$400 Billion Gas Deal Shows Russia Looking To China To Replace Western Money

Forbes

Chris Wright, Contributor

The news that China and Russia have signed a $400 billion deal through which Gazprom will supply China National Petroleum Corp with 30 years of natural gas is the clearest illustration yet that Russia will be looking east, not west, for international funding.

Last week, in Will China Save Russia With Investment?, I reported a series of new Russia-China deals were about to be launched by the two countries’ sovereign wealth funds, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and China Investment Corporation. Those deals have since been announced: they involve Vcanland, a developer of tourism infrastructure and senior living communities; the first ever railway bridge over the Amur River on the Russia-China border; and logistics services investment.In dollar terms, they may have involved as much as $1 billion of investment, but while the number itself is insignificant compared to the outflows Russia is experiencing, the trend is very important – and is underlined by the new gas deal.

Greek current account deficit shrinks in March

Thu May 22, 2014 4:21am EDT

ATHENS, May 22 (Reuters) - Greece's current account deficit

shrank in March from the same month last year, according to

balance of payments figures released by the central bank on

Thursday.

    The deficit stood at 44 million euros ($60.12 million) from

1.24 billion euros in March 2013.

    Tourism revenues rose to 195 million euros in March from 151

million in the same month in 2013.

***************************************************************

    KEY FIGURES (bln euros)        2014         2013

    January                                     -0.295       -0.314

    February                                   -0.709       -0.684

    March                                       -0.044       -1.241

    -------------------------------------------------

    source: Bank of Greece   

($1 = 0.7318 Euros)

 (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Karolina

Tagaris)

A Finland model for Ukraine?

By David Ignatius, Published: May 21

The Washington Post

After months of war fever over Ukraine, perhaps the biggest surprise is that citizens there will be voting to choose a new government in elections that observers predict will be free and fair in most areas.

This electoral pathway for Ukraine seemed unlikely a few weeks ago, given Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea and his covert campaign to destabilize the Russian-speaking areas of eastern Ukraine. There were dire warnings of a new Cold War, and even of a ground war in Ukraine. The country seemed at risk of being torn apart.

Putin appears, at this writing, to have decided that Russia’s interests are better served by waiting — for the nonaligned government he expects will emerge from Sunday’s elections — than from an invasion or some radical destabilization. The Russian leader may be ready to accept a neutral country, between East and West, where Russia’s historical interests are recognized. During the Cold War, such an outcome was known as “Finlandization.”

Αποπληρώθηκαν τα «ομόλογα Αλογοσκούφη»

Τα σημερινά ομόλογα που έληξαν ήταν ύψους 4,4 δισ., πρόκειται για τα λεγόμενα ομόλογα Αλογοσκούφη, τα οποία είχαν δοθεί στις τράπεζες το 2008.

ΣΚΑΙ

Ομόλογα συνολικού ύψους 8,5 δισ. ευρώ αποπλήρωσε χθες Τρίτη και σήμερα Τετάρτη το ελληνικό δημόσιο.

Τα σημερινά ομόλογα που έληξαν ήταν ύψους 4,4 δισ., πρόκειται για τα λεγόμενα ομόλογα Αλογοσκούφη, τα οποία είχαν δοθεί στις τράπεζες το 2008.

Πιέσεις για νέο «κούρεμα» του χρέους

Μετά τις εκλογές θα ανοίξει η συζήτηση για τις πρόσθετες παρεμβάσεις που απαιτούνται προκειμένου να καταστεί βιώσιμο

Πέμπτη, 22 Μαΐου 2014 07:01

Ναυτεμπορική

Στη μελέτη για τη βιωσιμότητα του ελληνικού χρέους που θα ενσωματώνει η έκθεση του Διεθνούς Νομισματικού Ταμείου, η οποία θα εκδοθεί στις 30 Μαΐου, επικεντρώνεται το ενδιαφέρον στη μετεκλογική περίοδο, καθώς αναμένεται να σηματοδοτήσει την έναρξη των διαδικασιών για τον προσδιορισμό των πρόσθετων μέτρων μείωσης του χρέους.

Η αίσθηση που αφήνουν δηλώσεις στελεχών του Διεθνούς Νομισματικού Ταμείου, καθώς και πληροφορίες από το περιεχόμενο της έκθεσης, συνηγορούν πως το ΔΝΤ επιμένει στο νέο «κούρεμα», εκτιμώντας πως η επιμήκυνση της διάρκειας των δανείων της Ευρωζώνης και του EFSF, αλλά και η νέα μείωση των επιτοκίων δεν λύνουν το πρόβλημα της βιωσιμότητας του ελληνικού χρέους.

Στο μεταξύ, στη διάρκεια του περασμένου διημέρου, το ελληνικό Δημόσιο αποπλήρωσε ομόλογα που έληγαν και κατείχε η Ευρωπαϊκή Κεντρική Τράπεζα και οι κεντρικές τράπεζες, όπως και τα ομόλογα των ελληνικών τραπεζών τα οποία είχαν εκδοθεί το 2008 για την ενίσχυση της ρευστότητας της ελληνικής οικονομίας.

