Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has defended his move to put on hold a historic deal with the EU, amid continuing mass protest rallies.  He said he was forced by economic necessity and the desire to protect those "most vulnerable".  The EU has accused Russia of exerting heavy economic pressure on Ukraine. Clashes between protesters and police continued on Monday. Meanwhile, jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko announced an indefinite hunger strike.  'No alternative'  Mr Yanukovych was speaking publicly for the first time since the announcement on Thursday that his government was halting preparations to sign the association and free trade agreements with the EU.  More confrontations between protesters and police early Monday morning in front of Ukraine's government building indicate that the situation remains very volatile.  In an echo of the Orange Revolution nine years ago, protesters set up a tent camp in front of the main demonstration's stage.  Ukrainian opposition leaders say political actions will continue through the week until the Vilnius summit, where Ukrainian officials were supposed to sign the free trade agreement with the EU. Many demonstrators say that they believe President Yanukovych will succumb to the pressure of the rallies and complete another about-turn - and sign the agreement.   This of course depends on whether the protesters can maintain their own momentum over the coming days.  The decision triggered mass protests in Kiev and a number of other cities across Ukraine.  "I want peace and calm in our big Ukrainian family," Mr Yanukovych said in a video statement, describing himself as a "father".  He stressed that his government had not given up attempts to bring closer ties between Ukraine and the EU.  "I would like to underline this: there is no alternative to the creation of a society of European standards in Ukraine and my policies on this path always have been, and will continue to be, consistent.  "But I would be dishonest and unfair if I had not taken care of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable, who may carry the brunt during a transitional period."  Mr Yanukovych's government last week said it was halting preparations for signing the treaties, amid concern for possible mass job losses in the short-run.  Opponents are accusing the president of keeping talks with the EU alive while never intending to sign the deal at an EU summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 28-29 November. They also say he has bowed to growing pressure from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wants Kiev to join the Moscow-led Customs Union. The grouping also includes Belarus and Kazakhstan.  Mr Putin denies the claims, instead accusing the EU of trying to force Kiev into singing the agreements. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday the door was still open for Ukraine to sign the agreements at the summit in Vilnius.

Hopefully, in their blind obedience to Merkel and co, the amazingly stupid and corrupt EU Commission will have gone yet another step too far. IF You are Italian or Spanish and you read the headline in your local paper that the EU wants to make you poorer and take more power to themselves from your Government...I think ropes and lamposts are in order for the EU Commissioners if they go much further.

Germany's status as Europe’s industrial powerhouse could be damaging the single-currency bloc, the European Commission has said, as it launched a probe into whether the country’s large trade surplus was hindering Europe’s recovery.  Europe’s biggest economy was one of three countries singled out for an “in-depth review” by the EC’s Alert Mechanism Report on Wednesday.  The Commission said Germany’s large current account surplus, which accounts for most of the eurozone’s positive balance, “may put pressure on the euro to appreciate vis-à-vis other currencies.  “In case such pressures materialise, this would make it more difficult for the peripheral countries to recover competitiveness through internal depreciation,” it said. However, Brussels insisted it was not criticising Germany’s economic success. “The issue is whether Germany ... could do more to help rebalance the European economy,” said Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the EC. Olli Rehn, commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, added: “Let’s be clear, we are not criticising Germany’s external economic competitiveness or its success in global markets, in fact that is what we want from all EU member states,” However, Mr Rehn said Germany’s “persistent high surplus also means that Germans are persistently investing a large part of their savings abroad. The question is whether this is efficient, even from the German perspective.” The EC also fired a warning shot at Britain, and said rising house prices would restrain households’ ability to cut debt. The Commission highlighted Britain’s unbalanced recovery. According to Eurostat, Britain’s share of world exports declined by 19pc between 2007 and 2012. The EC said levels of Government debt in UK remained a concern, while the “ongoing balance sheet repair of the financial sector and the persistent scarcity of credit for smaller firms may continue to hold back economic growth.” EC data last week predicted Britain’s commercial deficit will be the highest in a quarter century next year, at 4.4pc of GDP. Meanwhile, low-tax, banking-rich Luxembourg, and Croatia, which accepted a bailout this year, were also added to the EC’s watch list.

