Commodification of Water or Water Inc.
The commodification of water supplies around the world reflects a growing trend of the privatization of natural resources.
Articles by Ana Fuentes
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Ana Fuentes
Ana Fuentes
“I don´t think amnesty for Russian offshore capital will be useful”
MADRID | By Ana Fuentes and Sean Duffy | Uncertainty surrounding the future impact of sanctions both at home and abroad has seen a mass exodus of capital from Russia this year. The Government has sought to address the issue by offering an amnesty to Russians with money stashed overseas. Over $100 billion has left the country in 2014 and Alexander Pechersky, a managing partner from ALT R&C, is sceptical about the impact this latest measure will have. “I don’t really believe in the efficiency of this amnesty. I think this is a measure for the media and to gain some headlines.”
ECB: two quotes, one graph
MADRID | The Corner | Mario Draghi: “Some form of cross-country risk-sharing is essential to help reduce adjustment costs for those countries and prevent recessions from leaving deep and permanent scars.”/ Jens Weidmann: “Fiscal policy should support the central bank with solid state finances, so that monetary policy can concentrate on its actual mandate, and sustainably secure the value of money.”
Ana Botín replaces Santander’s CEO after only 2 years in the job
MADRID | The Corner | Banco Santander CEO Javier Marín will leave eurozone’s largest lender after only two years in the role. Ana Botín, in charge of the bank after her father Emilio Botín died in September, announced Marín’s replacement by Jose Antonio Álvarez, who has spent the past decade as CFO. Ana Botín also made several changes to its board of directors. Shares in Santander rose 1.8% to 7.22 euros in Madrid following the announcement.
Will bad US monetary policy get worse?
By Benjamin Cole via Historinhas | In one of the more inexplicable political dementias of our time, the modern-day Republican Party has become fixated on inflation, and peevishly infatuated with tight-money policies—when not blubbering about gold.
Luxleaks: the hunter becomes the hunted
MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | Not an easy week for Jean-Claude Juncker. As the new head of the European Commission he is in charge of fighting flaws in corporate taxation in Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. And yet, he now has to explain how 340 multinationals avoided or potentially avoided millions of euros in tax thanks to signing secret sweet deals with Luxembourg during the 18 years he was the president of this country. The Luxleaks, revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) investigation, points to outrageous tax avoidance schemes… which are completely legal.
Silent whispers: Do murmurings of disaffection within ECB point to mounting obstacles for Draghi?
MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | Was Mario Draghi reckless to announce an ECB balance sheet expansion target? According to Reuters, some of his colleagues at the central bank are particularly aggrieved about a perceived “ secretive management style and erratic communication” and they will apparently “urge him to act more collegially”. Could this leak be the beginning of a larger problem for the ECB chief? The bank was unwilling to comment on Wednesday.
Russian market: Winter is coming
MADRID | By Sean Duffy and Ana Fuentes | Growth is stagnant, sanctions are biting, and Russian investors are getting the cold-shoulder on international markets. So where does the country go from here? The Corner wanted to get a glimpse at market conditions on the ground and the overall sentiment within the country.
We spoke to Alexander Pechersky, a managing partner from ALT R&C, a firm specialising in advice to investors in the Russian market. In a frank interview, he cautions against placing too much stock in the effects on sanctions, noting that the economy was a mess to begin with.
More (yet less paid) employment in Spain
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | Last jobless data in Spain were excellent in terms of unemployment rate reduction, the government pointed out on Thursday. But are they 100% reliable? Total worked hours have fallen and they continue to fall. That is, more Spaniards are working, yet more and worse paid hours. In the graph above: total working hours per week.
ECB’s eventual purchase of corporate bonds: Inflating the bubble?
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | Even though the ECB dismissed the rumours about its intentions of buying corporate bonds, all market players are asking for stronger actions by the central bank. Such measure could become the ace up the ECB’s sleeve for its December meeting. Given the liquidity surplus in the companies’ debt market (due to the “low interest rates, not to cheap credit,” as experts at Renta4 pointed out), including this sort of assets could add to such surplus.