| Date: October 7, 2010 | Source: Europa Press |
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Loading ... The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to keep interest rates in the euro zone at 1%, the lowest level in the history of the institution, in order to support the economic recovery of the Eurozone.
In fact, the euro zone economy grew by 1% in the second quarter compared to the previous three months, while annual GDP growth was 1.9%.
Meanwhile, prices in the euro area in September recorded an increase of two tenths from the previous month and stood at 1.8%.
| Date: May 9, 2010 | Source: Europa Press |
Go ahead and rate this post Loading ... The finance ministers of the EU meet in special session Sunday in Brussels in order to approve the creation of a permanent fund to bail out bankrupt countries or facing speculative attacks on its debt, as those who are suffering Portugal or Spain after the rescue of Greece.
The launch of this fund was agreed by the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Eurogroup meeting on Friday and now need to specify what role will assume the European Central Bank (ECB).
The Bank could buy government bonds, accept low grade debt as collateral and liquidity injections to resume a suspended one-year in December, diplomatic sources said.
European leaders made a pact on Friday in an extraordinary summit a "European stabilization mechanism to preserve financial stability in Europe" in an attempt to curb speculative attacks against Portugal, Spain and the euro that occurred last week and that destabilized financial markets worldwide.
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| Date: March 11, 2010 | Source: Europa Press |
Go ahead and rate this post Loading ... The European Central Bank (ECB) believes that the goal of cleaning up the deficit covered by the austerity of the Spanish Government to comply with the Stability Pact in 2013 is in line with the recommendation under the excessive deficit procedure, although critical that this objective has not been supported by concrete measures.
"The goal of structural improvements in annual average set is 1.8 percentage points of GDP, in line with the recommendation under the excessive deficit procedure to achieve a superior fit to 1.5 percentage points. However, this may not has been fully supported by concrete measures, especially for 2011-2013, "the institution headed by Jean Claude Trichet in the latest edition of its monthly newsletter.
The updated stability program of Spain plans to correct the excessive deficit in the country for 2013, consistent with the recommendations made in the context of the excessive deficit procedure.
However, the ECB will extend their criticism to other euro countries such as Ireland, which has until 2014 to reduce the country's deficit to below 3% of GDP, as the Irish Government, which is committed to achieve "ambitious structural consolidation" has not yet specified the measures to achieve those objectives.
Also, the society says that in the case of Germany, the planned fiscal adjustment has not been supported by concrete measures, but states that the German government expects to release a detailed consolidation strategy before the summer.
Ballasted BAD WEATHER DATA FIRST QUARTER GDP.
On the other hand, the ECB notes that quarterly volatility caused by the impact of "special factors" during the first three months of the year, including meteorological in nature, advises the comparative half-yearly use when assessing the evolution of growth of the eurozone economy, whose recovery is "in progress", but is likely to occur in an "irregular".
Thus, the latest edition of the monthly bulletin of the ECB notes that "a number of special factors, among which include adverse weather conditions observed in part of the euro area during the first quarter of 2010," influence economic activity block, which believes that "given this uneven path, it is more appropriate to avoid the quarterly volatility and compare the observed growth patterns in semi-annual terms."
In this regard, the Governing Council of the institution headed by Jean Claude Trichet expects the economies of the euro area to grow at a "moderate" in 2010, in an environment where uncertainty remains, because the process of balance sheet adjustment taking place in various sectors and the expectations of reduced utilization of productive capacity is likely to curb investment, as the deteriorating outlook for the labor market is weakening consumption.
Regarding inflation, the Governing Council expects price stability is maintained over the medium term, thereby supporting the purchasing power of households in the euro area.
It also says that inflation expectations remain firmly anchored in line with the objective of keeping inflation rates below, but close to 2% over the medium term.
| Date: February 27, 2010 | Source: Europa Press |
Go ahead and rate this post Loading ... The Euribor, the benchmark granted most mortgages in Spain, closed the month of February at 1.225%, representing a decrease compared to January seven thousandths (1.232%), but 0.91 points on to February 2008 (2.135%).
Susana Felpeto, Atlas Capital, told Europa Press that the fall in Euribor will be extended in time because the rise in interest rates will also be a bit longer than originally planned on, but predicted that the fall of the indicator it will become smaller.
In his view, interest rates will not rise until early 2011, so the Euribor could go down to the end of 2010. In this sense, explains that if it is confirmed that the ECB raises rates in the first months of next year, the indicator will anticipate the rise and could rebound slightly in recent months of this year.
