OECD Cuts Global Growth Outlook on Emerging-Market Slowdown

By Mark Deen - Nov 19, 2013 12:54 PM GMT+0200

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its global growth forecasts for this year and next as emerging-market economies including India and Brazil cool.

The world economy will probably expand 2.7 percent this year and 3.6 percent next year, instead of the 3.1 percent and and 4 percent predicted in May, the Paris-based OECD said in a semi-annual report today.

Record tourist receipts next year may help end Greece's long recession

BY RENEE MALTEZOU

ATHENS Tue Nov 19, 2013 6:26am EST

(Reuters) - Greek tourism revenues should rise 13 percent to a record 13 billion euros in 2014, the head of the main industry body said on Tuesday, boosting chances the country will finally emerge from its deep recession next year.

Tourism is the biggest cash earner for Greece's economy, accounting for about 17 percent of its 185 billion-euro economic output. It employs one in five Greeks.

China Reshapes Landscape for Firms From Alibaba to GM

By Jasmine Wang - Nov 19, 2013

Bloomberg

China’s planned economic reforms are poised to reshape the competitive landscape, allowing private companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to compete with state-owned banks and easing the one-child policy to bolster demand for products from Nestle SA (NESN) to General Motors Co. (GM)

Plans to change the nation’s financial sector include a new registration system for initial public offerings and allowing qualified private investors to set up small-to-medium sized banks. Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700), Asia’s biggest Internet company, is part of a group applying for a banking license in China.

Greece's NBG nears deal to sell property unit: sources

BY GEORGE GEORGIOPOULOS

ATHENS Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:15pm EST

(Reuters) - National Bank of Greece, the country's largest lender, is close to clinching a deal to sell a majority stake in its fully-owned real estate arm Pangaia to private equity firm Invel Real Estate, two bankers close to the deal told Reuters on Sunday.

The sale is part of restructuring efforts by National Bank (NBG) (NBGr.AT) aimed at boosting its capital base.

Greece's top four banks are implementing restructuring plans agreed with the European Commission as part of conditions imposed for their bailouts. The plans involve job cuts, branch closures and asset sales.

Greece's Golden Dawn gains support after members killed-poll

ATHENS Sat Nov 16, 2013 2:01pm EST

(Reuters) - Support for Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party has grown since two members were gunned down by unknown assailants this month, an opinion poll released on Saturday showed.

The party, Greece's third most popular, had shed almost a third of support following the fatal stabbing in September of an anti-fascism rapper blamed on a Golden Dawn sympathizer.

Previously Unknown Group Says It Shot Greek Extremists

By Alkman Granitsas

The Wall Steet Journal

Urban Guerrillas Say They Killed Two and Injured One in Retaliation for Rap Artist's Murder

A previously unknown urban guerrilla group has claimed responsibility for the shooting of three alleged members of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party earlier this month outside local party offices in a suburb north of Athens.

China says Xinjiang police station attacked by axe, knife-wielding mob, 11 dead

BEIJING Sun Nov 17, 2013 2:27am EST

(Reuters) - Eleven people were killed and two injured in China's troubled far-west region of Xinjiang when a group of people armed with axes and knifes attacked a police station on Saturday, state media reported on Sunday.

Around the World, Inflation Is Falling to Levels Not Seen for Years

The New York  Times

November 15, 2013

By FLOYD NORRIS

AMERICAN inflation, which has seemed to some conservative economists to be an impending threat ever since the Federal Reserve began to buy large quantities of government securities, appears to be falling to levels lower than any seen in recent years. There are similar declines in many European countries.

JPMorgan’s Fruitful Ties to a Member of China’s Elite

NOVEMBER 13, 2013, 10:00 PM

The New York Times

By DAVID BARBOZA, JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG and BEN PROTESS

To promote its standing in China, JPMorgan Chase turned to a seemingly obscure consulting firm run by a 32-year-old executive named Lily Chang.

Ms. Chang’s firm, which received a $75,000-a-month contract from JPMorgan, appeared to have only two employees. And on the surface, Ms. Chang lacked the influence and public name recognition needed to unlock business for the bank.

China: The Next Phase Of Reform

Forbes

The commitment and ability of China’s leaders to follow through on new policies and to meet rising expectations will be tested as they strive to balance competing social, economic, political and security challenges. Three decades ago, China embarked on a new path, creating a framework that encouraged the country’s rapid economic rise. The successes of those policies have transformed China, and the country’s leadership now faces another set of strategic choices to address China’s new economic and international position.

