LONDON | How much the £16.5-billion pill administered by the London 2012 Olympics will help reinvigorate the British economy is shortly to become a matter of debate. The figure came Monday under the signature of Lloyds TSB, which released a research study that forecast increasing activity until 2017 across key sectors like construction and tourism. Just weeks before the celebrations, the City seems drawn to spark the discussion. Indeed, investment…
LONDON | It is a raging war what today burns within the Madrid-Rome-Berlin triangle, and with the survival of not only the European common currency but the future of the United States of Europe at the epicentre of the negotiations. Painful obedience has evolved into a tense, dynamic partnership. The stiff stillness imposed by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the most powerful economy representative has for once been broken…
MADRID | Summits are meant to be the meeting place for those dwelling in the Olympus. Those struggling to survive on the Earth surface have more urgent concerns than discussing about the euro zone destiny, an angels'-gender dispute that fails soothing their daily toils. Spain undoubtedly ranks among the latter. It will attend today’s meeting with its mind focused on the bleak aftermath. Banking union might stand as a cornerstone…
bank loans with bad credit LONDON | Italian prime minister may have to introduce in his country the labour market reform á la Spanish he much praised not long ago. Among the statistics that are increasingly flagging a red light in the Italian economy, unemployment is gaining some attention. Although Italy’s labour market underwent substantial adjustments over the past two decades, with the 1997 Treu measures and the 2003 Biagi reform,…
MADRID | Germany will not move unless it firmly secures the fiscal compact goal. The growth strategy, the financial transactions tax and even banking union will only thrive so long discipline in public accounts is agreed. You can sulk at the stubborn obstinacy shown by Ms Merkel on this issue but trying to ignore it would not help Europe to overcome current problems. Brussels is proposing an enhanced budgetary control that…
MADRID | No one expected the Rome gathering to produce a comprehensive answer to the euro’s acute problems. Divergences still run high between Germany and France on the right approach to take. Avoiding the impression other partners might be faced with a ready cooked solution in the forthcoming Summit, also invited to adopt a self-restrained attitude. So leaders from the four leading economies in the euro area choose to come…
By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | The results of those independent audits over the Spanish banking sector have come to be summarised in one line, that banks would need up to €62 billion if the economy took a turn for the worst. Now, the published opinion in the country is terribly divided, as it was expected between the optimists and pessimists. To some extent, we cannot exactly be hopeful. There…
By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | As was expected, Italy saw a considerable drop in its GDP in the first quarter, namely 0.8%, higher than the one recorded in the last two quarters. This suggests that the recession is biting deeper and shows just how deep. The year-on-year rate of change in GDP therefore fell to -1.3%. This contraction in the level of the activity can be explained by…
MADRID | The relaxed atmosphere in a seaside resort has undoubtedly helped coming to terms with a number of common sense goals. But delivery might prove more gruelling than expected. You don’t need to cross the Atlantic and be lectured by President Obama to concede that unwinding the feedback between financial and sovereign risks stands as a key requirement. Or to accept that current Spanish and Italian risk premium should be…
LONDON | Unlike the rest of planet? London businesses are more optimistic than six months ago about the prospects for the economy and for their own companies. The CBI/KPMG London Business Survey is conducted twice a year to monitor the views of business on London as a place to do business. Encouragingly in the latest survey of 264 companies, 41% of respondents say they feel more optimistic about the economy during the…