Column
De euro sukkelt van crisis naar crisis en de politiek worstelt met een antwoord. Het is duidelijk dat een vlucht voorwaarts in verdere politieke integratie — de vorming van een Europese regering met een substantieel centraal budget — op dit moment politiek volstrekt niet haalbaar is.
Column
Column Wim Boonstra in Financieele Dagblad 13 januari 2011
Economic Update Dutch version
We expect the recovery in 2011 to be sluggish, similar to last year. Domestic demand is unlikely to grow robustly, while export boosting gains on the back of increased price competitiveness have hardly been realised. As such, it is important that wage growth does not rise in line with inflation. Though this is bad for purchasing power and consumption, it is necessary for the rebalancing of the economy.
Economic Update Dutch version
The French economy appears to be closing the year strongly in 10Q4, fuelled partly by robust private consumption. When consumers will be restrained in 2011 by austerity measures and slower growth of purchasing power, producers could step in to fill this gap with rising investments. Despite their rising (foreign) order outlook, limited domestic demand and low capacity utilisation mean this scenario is far from certain.
Economic Update Dutch version
The recovery had plenty of pace in the closing stages of 2010. That said, the services sector weakened considerably. We expect private consumption to grow robustly in 10Q4. But consumption growth in 2011 will be weak amid the upcoming fiscal squeeze.
Special
Every time we witness a collapse in asset prices or a financial crisis, we seemoverwhelmed. Even the most experienced investors, economic forecasters and regulators are caught off-guard. But if we look closer at the historical data for the past two centuries, we see dat asset bubles and financial crises are nothing new to mankind.
Economic Report Dutch version
Investors have been keeping a close watch on the financial situation of a number of eurozone countries since the Autumn of 2009. Financial markets are chiefly concerned about Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.
Economic Report
The credit crisis has affected different European mortgage markets in differing ways. This Special Report argues that those differences can be largely traced to the degree of countries’ dependence on securitisations as a source of funding before the crisis.
Special
Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods exchange rate system in 1971, the world’s monetary system has been based on a so-called ‘paper standard’. In this system, the US dollar plays the role of global currency anchor.
Special
The euro is under serious pressure. Although in the early months of the financial crisis of 2008 the euro has served EMU’s member states very well, there are increasing doubts about its survival in the long run
Country Report
Paraguay has posted a very high economic growth rate in 2010, thanks to rapid growth of exports of soybeans and meat. However, the economic structure of the country remains weak, in particular through the strong dependence on agricultural export products.
Country Report
The fragile political stability is currently the main weakness of Romania. Although the cabinet survived three votes of no-confidence last year, dissatisfaction also within the coalition over the harsh austerity measures is rising.
Country Report
Economic recovery in Bulgaria was weak in 2010 (-0.1%), largely because domestic demand and investment were suppressed by higher unemployment and still tight credit conditions. For 2011 and 2012, a slow recovery is expected to around 2.5% and 3.5%, respectively.