About deceit, lies and bribes received by the Romanian Governments and Authorities !!!

In functional terms, a food blogger who writes about the opening of a new restaurant is a journalist because he or she is communicating information of interest to the section of the public that likes to eat out. Whether the blogger is formally paid by an accredited "news" organization or does it for love, the communication process is identical. All this talk of accreditation or seeking particular qualifications for the status of journalist is a way for commercial organizations to protect their market or other interested parties to seek control over the news dissemination process..."shield law" that will give reporters some protection when government and its agencies seek to bug, arrest or demand to know sources. Its embryo bill says that a journalist is someone "who has a primary interest to investigate events and procure material", informing the public through interviews and observation. He or she sets out to report the news; he or she must intend to publish that news.   But, asks one senator, is that protection for WikiLeakers? Surely we only want to help "real reporters", who draw salaries for their work, says another. The congressional equivalent of our own dear Westminster lobby system insists that the correspondents it grants passes to are full-time on some corporate payroll.  Best of luck with that, and enjoy it while it lasts....The term citizen journalism has been in the news recently because of a recent ruling against Apple Computer by an appeals court in the USA. Apple tried to get bloggers who had revealed trade secrets to hand over their sources, but the court said that bloggers were covered by the same shield law as journalists and by the First Amendment protections of the press. “We can think of no workable test or principle that would distinguish ‘legitimate’ from ‘illegitimate’ news,” the opinion said.

Who gives these people the right to change the rules that many signed up for years ago? Nothing is sacred anymore and no one can be sure that their investment in making provision for retirement and their families is safe. Unelected mad men hell bent on creating more and more regulation and more and more control of the individuals rights to care for themselves. This one might have been stopped or delayed but you just know they are working on other ways to screw the little man.  I am in the US but more than half of my retirement funds are in UK investments that I toiled for, for years and its already been f####d over by the Brown government. Worse that it's my money but I can't take it out of the UK because of punitive rules it is still vulnerable to these  idiots in Brussels. Where did the people give the right to have this controlled outside of British sovereignty? The rules, known as "Solvency II", would have required schemes to hold more much money in reserve. Experts say that their introduction would have caused every remaining pension scheme in the private sector to close.  The European Commission announced today that it would not include solvency rules in a new pensions directive, effectively kicking Solvency II into the long grass.  It said: "Commissioner Barnier has indicated his intention to come forward with a proposal for a directive to improve the governance and transparency of occupational pension funds in the autumn of 2013.  "At this stage, and as long as more comprehensive data is needed and Solvency II is not in force, the proposal for a directive will not cover the issue of the solvency of pension funds. In light of the differing situations in member states regarding retirement products and pension funds, it is necessary to continue technical work on the issue of solvency."  The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said this meant the Solvency rules had been postponed indefinitely and would become a task for the next commissioner, who will take office in November 2014.

BRAVO Italy and Italians ... down with the fourth Reich

The leader of Italy's centre-left, Pier Luigi Bersani, set out to lure Beppe Grillo and his Five Star Movement (M5S) into a coalition government after their spectacular breakthrough in the general election.  At a press conference in Rome, a weary-looking Bersani said it was time for the upstart movement to do something more than just demand the removal of Italy's mainstream politicians. "Up to now, they have been saying: 'All go home.' But now they're here, too. So either they go home as well, or they say what they want to do for their country and their children."

Grillo had earlier said his followers in parliament would not join a coalition, but would consider proposals "law by law, reform by reform".  Bersani said that since his centre-left, four-party alliance had won an outright majority in the lower house of the Italian parliament, and more seats than any other grouping in the senate, it had a responsibility to suggest ways in which Italy could be governed, despite the deadlock in the upper house caused by the M5S's stunning gains.  Pouring cold water on the idea floated by Silvio Berlusconi of a grand coalition with the right, he proposed a government committed to a radical overhaul of Italy's politics and institutions, outlining a five-point plan for sweeping reform.

