Greece’s bank rescue fund HFSF said on Monday it has initiated the process to sell a 1.4% it holds in Eurobank. Interested investors can submit offers from Sept 25 to Oct 6, it said, adding that Eurobank had already submitted an offer on Sept. 22 for a targeted share buyback. Eurobank won shareholder approval in July to buy back the stake. During the country’s financial crisis which broke out in 2010, the state-controlled HFSF acquired stakes in Greece’s four largest banks in turn for injecting about 50 billion euros to ...

It’s a now-familiar dance: Federal Reserve officials signal to the world that interest rates are not dropping anytime soon. Financial markets respond with bets to the contrary. That dynamic, which has played out repeatedly over the course of a U.S. central bank policy tightening regime that began 18 months ago, was back on full display last week. Forecasts published on Wednesday by the U.S. central bank showed that a majority of its policymakers see the Fed’s benchmark overnight interest rate ending this year at 5.6%, which implies one more interest ...

The upcoming India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor will become the basis of world trade for hundreds of years to come, and history will remember that this corridor was initiated on Indian soil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday. “You must be aware that when India was very prosperous, the Silk Route was a part of the discourse in our country and in the world. This Silk Route was a major medium of business and trade,” he said during his address in the 105th Episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’. “Now in ...

The European Union has no intention of cutting ties with China even as the bloc takes steps to lower economic dependencies and de-risk, but China “could do a lot” to help reduce the perception of risk, the EU trade chief said on Monday. The EU has long complained about a lack of level playing field in China and the politicisation of the business environment. Concern turned to wariness after Beijing’s move to strengthen ties with Moscow despite the war in Ukraine. Europe’s economic ties with China are deep, but China ...

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Through the lens of foreign pundits, we take a look at 10 years of the BRI – how it achieves win-win cooperation between China and participating countries of the BRI and how it has given the people of these countries a sense of fulfillment. Being the western end of the ancient Silk Roads, Spain has long historical connections with China. Xulio Rios (Rios), a Spanish scholar on China and emeritus advisor ...

Lawmakers over the weekend expressed few signs of movement on a budget resolution that would keep the U.S. government funded for the remainder of the fiscal year, and the clock is ticking. Current spending laws are due to expire on Sept. 30. That means if Congress does not reach an agreement before 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1, the government will shut down. House Republicans on Thursday sent the chamber into recess, delaying further developments in the negotiations. “I don’t know what to think,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin Sunday ...

JP Morgan’s move add India to its widely tracked emerging market debt index will have far-reaching economic benefits for the country, financial experts say. The move is anticipated to bring down the cost of borrowing for the government, support the Indian rupee and bond markets, improve the country’s credit rating, and help boost economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, as billions of dollars of foreign investment are projected to flow into the country, they say. JP Morgan, the largest bank in the US, last week said that India’s local bonds ...

France’s long-term plans to cut debt and deficit are built on optimistic economic assumptions and lack ambition when compared to other EU countries, the country’s fiscal watchdog said on Monday. In preparation for the 2024 budget bill to be presented on Wednesday, the government cut its 2024 growth forecast to 1.4% from 1.6% earlier this month, but otherwise largely left its long-term budget planning forecasts unchanged. After reviewing the updated forecasts, the High Council for Public Finances said the 1.35% average growth expected by the government over the 2023-2027 period ...

An International Monetary Fund monitoring mission started work on Monday on the second review of a $15.6 billion multi-year loan program for Ukraine. Vahram Stepanyan, IMF’s resident representative, said in a statement that the discussions with the Ukrainian government would be held on recent economic developments and fiscal, financial and structural policies. The IMF’s four-year programme for Kyiv is part of a $115-billion global package to support the economy as Ukraine battles Russia’s invasion. Ukraine’s economy has been hit by the 19-month-old war and the government has relied heavily on ...

Inflation staying stuck above the Fed’s 2% target remains a greater risk than tight central bank policy slowing the economy more than needed to bring the pace of price increases under control, Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee said on Monday. “The risk of inflation staying higher than where we want it is the bigger risk,” Goolsbee said in comments on CNBC. “We have got to get inflation back down to target…We ought to have 100% commitment.” Goolsbee said the Fed would need to “play by ear” whether any further rate ...

Rather than counting on macroeconomic policies to revive economic growth, China should pursue structural reforms such as encouraging entrepreneurs, news agency Reuters quoted PBOC adviser Liu Shijin, saying the Asian country has limited room for further monetary policy easing. Shijin, a member of the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) monetary policy committee, opined that Beijing’s room for monetary policy easing was limited by widening interest rate differentials with the US. Speaking at the annual Bund Summit conference, Shijin said that Chinese governments at various levels are under stress fiscally. “If ...

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is due to try to advance steep spending cuts this week that stand no chance of becoming law and could force a partial shutdown of the U.S. government by next Sunday. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sought to avoid that scenario when he hammered out a spending agreement with Democratic President Joe Biden this spring. But some members of his own party have threatened to depose him if he does not support steeper cuts that are sure to be rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate. Hundreds of ...

Central banks for the world’s biggest economies have served notice that they will keep interest rates as high as needed to tame inflation, even as two years of unprecedented global policy tightening reaches a peak. The so-called “higher for longer” mantra is now the official stance of the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and the Bank of England, as well as being echoed by monetary policy-makers from Oslo to Tapei. For central bankers first chastised for being late to spot the post-pandemic surge in inflation and then cautioned for ...

Euro zone companies are finally absorbing wage pressures and the labour market has started to soften, European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane said on Thursday, suggesting inflation pressures from employee pay rises are finally subsiding. The ECB raised its deposit rate to a record high 4% last week to combat excessive inflation but an exceptionally tight labour market has kept upward pressure on wages, raising the upside risk on consumer prices. While far from declaring victory over inflation, Lane argued there were tentative signs that wage pressures may be ...

Many U.S. government services would be disrupted and hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed without pay if Congress fails to provide funding for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Workers deemed “essential” would remain on the job, but without pay. Here is a guide to what happens during a government shutdown, and who would be affected: MILITARY The twomillion U.S. military personnel would remain at their posts, but roughly half of the Pentagon’s 800,000 civilian employees would be furloughed. Contracts awarded prior to the shutdown would continue, and the ...