would stop selling food in about 400 pubs.

Both companies said they preferred a full smoking ban.
Ralph Findlay, the chief executive of W&D, whose pubs include the Pitcher & Piano range, said yesterday: “I would prefer it if all pubs were on a level playing field.” He said some of the group’s smaller pubs might have to stop selling food to remain viable businesses. He estimated that 10 to 20 per cent, or between 230 and 460 pubs, could go that way.Mr Findlay also signalled an interest in parts of the Spirit Group estate, which may be broken up after being acquired by Punch Taverns this week. The pubs group Wolverhampton & Dudley has said it could follow its rival Mitchells & Butlers and take food out of up to 20 per cent of its 2,290 pubs if government plans for a partial smoking ban go ahead. The government plans to ban smoking in all public places from 2007, with an exemption for pubs that do not serve food.