In a clear attempt to lure M5S into the mainstream, he hinted that Grillo's movement, as the party with most votes, should get the speakership of the lower house.

Talking to reporters outside his home in Genoa, Grillo, who has always denied being the leader of the M5S, announced he would be representing his movement in the negotiations with President Giorgio Napolitano aimed at forming a new government. But he made clear that the movement he co-founded just over three years ago remained as anti-establishment as ever.

WELL....recovery from what? How the goalposts have been shifted!

“The financial markets are calmer this morning. But there's plenty of chatter about how the eurozone crisis is back -- if indeed it ever went away...”

Or indeed, if there ever really was one!

The analysis in this blog is utterly misleading rubbish, cleaving the British public from any genuine appreciation of what’s going on in the rest of Europe. And it started out so promisingly too. A pity it has descended into some sort of parrochial branch of an Ambrose Evans-Pritchard-style ‘euro-hate’/ Ukip fundamentalist party rag.  Last week, the financial press was full of ‘scratch my head’ stories, trying to explain why the stock markets had climbed to such dizzying heights, against all the struggling fundamentals. Could it be all the fake electronic money sloshing around and having an effect? Could it have anything to do with bonus season?  The quiet but dramatic drop in Sterling since Christmas was clearly a bit of sly competitive devaluation – market traders can’t drive it down that far that fast without some seriously organized large trades.

Yesterday, this blog told us with front page, headline confidence that ‘the eurozone crisis was back’ – that political instability over Berlusconi and Rajoy had shaken the markets and caused both the FTSE and the Euro to fall.

 But today, the markets are not just ‘calm’, both the FTSE and Euro are UP again. So what’s happened now? Have the traders simply forgotten yesterday’s news? Has the “eurozone crisis” gone away again? Have the “worries” slipped from their gnat-brained memories? Or were they just taking big fat profits from recent gains and using “Eurozone worries” as an excuse? (There were plenty of negative Eurozone stories last week, which had absolutely no effect whatsoever on the rising market.)

 Could anyone please remind me again, what exactly the “Eurozone Crisis” actually is these days? I mean, what exactly is it that we are supposed to fear? I thought it was originally a fear about Greece or Portugal or Ireland not being able to service their debt and defaulting, thus toppling banks and the financial system like a series of dominos, but since everybody now has a means of printing unlimited new money, that no longer looks likely to happen. So what unspecified event is it exactly that we now have to fear that justifies the claim “the eurozone crisis is back”?

 Are France and Spain going to be swallowed by sink-holes? Are the heads of European governments going to turn into Triffids and eat their own electorate? Really, I mean what precisely is the specific nature of “the Eurozone crisis” now?

 It seems to me, that the only real threat now, is of compliant junk reporting driving up bond yields to a point at which bond buyers rub their hands with glee.

 This is a crisis of Landfill Consumerism, and we’re ALL implicated up to our necks - it's not just a localised problem for the eurozone.

Call a halt to this pro-market, pro-Tory partisan rubbish blog and open up a rolling blog on the WORLD crisis. It might actually prove to be a better way of documenting, blow-by-blow, the changes the world is currently going through. Investigate all aspects…what do the stocks of resources look like? Raw materials, energy, water, etc? Who’s lying to whom and why? How can the environment possibly cope with a ‘return to growth’, given what we now know about the destructive force of our current business models? You know… some independent analysis, which doesn't merely reflect the stories that the financial markets want to tell.