In the short term, the expert noted that the indicator will continue as before and could touch down at 1.20%, height from which it could begin to pick up gradually. In fact, the market may have already begun to deduct that interest rates remain low longer than expected and therefore recorded a sharp decline today newspaper.
Meanwhile, Ignacio Victoriano, Renta 4, agreed to note that the Euribor is near its minimum level and therefore also predicted that the fall will become weaker. In his view, the ECB did not move interest rates in at least the next twelve months, allowing the indicator to enjoy some stability until then.
Indeed, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, said yesterday that with current economic conditions are likely to ensure that interest rates will remain at levels "exceptionally low" for a "prolonged period of time."
| Date: June 4, 2009 | Source: Europa Press |
Go ahead and rate this post Loading ... The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided on Thursday to keep interest rates in the euro zone at 1%, after last May made a cut of 25 basis points that left the price of money the lowest level history.
The decision to keep rates stable could mean the end to the easing of monetary policy of the institution, after starting to detect 'green shoots' in the EU economy, which has presented mild signs of recovery in recent weeks.
The ECB has cut rates by 325 basis points since last October 8, which has brought the rate from 4.25% to 1% today, and it appears that, from now on, you begin to use unconventional measures to combat the recession.
The ECB President Jean Claude Trichet, offered at 14.30 a press conference to explain the decision that has generated much excitement, since it is expected to provide details and additional information about buying bonds announced during the last meeting, an amount close to 60,000 million euros.
In addition to the multi-asset purchases, which aims to boost the financial system, another issue of the day is inflation, as announced last week the EU statistical office, Eurostat, the Consumer Price Index ( CPI) stood at community 0% in May for the first time in its history.
In fact, analysts at Citigroup say that "a lot" of the conference will focus on the details of the bond purchase program and also we will get inflation. Furthermore, bet that "probably" the institution will not change his address and rule out the possibility of triggering a deflationary spiral.
On the bond-buying program, Citi expects to know more about it in that press conference and predicts that the acquisition is made in one or two months "in the primary or secondary." The list of bonds choose to purchase "will probably be very similar" to that used as collateral in refinancing operations of the ECB.
As for the update of economic forecasts of the institution, the U.S. bank experts believe that the ECB will review "substantially down" their estimates of growth of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, but expects only "slight changes" in forecasts for 2010.
'GREEN SHOOTS' IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
The ECB's decision to maintain a stable price of money coincides with the appearance of slight signs of improvement in macroeconomic references worldwide in recent weeks, especially in regard to the U.S..
In fact, the Bundesbank president and board member of the ECB, Axel Weber, said in his recent speeches that the institution deck a stage of mild economic recovery in the eurozone and the presence of some signs of improvement, but warned exaggerate the dangers of these signs for their effects on trust.
In fact, the latest figures point to an improving macro consumption in the eurozone. This morning, Eurostat published figures of retail sales in April, an increase of 0.2% per month compared to a contraction of 0.1% in March, which shows a slight improvement in the data.
From the U.S. have increased these symptoms in recent weeks and the president of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted yesterday that the recession will end later this year and recalled that in recent weeks have improved macroeconomic several references as consumer confidence and business, selling new and used homes and even the U.S. GDP, which contracted by 5.7% in the first quarter of the year, four tenths below the previous forecast.
| Date: May 25, 2009 | Source: Europa Press |
Go ahead and rate this post Loading ... Workers in the European Central Bank (ECB) called by the union's first strike Ipso its history due to expected changes in the pension system, according to Europa Press today confirmed sources of the institution.
Unemployment, 90 minutes, will take place on June 3 in the lobby of the arrival of the 22 members of the governing council to Frankfurt for the meeting and take monthly interest rate decision.
However, a bank spokesman told Europa Press that the institution shall ensure that the bank's main activities remain normal during the strike and explained that the operation "is guaranteed."
The same sources explained that the pension reform on workers protesting seeks to avoid a "funding gap" in the same due to increased longevity of the population and a decline in interest rates over time.
The union convener, the Ipso, has 460 staff members of the bank, among the 1,500 employees of the institution and to protest the bank's decision to increase pension contributions by both the bank itself and the employees.
There will also be changes in the way of calculating pensions and reduce incentives for those who retire before age 65.
This is the first call to strike by workers of the ECB, whose foundation was in 1999 coinciding with the launch of the single currency.
