Both the U.S. and the EU have stepped up pressure for new sanctions.
Ifo’s Hans-Werner Sinn on Eurogroup deal for Greece:I failed to spot where the Eurogroup allows for any ‘additional cash’ for Greece. The core point that Greece “has to become cheaper to regain competitiveness. This can only happen if Greece exits…
A quick note on Russian use of sovereign fund cash reserves (also referenced in the Moody’s decision
Moody’s downgraded Russian sovereign debt last night from Baa3 to Ba1 with negative outlook. Moody’s put Russian ratings on a review back on January 16.The bases for the downgrade were (quotes from Moody’s statement):”The continuing crisis in Ukraine a…
Eurogroup agreement on Greece ‘achieved’ tonight is a classic can kicking exercise in which Eurogroup and the Troika have won, Greece lost, but no one has moved an inch in real actionable terms.
Russian consumer prices data for January posted CPI of 15% y/y, with food inflation at 21% and non-food inflation at 11%. Per Economy Ministry estimates, more than 4 percentage points in inflation came from Ruble devaluation, while Russian July 2014 co…
Levada Center report from earlier this month points to a rising anti-Western sentiment in Russian public opinion. Based on the (gated) article covering Levada findings (see http://www.vedomosti.ru/newspaper/article/840171/plohoj-mir):44% of Russians he…
When interest rates are at their zero ‘bound’, consumers expecting higher inflation in the future tend to actually cut their readiness to spend on durables. Not increase it!
The key premise behind the risk of deflation is the argument that faced with a prospect of declining prices, consumers will withhold current consumption in favour of the future consumption and producers will delay current investment. The evidence says otherwise.
At the end of 2000, global stock of debt (excluding unregulated private lending) stood at USD87 trillion. By the end of 2007 the same figure was USD142 trillion.