MADRID—Spain's central bank said a recession in the euro zone's fourth-largest economy deepened slightly in the final quarter of last year, but it said austerity cuts are bringing the country's runaway budget deficit under control. In the first estimate of fourth-quarter economic performance, the Bank of Spain said the economy contracted 1.7% compared with the same period a year earlier and likely contracted 0.6% from the previous quarter. In the third quarter, the economy had shrunk 0.3% from the previous quarter, and 1.6% on an annual basis. The Bank of Spain said gross domestic product fell just 1.3% in the whole of 2012, which was less than the 1.5% contraction anticipated by the government and a sign that strict budget cuts across the board are having a less detrimental effect than some feared. It cautioned that continuing cuts could still weigh on an economy already hurt by efforts to trim debt. "This budget consolidation effort has had a net contracting effect on activity throughout the year, especially in the last few months," the central bank said. This year, meeting even stricter austerity targets "will require an additional, very ambitious fiscal effort by the central and regional governments." Those comments are in line with heightened concerns by local and foreign observers that accelerated austerity measures promoted by the European Union are self-defeating, as a collapse in economic activity makes it harder to boost tax revenue, putting pressure on budget deficits. Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund said it revising its metrics for how quickly governments should cut their budgets and the IMF's top economist Olivier Blanchard made the case that Europe's fiscal tightening has been too severe. "We do need to reduce the deficit, but the EU should be more flexible about the deadlines," said Josep Comajuncosa, an economics professor at Spain's ESADE business school. "Requiring a fast and drastic reduction of the public deficit could backfire. The deficit target should be pushed back one or two years." The central bank said tax revenue increases in recent months will make it easier for the government to get closer to its target of lowering the 2012 budget deficit to 6.3% of GDP from 9% in 2011. The target for this year is 4.5% of GDP. The latest data available, the central bank said, indicates tax revenue picked up in recent months due to higher value-added and corporate tax receipts, while expenses fell after the government suspended an extra monthly payment for civil servants and decided not to adjust pensions for inflation—two measures which eroded popular support for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Spain's statistics institute is due to release an official preliminary estimate of fourth-quarter GDP Jan. 30. Full data on Spain's 2012 budget deficit, including for regional governments, will likely be released late February.(sursa : WSJ)

This EU budget stuff can come across as pretty dull and confusing. To lighten things up a bit, we will turn to the universal language of football. So meet the EU budget 'Veto Team' - the eleven EU leaders that so far have threatened to veto the EU budget unless they get a better deal. Needless to say, given that this is its first outing, the eleven-man team is far from a cohesive unit - with lots of big egos and players who play for themselves.

·       David Cameron leads the line, ready to strike and seen as the most likely to pull the trigger on any veto.

·       Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at right winger hugging the line (sticking to his guns), happy to put in a shift for the team and more likely to offer an assist/support for Cameron than to deliver the final blow himself.

·       French President François Hollande is the mercurial trickster playing between the lines but not quite sure of his role or his aims. Ultimately a selfish player (as are many of the others) but who’s own personal gain could ultimately be detrimental to the rest of the team.

·       Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is playing the stoic holding role, refusing to budge and occasionally gesticulating wildly at the referee, although never actually getting into the danger zone at the forefront of the action. More likely to break up play and provide a stumbling block than deliver a knockout blow to the opposition. Unlike the rest of the team, not here on merit (elected) but parachuted in by the powers above.

·       Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho takes on the Cristiano Ronaldo role as a marauding left winger and not just because of the nationality. His red line that Herman Van Rompuy's proposal is unacceptable makes him more of a threat than many expected. Under pressure to perform from his home fans (electorate) he needs to put in a big showing – the question remains though whether he will rise to the challenge or crumble under the pressure.

·       Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is playing the 'box-to-box midfielder' role, akin to the days of Johan Cruyff's 'total football'. Usually more inclined to side with Germany (the opposition), Rutte finds himself dragged end-to-end with action not quite sure where he should be or where he is best suited. One things for sure, his hometown team (the VVD party) would love to see him score.

·       Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, naturally inclined to the left, find himself at left back. His demands are relatively minor and he’s not a regular in this team (usually part of the core EU group who’s views align closely). He’ll put up a fight for a bit but he’s not a star player in this game.

·       The towering centre-back, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt provides a solid spine to the team. Not one of the more flashy players but they know their job and what they want out of it (a clean sheet). Unlikely to score (pull the veto) but will definitely provide a blocker against any increases in the budget.

·       Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann is another unfamiliar member of the team. Stuck in at centre back because of its experience in the eurozone crisis and playing a key blocking role in minimising the liabilities. Unfortunately, its aims are different in this game and as with Hollande its may end up scoring an own goal (getting more spending in the budget).

