BEIJING | July 10, 2015 | By Alberto Lebrón | Can you imagine a country capable of losing, in just three weeks, nearly five times what Greece owes the Troika? Chinese stock markets have lost ten billion yuan. In euros, that is almost one and a half billion, more than Spain’s entire GDP.
PARIS | July 9, 2015 | By Francesco Saraceno | I have mixed feelings about the Oxi victory in Greece. The choice was between two evils: slow death by more of the same (the Troika plan), or a roller-coaster ride that has a high chance of ending catastrophically for Greece and for the EMU. I would have voted no, were I Greek, but not joyfully.
The Corner | July 9, 2015 | Updating its World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund cut its world growth forecast (3.3 %from 3.5%) in 2015, downplayed the Greek drama and said it expects Spain to grow more than the US.
The Corner | July 9, 2015 | Athens should make a formal request of a third aid programme with a detailed reforms agenda today. Some analysts say an agreement with its creditors is not out of reach but that a Grexit is unavoidable. Others believe in Mr Tsipras’ determination to fix things and stay in the club for everyone’s sake.
LONDON | July 9, 2015 | UBS | At one simplistic level the UK budget contained only ‘small’ news, with the net borrowing forecasts not changing too much. But the reality was this was a budget with a huge number of important announcements. For one, it reduced the near-term pace of fiscal consolidation. For another, it spelt out how the government intends to reduce the size of the welfare state.
BEIJING | July 8, 2015 | Caixin | The government was slow to recognize the risks that umbrella trusts created, then acted as if the Shanghai Composite Index should set policy.
LONDON | July 8, 2015 | Barclays | Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong-listed H-Share indices all fell 3-4%, although the declines likely understate the weakness in sentiment given that trading has been halted in shares comprising c.40% of market capitalisation.
ATHENS | July 6, 2015 | By Nick Malkoutzis via MacroPolis | Almost 11 years ago today, tens of thousands of Greeks poured on to the streets in harmonious celebration of the national team’s Euro 2004 victory. That was another decade, another time, another world. Today, Greeks have little to celebrate and much that divides them.
The Corner | July 6, 2015 | As the ECB decides whether to continue providing emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greece this morning, former governing council member José Manuel González-Páramo finds it hard to believe the aid will be increased. A Grexit “is unlikely to happen,” he said on Spanish radio Onda Cero.
PARIS | July 5, 2015 | By Francesco Saraceno | I have been silent on Greece, because scores of excellent economists from all sides commented at length and in real time on the developments of negotiation, and most has been said. But last week has transformed into a certainty what had been a fear since the beginning. The Troika, backed by the quasi totality of EU governments, were not interested in finding a solution which would allow Greece to recover while embarking on a fiscally sustainable path. No, they were interested in a complete and public defeat of the “radical” Greek government. a