Governor of the Bank of Italy warns on recession

According to the governor of the Bank of Italy, the Italian economy will shrink in 2005 for the first time since 1993 before growing just slightly in 2006. Antonio Fazio told the upper house of Italys parliament on Friday that the nations gross domestic product will decline by 0.1 percent this year and then […]

Greece buys fighters from US

Greece announced on Tuesday that it will purchase 30 F-16 fighter jets from the United States while retaining an option to buy 10 more later, renouncing a previous deal to buy 60 Eurofighter planes from EADS. The decision comes after the Greek Prime Ministers May meeting with President George W. Bush in the United […]

Inflation reaches seven year high in UK

Inflation in the UK hit a seven-year high of 2.0 percent in June, right on the Bank of Englands target, up from 1.9 percent in May. Food, especially fruit and meat, clothing, and shoe prices helped the rate of inflation to this seven-year high, while higher prices for furniture and household goods and a […]

Airline subsidies row to go to WTO

The European Union on Tuesday returned to the World Trade Organization to pursue action against the United States for what the EU says were illegal subsidies that the US government paid to Boeing, the US aircraft manufacturer. According to EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, the EU has not ruled out pursing action against Japan […]

Greens slow corporate tax reform before election

The Green party in German has put the brakes on a bill that would have cut corporate taxes in that country. The bill has been controversial ever since its introduction, mostly because of its reliance on credits to pay for the revenue lost to the tax cuts because of the low levels of public […]

BoE retains rate at 4.75 percent

The monetary policy committee of the Bank of England voted 8 to 1 to leave interest rates in the UK at their present rate of 4.75 percent, minutes of the most recent meeting reveal. The minutes were released on Wednesday. The minutes also showed that the only member of the committee to vote for […]

UK housing slows

UK house hunters will pay, on average, more for a house in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Northern England than they did last quarter, and a little less than last quarter if they buy in the South West or in East Anglia. Meanwhile, housing prices rose in London, but only by 0.1 percent, after declines […]

Index shows Europe’s growth receding

Reflecting disappointing economic news from all over Europe, the Purchasing Mangers Index (PMI) shows that within the Eurozone manufacturing has declined to the point of stagnation. The PMI, which shows actual changes rather than expectations of change, is lower than it has been in four months in the Eurozone overall. The largest declines […]

UNECE: New European member states will provide growth

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) reports that it expects the new members of the European Union to form the main engine of economic growth in Europe for 2005.It predicts that the eight central European states which joined the EU last year will see 4.6% growth, and specifically points to countries such as […]

FTSE 100 enjoys minor high

London’s FTSE-100 share index reached a two-and-a-half year high on the back of a string of strong trading sessions.Expectations of strong economic growth in China for the mid-term provided a boost for UK mining companies with Sino-English operations, in the wake of already good expectations on profit alerts by mining companies such as BHP Billiton, […]

Russian investment rating up

Standard & Poor, a major credit rating agency, has finally followed Fitch and Moody’s positive reclassification of Russia’s debt - and investment rating.Despite the poor publicity surrounding the effective state seizure of Yukos, overall tax and legal reforms, coupled with strong government finances, mean that S&R upgraded Russia as “speculative” to “investment grade”.Under President Putin, […]

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