·       Romanian President Traian Basescu, at right back, is there as a late replacement and now a token entry. The previous incumbent (Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta) looked set for an interesting game, but after the substitution this role is unlikely to provide much action.

·       Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis is in goal because, well, the smallest kid always gets stuck with the worst job.

Staple foods became 20 to 40% more expensive between July 2010 and February 2011, shows the Z.F. index calculated based on prices in Bucharest hypermarkets. ZF selected 15 products whose price it has been following since 2008, once every six months, at the same Bucharest hypermarkets, Carrefour Orhideea and Real Afi Cotroceni. These products were chosen because they are most often to be found in Romanians' purchase basket. (Z.F.)

In the calculation of this index, ZF chose one brand from each category of products, a brand that is well positioned in terms of market share, produced by one of the top-five players in the category. Therefore, one kilo of Băneasa flour costs 2.8 lei in February, 41.4% more than in July 2010. 1 Kilo of Lemarco sugar now costs 4.295 lei, compared with 3.28 lei, an increase of 30.9%. Similarly, the price of Floriol vegetable oil (1 litre) rose over 35%, from 5.11 lei to 6.91 lei. Data from the National Statistics Institute (INS) point to a 10.2% price increase for flour in the July 2010 - January 2011 period. Similarly, the increase amounted to 8.1% for sugar. The only products whose prices fell, of those analysed by ZF, were beer, mineral water, apples, with the decline amounting to 6.1%, 0.1% and 12.4% respectively.

The sheer frequency of legislative modifications in Romania, which exasperates both citizens and the business world, does not only stem from the need to change legislation after the revolution of 1989, but also from the ease with which the governments that succeeded each other during the last 20 years adopted emergency ordinances. The champion of emergency ordinances is the Cabinet of former prime minister Mugur Isărescu, who, in a single year (2000) issued 297 emergency ordinances, while in the same year Parliament adopted 683 laws, which means a total of 980 pieces of legislation. The database of the Legislative Council offers a complete picture of what happened in the legislative field over twenty years. In Romania, there are currently a huge number of pieces of legislation in force, individual and international, 95,618 on January 28, 2011, of which only 1,958 were issued before 1989. Each law needs to be abided by because one cannot cite ignorance of the existence of that piece of legislation as an excuse. The rate of legislative modifications explains the bewilderment of common people, as well as of companies and accountants, when such legislative modifications occur, and explains why lawyers and legal consultants are so successful. (Autor: Iulian Anghel Z.F.)

Romanian tax authority ANAF will refund in January value added tax to companies worth 1.36 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.2621), the highest sum returned so far in a single month, the authority said Wednesday.

Romania To Pay VAT Refunds Worth RON1.36B In January

Of the total refunds, ANAF has already paid Monday RON557 million, and will pay the rest of the sum by the end of the month. Some RON1.21 billion of the total refunds represents compensations.

Real estate developers scheduled for delivery in 2011 at least eight retail projects in Romania totaling a surface of over 230,000 square meters, 17% more than the total area of projects completed in 2009, according to property analysts.

In 2009, developers completed retail projects totaling 195,000 sqm, according to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) data.

Oradea Shopping City, Uvertura City Mall Botosani, Vitan Outlet Bucharest, Policolor Shopping Center Bucharest and Electroputere Shopping City Craiova are other projects scheduled for completion in 2011. Read more on http://www.mediafax.biz/. (Z.F.)euro, criza datoriilor de stat, euroscepticismul, monede nationale, renuntarea la euro, salvare euro, zona euro

Austria's Erste Bank has sold financial gold

BCR, the biggest domestic bank in terms of assets, is gearing up to enter the niche of gold sales to individuals, where only Greece's Piraeus is operating for the time being. Gold has this year brought a return of around 40% to investors, thus being one of the most profitable investments, just like in 2009, when it had climbed by 32%. Over the past two years, BCR, controlled by Austria's Erste Bank, has sold financial gold only to private banking clients, who have a greater financial power and are seeking ways to diversify their investments. Usually, the minimum quantity that had to be purchased stood at 5 kilos per deal, but smaller deliveries were also negotiated. As part of its new retail strategy, BCR is getting ready to sell gold bullion and coins issued by the Austrian Mint, starting from very small sizes, of just two grams, to one kilo. BCR will sell gold through certain selected branches, but Răzvan Furtună, head of the sales department of BCR Treasury, has not provided any further details for the time being.(Z.F.)euro, criza datoriilor de stat, euroscepticismul, monede nationale, renuntarea la euro, salvare euro, zona euro

