Iris Mir | China starts a new round of economic experimentation. Shanghai is set to become the new engine of growth with a China’s first Free Trade Zone (FTZ). The goal is to attract foreign investment by testing new deregulation rules that should give foreign companies greater flexibility. But urgent reforms in other areas are a must in order to transform the rise of the income of Chinese households into real purchasing power.
Keep in mind a new concept: Lionomics. An acronym that gives name to the ambitious process of economic reform the new Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang must bring forward.
Former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton believes the response to the financial crisis has been ever more complex financial regulations. For him, that is a mistake, since they carry huge economic costs, divert talent, time and money away from productive activity and don’t make the European economy more competitive.
BEIJING | Caixin Magazine | A ripple of skepticism recently hit prices of the yellow metal, but gold remains the ultimate hedge on inflation, as former Morgan Stanley’s Chief Economist for Asia Pacific Andy Xie explains. The global economy has already entered into stagflation with a growth rate of 2 percent and inflation at 3 percent. The inflation rate is likely to rise above 4 percent in 18 months while the growth rate will remain stuck in the same range. With inflation twice as high as the growth rate, the global economy will slip deeper into stagflation.
NEW YORK | What happens when you know the path to benefits is long and uncertain, but your current expenses are growing? You might have bought stock on Facebook because of the media hype, yet now you are not sure how to monetize it. Neither do they.
BEIJING | By Wang Yuqian and Yang Lu (Caixin Magazine) | What caused the precipitous decline in the price of the precious metal? And how do analysts in China see it? Three experts come up with different explanations, from investor panic triggered by the European debt crisis to, more bizarrely, a conspiracy theory that the U.S. government orchestrated the collapse.
NEW YORK | A group of the most important Spanish companies presented their report “Spain, land of opportunities” in New York on Wednesday. The Business Council for Competitiveness (CEC), claim to represent more than 35% of Spanish GDP and 1.7 million Spanish employees. This is their side of the story. Economic propaganda, or real data that you won’t see in the FT nor the WSJ’s front page?
MADRID | By Tania Suárez | Daniel Álvarez is analyst at XTB. In a conversation with The Corner, he forecast a “positive scenario” in which “the Spanish risk premium may go even below 250 basis points before the end of the year.” Also, he claimed, “if Europe does its homework, the eurozone markets will become a very good investment opportunity.”
The European Commission accuses China of subsidising its production at home and selling at an uncompetitive low price in Europe. But these days, China is heavily investing in the Old Continent, and some euro zone governments like Germany favour a soft approach instead of fines.
Now that full rescue seems an unavoidable option, overtly accepted by Madrid, the main opposition party in Spain has found some way to deliver a scathing attack on government. For all its dismal delivery while in power, it managed to avoid such unpalatable scenario. The current cabinet, supposedly better equipped to bring Spain out of trouble, has already being forced into a €100 billion banking salvage package and now it…