Category: News Desk

IMF Tells Europe to Speed Up on Banking Union


The eurozone must act quickly towards setting up a single banking regulator to oversee banks across all 27 European Union states as policy paralysis or backsliding in the current environment could derail confidence and economic recovery, an International Monetary Fund staff paper said on Wednesday. 

In a report on Europe’s progress towards setting up a common banking union, the IMF on Wednesday warned of the dangers of leaving the integration project half-finished, either through political compromises or a loss of momentum. 

Shale Oil to Boost Global Economy by $2.7tn Annually


Shale oil production could add $2.7 trillion to the global economy annual by 2035 while pushing global oil prices down by as much as 40 percent, according to a report.

The extra supply provided by shale could reach up to 12 percent of global oil production, or 14 million barrels a day, from around 1 percent now, as production expands from its U.S. base over the next two decades, added PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Greece Eyes $2 Billion Investment, 2,000 New Jobs From Europe Gas Pipeline Deal


The governments of Greece, Albania and Italy on Wednesday signed a trilateral agreement to build a Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) for Europe, as part of efforts to diversify the region’s natural gas supply away from Russian reliance, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Russia May Double China Oil Deliveries In Oil-For-Loans Deal: Report


Russian oil firm Rosneft could double its oil supplies to China in exchange for a $30 billion loan from the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), reported Reuters on Wednesday, in a deal that would make Beijing the world’s largest consumer of Russian oil.

Infographic: The Rise of Counterfeit Drugs


Counterfeit medicines are dangerous by their very nature and is on the rise in the United States and globally, putting patients as well as the pharmaceutical industry at risk. 

Counterfeiting of medicines is a hugely lucrative business due to the continued high demand for medicines and low production cost. At the same time, the absence of deterrent legislation in many countries encourages counterfeiters since there is no threat of prosecution. 

Turkey Moves Closer to EU Membership Talks


France on Tuesday said it was ready to resume EU accession talks with Turkey, marking a warming of ties after a long period of bilateral tension under former President Nicolas Sarkozy. 

Speaking at the sidelines of a conference on Libya on Tuesday, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius told his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu that Paris is ready to unblock European Union membership talks on the subject of regional policy.

Post-Soviet Russia Sees $764 Billion In Total Illicit Flows: Report


The Russian economy saw nearly $764.3 billion in illicit financial flows leave and enter the country from 1994 through 2011, said a new report by research and advocacy organisation Global Financial Integrity (GFI) on Wednesday, raising serious questions over the nation’s financial transparency, ahead of its chairing of the G-20 summit this week.

G-7 Nations Pledge To Avoid Currency War


Finance Ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven industrial nations (G-7) on Tuesday vowed to allow foreign exchange markets to determine the value of their currencies, in a statement seen as an attempt to defuse speculation of a potential ‘currency war’.

The G-7, which counts the U.S., Japan, Canada, France, Italy, the U.K. and Germany as its members, said that “excessive volatility” in exchange markets undermined stability; reaffirming their commitment that central-bank policy should focus solely on domestic objectives.

EU Budget to Be Cut for First Time in 56 Year History


The European Union on Friday edged closer to a historic budget cut after  18-hours of talks in Brussels, with most of the cuts coming from the bloc’s administrative budget.

In total, the 960 billion euros budget deal is 12 billion euros less than the previous budget proposal for 2014 to 2020 mooted in November, and 33 billion euros less than the current budget. 

If approved by the bloc’s 27 leaders, the new figures would mean a first-ever EU budget cut in its 56-year history. 

Activist Investor Sues Apple for More Cash


U.S. activist investor and hedge fund manager, David Einhorn, is suing Apple in a New York federal court demanding that the company stop hoarding cash and pay out a bigger piece of its $137 billion cash pile to investors.

Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, Einhorn accused Apple of habouring a depression-era mentality, which gave it a tendency to hoard cash and invest only in the safest, lowest-yeilding securities.