From Greek Crisis, to Turnaround

Structural reforms and increased competitiveness, not currency devaluation, are getting the economy back on track.

The Wall Street Journal

By GEORGE A. PROVOPOULOS

May 19, 2014 1:27 p.m. ET

Several years ago a chorus of voices predicted that Greece would have to exit the euro zone. The doomsayers had it that Greece would not be able to make the fiscal and economic reforms needed to keep the country in the euro, nor would it be able to save its banking system in the face of an unprecedented sovereign-debt crisis. According to the doomsayers, attempts to bring down the budget deficit and restore competitiveness would lead to painful and politically unacceptable consequences, while a collapse of the banking system was inevitable. Recently, however, the sirens of doom have been silenced. How did that happen?

European Elections to Test Greek Coalition

There is one country where the European parliamentary elections really do matter—Greece.

By SIMON NIXON

The Wall Street Journal

May 18, 2014 5:45 p.m. ET

There seems to be a broad consensus—among voters and in the markets—that this week's European parliamentary elections don't matter very much.

Although the Parliament has gained new powers over the years, few voters identify with it. Polls suggest many will see the election as an opportunity to cast protest votes for populist parties. Most voters suspect the outcome will make little difference to the future direction of Europe, which will in any case continue to be set by national leaders and parliaments.

Serbia floods threaten country's biggest power plant

Sandbags stacked around Nikola Tesla plant 20 miles outside Belgrade as thousands of people are evacuated in Bosnia

Reuters in Obrenovac

The guardian.com,

Monday 19 May 2014 11.22 BST

Soldiers and energy workers have stacked thousands of sandbags to protect Serbia's biggest power plant from flood waters, which are expected to keep rising after the heaviest rains in the Balkans in more than a century killed dozens of people.

On Monday, Bosnian state radio reported that the swollen Sava river, which has wreaked havoc in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia, had again overwhelmed flood defences late on Sunday and flooded parts of the northern town of Orasje.

Libya evacuation decision 'minute by minute,' U.S. official says

By Jomana Karadsheh and Barbara Starr, CNN

May 20, 2014 -- Updated 0551 GMT (1351 HKT)

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The U.S. military has doubled the number of aircraft standing by in Italy if needed to evacuate Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, CNN has learned.

A decision to evacuate as violence in the Libyan capital grows is "minute by minute, hour by hour," a defense official told CNN on Monday.

Fierce fighting swept across the city Sunday after armed men stormed the country's interim Parliament. Sporadic bursts of gunfire and blasts could still be heard on the outskirts of the capital Monday evening.

The violence appeared to be some of the worst since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Ukraine Crisis Pushing Putin Toward China

The New York Times
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and DAVID M. HERSZENHORNMAY 19, 2014

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin said Monday that he was withdrawing Russian troops from the border with Ukraine, the second time he has said that in less than two weeks. He also praised the government in Kiev, which he had previously called an illegal, fascist junta, for its willingness to negotiate structural changes.

But the intended audience for these conciliatory remarks may not have been the United States and Europe, who would distrust them in any event. No, Mr. Putin’s gaze was more likely fixed on China, where he arrives on Tuesday by all accounts determined to show that he, too, wants to pivot to Asia.

While Mr. Putin has been casting an eye eastward practically since he returned to the presidency in 2012, the crisis in relations with the West over Ukraine has made ties to Asia, and particularly relations with its economic engine, China, a key strategic priority. With Europe trying to wean itself off Russian gas, and the possibility of far more serious Western sanctions looming should the crisis deepen, Moscow needs an alternative.

U.S. accuses China of cyber spying on American companies

BY JIM FINKLE, JOSEPH MENN AND ARUNA VISWANATHA

Mon May 19, 2014 6:04pm EDT

(Reuters) - The United States on Monday charged five Chinese military officers and accused them of hacking into American nuclear, metal and solar companies to steal trade secrets, ratcheting up tensions between the two world powers over cyber espionage.

China immediately denied the charges, saying in a strongly worded Foreign Ministry statement the U.S. grand jury indictment was "made up" and would damage trust between the two nations.

Officials in Washington have argued for years that cyber espionage is a top national security concern. The indictment was the first criminal hacking charge that the United States has filed against specific foreign officials, and follows a steady increase in public criticism and private confrontation, including at a summit last year between U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

No Clear Winner in First Round of Greek Local Elections

By Nikos Chrysoloras and Paul Tugwell  May 19, 2014 9:23 AM GMT+0300

Bloomberg

The first round of local and regional elections in Greece ended yesterday with no single party securing enough support to declare a decisive victory.

“Personalities won over political parties, as independent candidates are ahead in the country’s three largest cities,” said Loukas Tsoukalis, president of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, an Athens-based think-tank. “The results show the fragmentation of Greece’s political landscape,” he said in a phone interview yesterday.

A troubled union

There’s something wrong with Europe. No one can agree what

May 17th 2014

The Economist

IS THE euro crisis over? To judge from how often the words appear in global media (down by three-quarters between early 2012 and early 2014), the answer is yes. Markets have calmed since July 2012, when the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, promised to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro. Ireland and now Portugal are climbing out of their bail-out programmes. Even Greece, where the crisis began, has just sold debt.