Greece's Eurobank announces 2 billion euro share issue

ATHENS Thu Nov 14, 2013 12:56pm EST

(Reuters) - Eurobank, Greece's No. 3 lender, said on Thursday it would sell 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) worth of new shares at the end of the year as part of a plan to return to private ownership after a bailout in 2012.

Greece must step up effort to find 2014 budget gap financing: Eurogroup head

BRUSSELS Thu Nov 14, 2013 4:44am EST

(Reuters) - Greece must step up efforts to reach an agreement with international lenders on how to close a 2 billion euro ($2.68 billion) financing gap in its 2014 budget, the head of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Thursday.

Euro Zone Economy Stalls as Germany and France Backtrack

November 14, 2013

By DAVID JOLLY and JACK EWING

The New York Times

PARIS — The euro zone economy marked time in the third quarter of the year, growing just 0.1 percent from the second quarter, a report on Thursday showed, disappointing hopes that a full-fledged recovery was finally taking hold after five years of recession and stagnation.

Skeptics See Euro Eroding European Unity

The New York Times

November 11, 2013

By DANNY HAKIM

LONDON — Europe’s slow emergence from its second recession in the last five years is raising new questions about whether the euro currency is doing more harm than good.

Five years of crisis have laid bare deep differences in national policies, politics and priorities across the European Union. The 28-member bloc is increasingly confronting a more fundamental problem: whether it is too unwieldy to address the multiplying array of challenges it faces. And in many ways, the most divisive issues involve the 17-member subset of the union that was supposed to give them something in common — the euro currency.

Greece’s reform job isn’t even half done

By Hugo Dixon NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Reuters

Greece’s reform job is not even half finished. The government hasn’t done enough to root out the vested interests that strangle the economy. Nor has it cracked down fully on tax evasion or pushed hard enough to privatise state-owned properties.

On the other hand, Antonis Samaras’ coalition is so fragile that it could collapse if the troika – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – forces it to impose more austerity. That could lead to a new phase in the Greek crisis. The government’s best bet is to make a sharp distinction between structural reform and austerity – and persuade its lenders that it’s so serious about the former that more cuts and taxes aren’t required.

Job Gap Widens in Uneven Recovery

Split in Employment Market Undermines Broader Economic Rebound

By BEN CASSELMAN CONNECT

The Wall Street Journal

Updated Nov. 11, 2013 9:45 p.m. ET

America's jobs recovery is proceeding on two separate tracks—a pattern that is persisting far longer than after past economic rebounds and lately has been growing worse.

Despite three years of steady job gains, and four years of economic growth, many Americans have yet to experience much that could be described as a recovery. That sort of pattern isn't unusual in the aftermath of a recession, but it usually eases as growth picks up steam.

China to unveil 10-year reform plan, expectations toned down

BY KEVIN YAO

BEIJING Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:14pm EST

(Reuters) - China's leaders will unveil a reform agenda for the next decade on Tuesday, seeking to balance the need to overhaul the world's second-largest economy as it loses steam with preserving stability and to reinforce the Communist Party's power.

Euro Zone’s Fizzling Growth Seen to Back Draghi Cut Case

By Stefan Riecher & Kristian Siedenburg - 2013-11-11T10:59:54Z

Euro-area growth data this week may show the region’s nascent recovery slowing to a crawl, supporting Mario Draghi’s case for an interest-rate cut to help the economy get back to its feet.

Gross domestic product in the region rose just 0.1 percent in the third quarter, according to the median forecast of 41 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. In the 3 1/2 hours before that report on Nov. 14, economists predict a series of data releases to show growth slowing in Germany and stalling in France, with Italy remaining mired in an unprecedented slump.

Ομιλία Τσίπρα σε Τέξας

11-2013

Σας ευχαριστώ κ. Frassoni για την εισαγωγή. Ευχαριστώ και το Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs για την πρόσκληση και για την ευκαιρία να συζητήσουμε για  την κρίση της ευρωζώνης, και την κατάσταση στην Ελλάδα, με ειδικούς και με φορείς χάραξης πολιτικής και από τις δύο πλευρές του Ατλαντικού.

Πρέπει να σωθεί η Ευρωζώνη;

Germany's Surplus Isn't the Problem

By SIMON NIXON

Nov. 10, 2013 9:06 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

On almost any measure, the euro zone is in better shape than a year ago—and much better shape than many expected, not least those who were predicting its imminent collapse.

The currency bloc is out of recession; Spain and Portugal are growing; the Greek government expects growth to return next year. Yields on peripheral government bonds have fallen sharply. And the euro zone is embarking on a major integration project—banking union—that it hopes will restore confidence in the region's banking system and allow credit to flow again.