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austerity

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Interviews 2nd March 2012

“Austerity can ruin the euro zone,” says Unipapel’s Millán Álvarez-Miranda

By Fernando Barciela, in Madrid | Unipapel’s managing director Millán Álvarez-Miranda warns the European economy is deteriorating as a whole, from Dublin to Paris and Athens, not just in the periphery of the euro area. Are you concerned about the markets? Of course. You don’t want your company to be undervalued on the markets. In our case, we must also bear in mind that half of the shareholders are present at the council. The fact that the stock price…

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World economy 2nd March 2012

Schroders: Japan’s rebound due to energy savings and public spending

LONDON | After the earthquake hit, the longer-term worry for both the equity market and the economy was that earnings power of Japanese companies had been severely damaged. But Investment house Schroders released Friday a note saying the worse scenario has been averted. Shogo Maeda, Head of Japanese Equities, confirmed that “corporate earnings have shown, and are further expected to show, a significant comeback during 2011. Corporate Japan continues to advance as historically high levels…

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Spanish economy 28th February 2012

Spain records a staggering deficit

By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | The new elected Cabinet warned in mid-December about a substantial deviation from the planned deficit in last year. Its early forecast pointed to a revised figure of around 8% in terms of GDP, in stark contrast with the 6% target, claimed by the out coming government to have roughly held on line. Final deficit, announced on Monday by the Finance minister, has climbed to…

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In Europe 15th February 2012

Germany and the fear crisis

By Lidia Conde, in Frankfort | ‘Is the world coming to an end?‘ That was the headline of a feature on the financial crisis published by the Hamburg intellectual weekly Die Zeit. The answer of the many experts and professionals consulted was: yes. Die Zeit quoted Karlheinz Kögel, an entrepreneur from Tyrol specialized in the sale of survival ration packages: powdered milk, cereal bars and tins of meat and chili with an expiry…

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Spanish economy 4th February 2012

Are caps on pay for rescued banks in Spain fair enough?

By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | It is only fair that banks being nationalised to save them from sheer collapse should follow a much restrictive pay policy on top executives and members of the board. After all, a huge amount of taxpayer money has been spent to fill the gaps derived from irresponsible management. The odd thing is that most culprits have already left the entities with their pockets…

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World economy 25th January 2012

That Lagarde’s speech [video]

Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, was talking on Tuesday in Berlin about the obvious economic challenges in 2012, and a possible policy path for global cooperation to restore confidence and growth. Readers from around the peripheral European Monetary Union zone have convinced The Corner that Ms Lagarde’s words have achieved quite an echo among member states currently undergoing net austerity pressures. These are some of the most celebrated…

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Spanish economy 12th January 2012

Spain starts the year by placing €10bn: twice the expected, at lower rates

MADRID | Europa Press | The Spanish Treasury managed to successfully close the first auction of the year by placing almost €10bn in bonds, twice the expected amount and at lower than expected rates, thus continuing the good streak of the previous issuances. The agency’s expectations were far exceeded by the result as in the last auction. It had only expected to obtain between €4bn and €5bn. The demand was again…

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In Europe 2nd January 2012

Britons embrace austerity

LONDON | More than one in two adults (56%) said they planned to cut back on their spending. Women were more prone to this than men (59% to 50%). More than one in three people (37%) wanted to try to save more money each month whilst 36% said a key resolution was to cut down their debts. The research showed an attitude-divide between the young and old with the under 35s top financial resolution focusing…

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Markets 23rd December 2011

Portugal sells EDP’s stake to China to reduce debt

The government of Portugal has sold to the Chinese company Three Gorges Corporation a package of shares representing 21.35% of the social capital that the state held in the Portuguese electrical company Energias de Portugal (EDP), in exchange of a payment of €2.693 billion, according to information provided by the government investment company Parpública to the Portuguese market supervisor, CMVM. The Portuguese executive explains that its choice was based of…