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In Europe 10th May 2012

European mobile roaming regulation to save users €15 billion

New price caps for mobile data roaming are expected to save families over €200 each year and business travellers over €1000, the European Commission said Thursday. From 1 July 2012, the European Union’s mobile roaming regulation will be extended to include price caps for data downloads which will mean significant savings for those using maps, email and social networks when travelling. Overall, the improved EU roaming regulation (taking into account calls,…

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In Europe 10th May 2012

This is what Germany must accept if the euro is to survive

By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | In brief, Germany would lose out in competitiveness with the rest of the world, were it to accept a monetary expansion policy. Germany is a big exports country, not just to the euro zone but to the outside, too. Check the graph as a proof. Foreign manufacturing orders from the rest of the world, in fact, are growing up quickly while demand from the…

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In Europe 7th May 2012

Comparing pension systems in Spain, Germany: getting closer

MADRID | The reform of the pension system in Spain is planned to help to improve the outlook for sustainability of the system by reducing pension expenditure as a share of GDP. It should weigh in towards reducing the public deficit, too. At BBVA, analysts have drawn some basic comparisons between the Spanish and the German pension systems. “Given uncertainties about employment, productivity and demographics, it is appropriate for the…

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In Europe 7th May 2012

The euro area will survive current austerity, NIESR forecasts

LONDON | The National Institute of Economic and Social Research in London said the European Monetary Union will take a long year and a mild recession before finding its way towards growth. The UK’s economy would evolve along the same path. In a prospect note, analysts at the NIESR indicated that their baseline forecast is for global growth of 3.7 percent in 2012. Growth will accelerate to 4 percent in 2013. “We…

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In Europe 2nd May 2012

Fitch: above-sovereign graded Spanish, Italian regions record stable performance

LONDON | Those regions in Spain and Italy awarded better risk qualifications than their countries as a whole have overcome the latest turmoil in the euro zone without difficulties. Fitch Ratings issued Wednesday a positive comment on the Italian and Spanish subnationals rated above the sovereign. The agency said that their debt and debt service coverage ratios with the operating balance have largely remained in line with those of similarly…

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In Europe 30th April 2012

Brussels rediscovers growth

MADRID | Brussels seems to start taking growth into serious consideration. Up to now it follows the line that bringing deficit under tight control would be enough to trigger recovery, austerity standing as the only recipe to cure every shortcoming. The severe downturn that currently plunges European economies into utter disarray is casting doubts on the merits of such a simplistic view. Countries having lived beyond their means face now a…

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In Europe 27th April 2012

What the euro zone needs: productivity, competitiveness …and patience

By LaCaixa Research Team, in Barcelona | In the years prior to the recession that started in the last decade, in many countries the gradually increasing debt of the private sector allowed for much more intensive economic growth than would have been seen without it. The abrupt appearance of the crisis frustrated this expansion and revealed an excessive level of debt. This debt is now a heavy burden that can counteract…

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In Europe 26th April 2012

JP Morgan blames UK’s recession on austerity, but Skandia sees cheap stocks

LONDON | J.P. Morgan asset management had some cold words on the news that the UK has entered a double dip recession. Tom Elliott, global strategist at the investment company said that  “For most people, the country has felt like it has been in recession since late 2008, so news of an official double dip will be no surprise.” In a short note released after the British office for national statistics…

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In Europe 25th April 2012

The euro claims another victim: the UK

LONDON | Already in the mood to dismiss 2012 as a lost year for the UK economy? Analysts in the City of London waived as a non-event the preliminary GDP estimate of this year’s first quarter, released Wednesday by the office of national statistics, which showed that the British economy had contracted by -0.2%. The negative figure added up to a -0.3% fall in the economy in the final three months…

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In Europe 24th April 2012

Beware France

By Jesús Sánchez-Quinones, in Madrid, for Cotizalia | Europe has for more than three years now been immersed in a profound crisis of its economy and beyond. The focus of trouble has been moving from country to country. First it was Greece, when its authorities acknowledged that they had falsified its public account figures in late 2009. After Greece, the focus shifted to Ireland when his government had to seek a bailout to…