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In Europe 19th April 2012

European Commissioner Viviane Reding: “We’ll fight for our social welfare state”

She is the most experienced member of the European Commission and it shows. In her third term at the European institution, Viviane Reding does not shy away from discussing almost any subject, not even the poor economic situation of Spain, which she addressed in detail during an exclusive interview with Cinco Días. Reding is travelling on Thursday to Madrid, to meet with several members The official thesis in Brussels finds…

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In Europe 17th April 2012

UK emerging SMEs to receive EU funds

LONDON | The UK’s Coalition government launched Tuesday a new joint enterprise capital fund that will invest at least £40 million in high-growth potential small and medium sized companies in the country. The fund is called Notion Capital and is the eleventh and largest finance support programme for SMEs in the European Union. According to the official press release, a total of £62.9m has already been committed to it from the…

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In Europe 17th April 2012

France, Spain rule the British dream property buy portfolio

LONDON | Ambitious property buyers hoping to pick up a European bargain despite economic turbulence pose a challenge to forecasts of a never-bottoming peripheral real estate market. The ongoing sovereign debt crisis is doing little to deter home buyers as Spain and France remain the firm favorites for those seeking to buy a place in the sun, currency specialists HiFX said on Tuesday. Its Property Hotspots Report crowned France and Spain as the top…

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In Europe 16th April 2012

Euro area external trade records a €2.8 billion surplus in February

The first estimate for the euro zone trade in goods balance with the rest of the world in February 2012 gave a €2.8 billion surplus, compared with a deficit of -€2.8 billion in February 2011, the statistical office Eurostat said on Monday. The January 2012 balance was -€7.9 billion, compared with -€16.1 billion in January 2011. In February 2012 compared with January 2012, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 2.4% and imports by…

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In Europe 12th April 2012

Euro area’s green shoot: industrial production up by 0.5%

In February 2012 compared with January 2012, seasonally adjusted industrial production grew by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.2% in the European Union. In January production remained stable in both zones, said Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Year on year, though, industrial production dropped by 1.8% in both the euro area and the EU27. In February 2012 compared with January 2012, production of energy grew by 7.7% in the…

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In Europe 11th April 2012

One in ten UK business opts for remortgage instead of layoffs

LONDON | The cost of too many layoffs made during a steep crisis could leave a wide range of businesses unable to board the pick up economic train. So either it is optimism in the medium term or an honest belief in the coalition government’s mantra ‘we are all in this‘, but research from insurance firm More Than revealed Wednesday how small business owners are going to extraordinary lengths to…

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In Europe 10th April 2012

The European Central Bank is dead

By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | The ECB has lost all his monetary gunpowder, as this has become fragmented. In this graph I saw recently on the Greek money supply, monetary aggregates M1 M2 and M3 have collapsed. Deposits are falling, like savings accounts and time deposits. However, the monetary base or the money issued by the ECB is the same for everyone. What happens is that in normal countries the banking sector does not experience problems to expand its assets (loans), what results in an increase in deposits. The multiplier effect works. But what happens…

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In Europe 9th April 2012

Germany is the problem

By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | John Authers, in Trends That Don’t Seem to Make Sense, have some pertinent questions to share. The one that has attracted my attention is: Why is the euro still so strong when at all other times a currency with so many risks would be certain to weaken? Resilience of the euro is startling and damaging. The eurozone’s crisis has been driven by balance of payments problems…

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In Europe 9th April 2012

Is Spain heading for full intervention?

MADRID | Spain seems crippled by mounting economic woes. It faces a steep rise in risk premium fuelled by plunging confidence on its ability to reverse the bleak outlook ahead. Recession takes its toll in terms of higher unemployment, budgetary deviations and extensive deterioration in the banking sector. Reforms undertaken so far have failed to deliver any tangible benefit. Labour market overhaul has only helped to accelerate lay-offs, with no impact…