Economy Economy News Finance
Eurozone Debt Levels Reach Record High - Eurostat
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- Published on Tuesday, 23 April 2013 23:02
- Written by Martin Baccardax
Eurozone government debt levels reached the highest level on record last year, the region's official statistics office said, even as austerity measures around the single currency area narrowed budget deficits levels amid a deepening recession.
Government debt as a percentage of the eurozone economy 3.3 percentage points to 90.6 percent at the end of last year, Eurostat said Monday in a statement published on its website. At the same time the collective budget deficit of the 17 countries that use the single currency fell to 3.7 percent of Eurozone GDP from 4.2 percent the previous year, Eurostat said. Around the 27-memeber European Union, which includes Great Britain, the figures fall to 85.3 percent and 4 percent respectively.
Bulgaria To Introduce Flat Tax
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- Published on Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:59
- Written by BC-Stuff
The leaders of the three governmental parties in the ruling coalition decided to cut social insurance contributions 3 per cent, up pensions by 10% from October and introduce a flat tax of 10 per cent for individual incomes as of next year. The decision paves a way for a big change in Bulgarian tax system
The meeting was held to discuss the macroeconomic framework of the 2008 budget. Participating were Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Ahmed Dogan of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha of the Simeon II National Movement, the political leaderships of the three parties and MPs.
Three new non-interest Islamic bonds on the way
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- Published on Sunday, 03 March 2013 12:44
- Written by BC-Stuff
The Turkish Capital Market Board (SPK) has prepared three new Islamic-compliant, non-interest financial instruments to supplement existing sukuks, the chairman of the board has told daily Zaman.
The board is set to adapt the necessary regulations regarding the three non-interest financial instruments that are used in international markets, Vahdettin Ertaş, the incoming chairman of the SPK, announced.
Slovenia promises to save its own banks, as doubts grow
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- Published on Monday, 15 April 2013 03:01
- Written by BC-Stuff
Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek has said the country can save its banks by itself, amid growing opinion it will need EU help.
Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday (9 April) alongside European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, she said: "Day and night, we are dealing with this problem … I'd like to assure you we will solve our problems on our own."
She rejected comparisons with Cyprus, which had to seek an EU bailout to stop its banks, worth almost eight times the island's GDP, from going bust.
The Currency War Has Reached A High Fever Pitch While The Real Economy Fades Rapidly
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- Published on Monday, 11 February 2013 21:26
- Written by BC & Agencies
JIM WILLIE: FEVER PITCHED CURRENCY WAR & US DOLLAR REJECTION IN 2013
The Competing Currency War threatens to disrupt international relations
The year 2013 will be the year when the US Dollar is isolated and set up for rejection.
Could Cyprus’s gold reserves play a part in the crisis?
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- Published on Friday, 22 March 2013 02:57
- Written by BC-Stuff
The Cyprus bailout proposal made by the Eurogroup is both economically and politically absurd. But what if the real reason behind the whole Cyprus crisis is the desire to confiscate the country's gold?
The European Union, the IMF and the ECB are pushing Cyprus into bankruptcy while risking a contagion effect that could lead to the meltdown of the eurozone. European leaders have already bailed out Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Why is the Cyprus bailout so special? Why do the European leaders prefer to push the country into bankruptcy and raid the Cypriot bank accounts instead of saving it?
Libor Lies Revealed in Rigging of $300 Trillion Benchmark
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- Published on Thursday, 31 January 2013 14:09
- Written by Liam Vaughan & Gavin Finch
Every morning, from his desk by the bathroom at the far end of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s trading floor overlooking London’s Liverpool Street station, Paul White punched a series of numbers into his computer.
White, who had joined RBS in 1984, was one of the employees responsible for the firm's submissions for the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, the global benchmark for more than $300 trillion of contracts from mortgages and student loans to interest-rate swaps. Behind him sat Neil Danziger, a derivatives trader who had worked at the bank since 2002.
Commercialbank agrees to buy 71% shareholding in Turkey’s Alternatifbank
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- Published on Tuesday, 19 March 2013 18:04
- Written by BC & Agencies
Commercialbank said it has agreed to acquire a 70.84% shareholding in Alternatifbank (ABank) from Anadolu Endustri Holding for two times the book value as of June 2013.
LEAKED: Mario Draghi And His Triumvirate Shut Up German Finance Minister To Keep Cyprus From Blowing Up The Eurozone
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- Published on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 21:05
- Written by Wolf Richter
The state-sponsored chorus about the end of the debt crisis in the Eurozone has been deafening. It even has feel-good metrics: the Euro Breakup Index for January fell to 17.2%—the percentage of investors who thought that at least one country would leave the Eurozone within twelve months. In July, it stood at 73%. For Cyprus, the fifth Eurozone country to ask for a bailout, the index fell to 7.5%. "A euro breakup is almost no issue anymore among investors," the statement said.
For Merkel Greece may still have to quit euro
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- Published on Tuesday, 12 March 2013 14:02
- Written by BC & Agencies
Greece remains the biggest risk for the euro zone despite a calming of its economic and political crisis and may still have to leave the common currency, a senior conservative ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
Alexander Dobrindt, general secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavaria-based sister party of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), has long argued that Greece would be better off outside the euro zone.
But German conservatives' criticism of Greece has eased since the conservative-led government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras accelerated harsh austerity measures demanded by Germany and the EU as part of its bailout program.
$1.3bn Spirited Out of Albania, Report Says
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- Published on Monday, 31 December 2012 13:34
- Written by BC & Agencies
The Washington-based anti-corruption advocacy group says that money equivalent to a third of Albania's annual budget flowed illicitly out of the country over five years through a combination of corruption, tax evasion, and other illegal activities.
