The Chinese government have been criticised for the ‘manipulation’ of their currency. They would prefer not to use the word ‘manipulation’ perhaps they have an unofficial exchange rate target to keep Chinese currency undervalued to promote growth and exports. At the moment China only pegs its currency against the dollar and not a wider basket …
Recently, I posted about the current fall in M4 lending in the UK. The concern is that fears over possible future inflation are preventing decisive action to promote economic recovery. But, these fears are misplaced. The fall in M4 lending in the UK is a sign of a fundamental weakness in demand. Given this weakness, …
Between 1999 and 2008, there was a rapid growth in public sector employment in the UK. This mirrored a sharp increase in government spending (see: post on spending under labour.) The justification for the increased public sector employment was to deliver better service in the NHS. However, critics argue that the increase in public sector …
The purpose of harmonised competitive indicators is to show changes in relative competitiveness of countries. They are are also consistent with the real effective exchange rates (EERs) of the euro. This shows the divergence in competitiveness between a country like Germany De (improved competitiveness) and other countries like Greece and Ireland which have seen higher …
Interesting perspective from Norbert Walter a former chief economist of Deutsche Bank Group and head of Deutsche Bank Research. – What Euro Crisis? Basically, his view; There isn’t really an economic crisis in the Eurozone If there is a crisis, it could easily be resolved through a bit more immigration and the European Union becoming like …
Readers Question: How are we tied up with the European Union in respect to the national debt? In short, the EU has little direct impact on UK national debt. If we were in the Eurozone, our bond yields and debt situation would be very different. But, being outside the Eurozone means the UK debt is …
Spain national debt was € 734,961 at the end of 2011 or 68% of GDP. This is a graph showing Spanish national debt in past 15 years. source: ECB stats By European and international standards, this is actually quite low. National debt in Italy is 120% of GDP. In France government debt is higher at 80% …
In 2012, the Pound has strengthened against the Euro – reaching a level not seen since 2008. However, the value of the Euro to Pound is still less than the peak of late 2007, when £1 reached €1.4. In June 14th, 2012 £1 = €1.24 Euros. An increase since the start of the year when …