Bloomberg Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte pledged to keep “revolutionising†Italy after a working dinner with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker failed to break a long-running standoff over the populist government’s push to follow through on expensive election promises. At a Brexit summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on Sunday, Conte clearly had other concerns preying on his mind. The ...
Read More »French grassroots protest is Macron’s biggest challenge
Bloomberg Emmanuel Macron swept aside France’s traditional parties to win the presidency. He tamed unions as he reformed the labour market and income tax, all without much mass protest. Now though, his presidency is being shaken by a grassroots movement with no real leadership. Organised through social media, the so-called yellow jackets have shut down key transport links at times ...
Read More »Taiwan vote: Tsai’s party suffers loss
Bloomberg Taiwanese voters delivered President Tsai Ing-wen’s party a resounding defeat in local elections Saturday, ousting it from several key strongholds. Opposition Kuomintang candidates claimed victory in mayoral races in the major cities of Kaohsiung and Taichung as well as the governor positions in Yilan, Changhua and Yunlin counties, traditionally seen as bastions of support for Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party. ...
Read More »Mexico should stop caravans, says Trump
Bloomberg Donald Trump said Mexico would be “very smart†to stop groups of Central American migrants before they reached the southern US border, and again laid the blame for US immigration problems on Democrats. The president took to Twitter a day after reports that his administration has struck a deal with Mexico’s incoming government that would mean Washington could use ...
Read More »Fed primed for 2019 pause as growth, market volatility swirl
Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues are likely to turn more wary about marching interest rates higher after delivering a widely anticipated quarter percentage-point increase in December. Prospects for slowing global economic growth, fading US fiscal stimulus and volatile financial markets all argue for more caution once officials lift rates next month near or into neutral territory, ...
Read More »BOE may need to hike faster, says policymaker
Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) may need to increase interest rates at a quicker pace than currently envisaged by markets, according to policy maker Michael Saunders. Spare capacity in the economy has been used up, and, assuming Brexit reaches a smooth conclusion, inflationary pressures will probably build somewhat faster than officials predicted in their latest projections, Saunders said in ...
Read More »India seeks talks with RBI on governance
Bloomberg India’s government wants to discuss changes to the Reserve Bank of India’s governance structure at a board meeting next month, including setting up some oversight panels, Economic Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg told ET Now. Garg, who is a government nominee for the RBI board, told another television channel CNBC-TV18 that the administration will ask for more interim dividends from ...
Read More »Bank of Italy warns of low growth, public debt risks
Bloomberg Italy’s central bank warned that low growth and high public debt pose the greatest risks to financial stability, while further sovereign bond market tensions would hurt banks’ capital and the solvency position of insurers. In its Financial Stability Report, the Bank of Italy outlines risks arising from uncertainty about the economic and fiscal policy in the country, which led ...
Read More »Nigeria’s base rate loses bite as stealth tightening takes hold
Bloomberg Nigeria’s base interest rate is becoming more and more irrelevant. That’s the view of some analysts after the Monetary Policy Committee in Africa’s biggest oil producer held its key rate for the 14th straight meeting, despite inflation being above its target range of 6 percent to 9 percent for more than three years. Central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele is ...
Read More »Venezuela fuel shortages worsen as tanker staff flee
Bloomberg Venezuela’s fuel shortages are worsening as mass resignations at the state oil company’s tanker fleet have delayed gasoline shipments. Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s refineries are running at less than a quarter of their capacity, forcing the country to rely on imported gasoline. Once the cargoes are unloaded at import docks, smaller ships distribute fuel to terminals along the coast, ...
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