Yet, as these books all argue, the crisis was always about more than whether financial markets would buy government debt. It raised broad worries over how countries with widely differing levels of prosperity, competitiveness, public spending and taxes, and regulation of labour and product markets, could share a currency without economic shocks blowing them apart. And it was about whether euro-zone voters would accept low growth, high unemployment and a permanent loss of sovereignty to the centre. None of these concerns has been fully dealt with.

Peripheral bonds deepen losses amid Greek tax and political fears

BY JOHN GEDDIE

LONDON Fri May 16, 2014 4:56am EDT

May 16 (Reuters) - Lower-rated euro zone bond prices slipped on Friday, deepening sharp falls on Thursday triggered by nervousness about the stability of the Greek government, a tax on foreign holders of Greek bonds, and weak growth.

Greek bailout is no success story, EU candidate Tsipras says

Thu May 15, 2014 8:04pm EDT

* Greek EU Commission candidate wants end to austerity

* Tsipras appears for first time in televised debates

* Opposes sanctions against Russia over Ukraine

By Harry Papachristou

Greece: Tax on Foreign Holders of Bonds Won't Be Imposed Retroactively

Greek 10-Year Yields Spiked By More Than Half a Percentage Point to 6.72%, Highest in Seven Weeks

The Wall Street Journal

By MATINA STEVIS

May 15, 2014 11:45 a.m. ET

LONDON—The Greek finance ministry said Thursday a tax on foreign holders of Greek bonds that had caught investors' attention wasn't being imposed retroactively.

Out of Office, Geithner’s View on U.S. Exposure to the Euro Crisis Shifts

 The Wall Street Journal

By  IAN TALLEY

Don’t panic. There’s nothing to worry about.

That’s essentially what former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in 2011, when asked if Europe’s crisis threatened the U.S. financial system. “No, absolutely no,” Mr. Geithner told House lawmakers in an October 7 hearing. “The overall picture is very limited direct exposure,” he said.

That’s contrary to the narrative presented Wednesday by Mark Sobel, who had a front row seat to the crisis as a top Treasury diplomat and is now the administration’s nominee to represent the U.S. on the International Monetary Fund’s executive board.

“Had Greece defaulted or left the euro at the time, I feel there would have been potentially massive contagion also within the euro zone,” Mr. Sobel told a Senate nomination hearing Wednesday. “This would have had a tremendously detrimental impact not only on the — not only on the world but particularly in the U.S.,” he said.

When Did IMF Change Its Mind?

The Wall Street Journal

By  STEPHEN FIDLER

Cast your mind back to the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund in Washington in April 2011. Nervousness about Greece’s debt travails was reaching fever pitch, and on April 16, we ran this story.

By Costas Paris and Ian Talley

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund believes Greece’s debt is unsustainable and has told European government and central bank officials that Athens should consider restructuring by next year, three people familiar with the situation said Saturday.

“The IMF believes the debt situation in Greece is unsustainable,” one of those people, who has direct knowledge of the matter, told Dow Jones Newswires. “Senior (IMF) officials have told the parties involved that restructuring should be considered soon,” including the European Commission and euro-zone governments.

IMF spokesman William Murray denied the IMF was recommending a restructuring of all Greek debt including that held by private holders, but the IMF has said the fund has considered extending the loan repayment schedule for Athens, a form of restructuring.

As we reported, the IMF denied this highly sensitive article in a very comprehensive manner. Mr. Murray, whom we cited above, told Bloomberg News “there is absolutely no truth” to the story. Other senior officials made similar comments.

Is China No. 1?

The Washington Post

By Robert J. Samuelson, Published: May 14

It’s probable that the U.S. economy is no longer the world’s largest. New World Bank figures, notes economist Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute, suggest that sometime in 2014 China will overtake the United States in gross domestic product — the production of goods and services.

We knew this day was coming, but if the World Bank figures are correct, it has arrived sooner than many experts predicted. Using those figures — which stop at 2011 — I estimate that China’s GDP in 2014 will hit $16.8 trillion compared with $16.1 trillion for the United States. (All these figures are in “constant” 2011 dollars.)

In Ukraine talks, finger-pointing and little sign of progress

The Washington Post

By Anthony Faiola and Fredrick Kunkle, Published: May 14 E-mail the writers

KIEV, Ukraine — The first round of talks on Ukrainian national unity descended into grandstanding and accusations Wednesday, offering no sign of a diplomatic breakthrough in the region’s tensest standoff since the Cold War.

Although strongly backed by the West and ostensibly by Russia, the negotiations as they are currently cast are unlikely to have an immediate effect on the escalating violence in eastern Ukraine. During the talks, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk pressed an offer to give more powers to Ukraine’s regions. But he and other members of the interim government in Kiev have ruled out a seat at the negotiating table for the pro-Russian separatists who have captured administrative buildings and are confronting Ukrainian military forces in deadly skirmishes in the east.

“We will conduct a dialogue only with all those who do not shoot and do not kill citizens,” he said.