Germany sees no alternative to the Euro

(Reuters) - Germany sees no alternative to the euro and Angela Merkel's government believes the best way to strengthen the currency which has helped make the German economy so competitive is closer policy convergence across Europe.
But with German public support in the balance for rescuing euro partners Greece, Ireland and possibly others, it is a tough message for the domestic audience. This explains the apparently mixed messages emerging from Berlin. Germany voices strong objections to some of the proposed solutions to the euro crisis, such as joint euro zone bonds, and Merkel's insistence on a crisis mechanism from 2013 involving private investors has upset markets.
"But in the end Germany has a vital interest in the survival of the currency union," Dekabank economist Andreas Scheuerle said. While mass-selling daily Bild runs headlines like "How Long Will the Euro Hold Out?" and some pundits suggest a north-south euro divide, the crisis seems to have hardened the German establishment's view that there is no alternative to the single currency. The government, including the sometimes fractious members of Merkel's centre-right coalition, plus the business world and the serious media are at pains to nix any talk of Germany losing its enthusiasm for the euro or returning to the deutschemark. Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle, from the Free Democrats, Merkel's often uneasy coalition partners, said on Thursday reinstating national currencies in the euro area was "not realistic". Merkel repeats that Europe's fate is inextricably tied to the currency shared by 16 countries and her comments on private investors needing to share in sovereign risk from 2013 reflect a belief that the euro will still be around. Currently enjoying a much stronger economic recovery than its partners, Germany may return to pre-crisis growth levels as early as next year, largely thanks to exports. So grumbles about the euro are slapped down with the argument that a revived deutschemark would quickly render German exports too expensive."The mark would be so overvalued against other currencies that our exports would be in trouble," said Andre Schwarz of the exporters' association BGA. "The solution is not to let the euro break up."Agerpres, Mediafax, Romanian Vancouver Sun,Global News, Financial Times,Le Monde,Tribune, ,Wall Street Journal,The Washington Times,Athens News,The New York Times,USA Today

Two of the leading Petrom top managers, who were in the company's management team ever since the privatisation of the oil and gas producer in 2004, have this year left to carry out the reorganisation of OMV's latest acquisition: Petrol Ofisi."I won't be talking about Petrom today because it is already going in the right direction, of integration. Let's talk about Turkey." This was one of the opening messages conveyed by Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, CEO of OMV in London, at the latest media summit organised by the Austrian oil group, Petrom's majority shareholder.
In mid-October, OMV finalised the acquisition of Turkey's biggest petrol station chain, Petrol Ofisi, for which it paid one billion euros, securing a significant share of a market credited with the biggest chances of growth in the next period.Reinhard Pichler, 49, former CFO of Petrom, left his position last week, being replaced by Daniel Turnheim, a member of the OMV group since back in 2002. Pichler is not leaving the group, however, but will go to Turkey, where he will fill the same position he has occupied in Petrom since 2004.At the beginning of this year Tamas Mayer, who used to be in charge of Petrom's marketing operations, i.e. of the nearly 550 distribution stations, left the position to become Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Petrol Ofisi. According to some sources, Mayer will be running marketing operations within Petrol Ofisi, as well.Agerpres, Mediafax, Romanian Vancouver Sun,Global News, Financial Times,Tribune, ,Wall Street Journal,The Washington Times,Athens News,The New York Times,USA Today,Le Monde

