ATHENS | By Ilias Makris via Preseurop | “Help!” Arriving in Athens on November 5, representatives of the EU-ECB-IMF troika met with the Greek Minister of Finance, Yannis Stournaras. Their meeting focused on the the question of the country’s budget deficit in 2014 along with measures to ensure its compliance.
ATHENS | By Jens Bastian via The Agora | Despite the successful recapitalisation process and continued restructuring of the Greek banking sector, the credit transmission mechanism towards the real economy remains severely impaired. [Above graph sources: The Agora and Bank of Greece yearly data.]
MADRID | By Francisco López | The market has changed their perception about the ECB’s monetary policy and it’s now anticipating a possible reduction of interest rates in the eurozone before end of the year or early 2014. The first consequence has been the depreciation of the euro, which has gone from 1.38 dollars, a two-year-maximum, to 1.35. The European currency suddenly depreciated, yet it still overvalued against the dollar.
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | Yanis Varoufakis is the most critical economist regarding the institutional failures of the monetary union. He considers that the European Banking Union will only benefit EU Northern countries, and adds that the basic principles of the euro zone have not been entirely followed.
LONDON | By Barclays analysts | Several data releases over the past few days confirm that the Spanish economy has left behind a very long recession. The data confirm our view of a very gradual recovery in economic activity starting in Q3 2013 (seeEuropean Economics Quarterly, October 2013, for details). The economy grew at +0.1% q/q in Q3 13 after nine consecutive quarters of negative prints.
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes | A depressing quote: “A deeper, more worrying explanation is that Europe does not have a strong desire for growth. In fact, some have become convinced that, given the environmental consequences, economic growth does more harm than good and that the crisis should be regarded as an opportunity to shift to a more frugal economy.The growth agenda, according to this view, is a Trojan horse for ecological neglect – for example, through more business-friendly environmental regulation or shale-gas exploration.” (By French government’s Commissioner General for Policy Planning Jean Pisani-Ferry).
FRANKFORT | Der Standard via Presseurop | Major European banks are paying dearly for their alleged participation in the manipulation of interest and exchange rates.
MADRID | By Fernando G Urbaneja | Jeroen Dijsselbloem is happy because Spain is doing its homework, but he warns that there is still a lot to do. “Working harder and longer” is his motto, although he doesn’t seem to know how eager the Spanish unemployed are to find a job. And extending the age of retirement doesn’t look like the best option.
BRUSSELS | By Suzanne Lynch at The Irish Times via Presseurop | Ireland may choose to exit its bailout programme without the support of a precautionary credit line, the Minister for Finance said yesterday following a meeting with the International Monetary Fund in Washington.