The Irish government stood on the brink of collapse Monday

DUBLIN (Nov. 22) -- The Irish government stood on the brink of collapse Monday, a day after being forced to accept a massive bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he would call an election for early next year, once Ireland passes an emergency budget and finalizes the bailout.The admission represented a huge political blow to Cowen, who only days ago was denying even the need for a bailout to solve the problems brought on by Irish banks' reckless speculation in overpriced real estate.
Ireland's six banks, five of which are already nationalized or part-owned by the state, would be pruned, merged and possibly sold off."Because of the huge risks they (Irish banks) took earlier this decade, they became a huge risk not only to this state but to the eurozone as a whole," he said.Irish banks invested aggressively in runaway property markets at home and abroad. After the 2008 credit crunch sent property prices into freefall, the government tried to save the banks from bankruptcy by insuring all of their borrowings against default. That unprecedented promise - made to retain investor confidence in the country - cannot be kept without a bailout, the government has finally been forced to concede.Unions warned that overhauling the banks would mean thousands more lost jobs in Ireland, where unemployment has already reached 13.6 percent, the second-highest rate in Europe after Spain.Banca Mondiala,FMI, Guvern,agenda de business, bugetul de stat, economie, revistapresei,romania,antena3.ro,realitatea.net,mediafax,bucuresti,camera de comert

"ID card-based" lending?

Bankers, who during the economic boom period lured clients with consumer loans granted upon proof of ID, have over the past two years been trying to offset the declining demand for large loans through aggressive promotional offers for credit cards, which have become the main growth driver of the retail segment overnight.
Amid the falling sales of traditional loans, could credit cards become the new form of ID card-based loans, given that as small sums are involved clients get such a product more easily?

Economists do not like such an outlook, rather viewing this as a bet on the future that could prove risky.Last year, many banks reported two-digit increases in the number of issued cards and the value of sums approved on such cards, as consumer loan portfolios shrank and housing loans were supported only by the "First Home" scheme.In 2010, card portfolios rose at a slower pace amid the prolonged recession, but promotions offers are still driving sales, even though at a slower pace. Banca Mondiala,FMI, Guvern,agenda de business, bugetul de stat, economie, revista presei,romania,antena3.ro,realitatea.net,mediafax,bucuresti,camera de comert

IMF to relax deficit targets for the co-funding of more EU projects

The IMF should relax budgetary gap targets for Romania so that more EU projects could be co-funded, states Andreas Treichl, a CEO with Erste Group, which controls BCR. "Romania is in a situation of conflicting objectives: its strong advantage are the funds available from the EU, but governmental funding is also necessary for these funds to be used. If money from the budget is allotted, deficit targets agreed on with the IMF are overshot and a conflict of 'interests' emerges. The IMF could relax the targets for the European funds to be used. This will be a very interesting exercise in the following months," Treichl stated.Banks have a direct interest in the success of such a move, considering many entrepreneurs and public authorities need loans to be able to co-fund the European funds they try to get. It remains to be seen whether the banking lobby in this respect will be as strong as in the case of modifications requested for Ordinance 50 regarding retail loan contracts.

Romania's international foreign currency reserves

Romania's international foreign currency reserves do not necessarily need to grow as they stand at a comfortable level, according to the governor of Romania's Central Bank (BNR), Mugur Isarescu.
He mentioned we have to give up the idea that it is a good thing if the international reserve is growing, NewsIn states.
As to the gold reserves of the neighbor countries, he said the central lender of Bulgaria has a reserve of 39.8 tons, that from Latvia 7.8 tons, that from Lithuania 5.9 tons, that from Poland 103 tons and that from Slovakia 31.7 tons. Romania's gold reserve stands at 103.7 tons.
The governor also talked about the gain from administering the international reserves, which dropped dramatically from 2008 and 2009 and even more in 2010.
The price of gold rose 2.5 times in the past five years.
Romania's foreign currency reserves lowered by 1.13 percent in June from the previous month, to 31.62 billion euros, according to a release issued by the central lender BNR.
Romania's international reserves – foreign currency and gold – eased 0.7 percent at the end of June to 34.99 billion euros, from 35.25 billion euros at the end of May.
The gold reserve maintained at 103.7 tons, but the evolution of international prices increased its value by 3.37 percent to 3.37 billion euros, from 3.26 billion euros in the previous month.