China will push for greater economic and security ties with Afghanistan during a joint conference this week, claimed a report by Reuters on Sunday, with officials from both governments keen to deepen their relationship amidst an ongoing military pull-out by Western forces.
A quick preview of the key economic events happening this week: Aside from the European debt drama, this week will see an interesting line up of Islamic banking events hosted in South East Asia. Singapore plays host to World Islamic Banking Conference as well as the Asia-Middle East Investment Summit. This week also, Istanbul hosts the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, as well as the Turkish-Arab Economic Forum.
Monday, June 4
According to the Public Accounts Committee, tougher rules are needed to prevent the abuse of some 24,000 government credit cards by UK civil servants. In a report published today, the Committee said 99 questionable cases were uncovered over the past three years, including spending by Ministry of Defence military and civilian staff in bars, restaurants and golf clubs.
Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann, once described as “one of the most dangerous bankers in the world” by former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson, has stepped down from his role at the world’s largest foreign exchange dealer after more than a decade in charge, reported the New York Times on Thursday.
In the 2011/12 season, the average Premier League club revenue was £114 ($176) million, nearly 15 times their level 20 years ago. The spectacular rate of growth reflects the game’s ubiquitous domestic and global profile, the exposure and interest having relentlessly driven revenues. This infographic tracks the development of the football industry, and how it is likely to change in the future.
Public concern over the health of Spain’s financial institutions caused nearly 66.2 billion euros ($82 billion) to be withdraw from the country over the month of March, said the Bank of Spain on Thursday, as the country faces a financial shortfall that threatens to send government borrowing costs to euro-era highs.
Over the first quarter of the year, 97 billion euros ($120 billion) was sent abroad from Spain – with withdrawals in March alone hitting figures that had not been seen since official records began in 1990.
Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti has called for a two to three-year hiatus for the entire football league in the country following a spate of match-fixing incidents, which have resulted in over 50 men arrested in the last year.
Over the last few years, the Italian football league, known as Serie A, have been rocked by a match fixing scandal that has seen players, coaches and even officials questioned by the police.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in the U.S. recently released an infographic, which detailed how Americans utilised energy, as well as the various sources of energy in the country.
One of the most notable findings from the study showed that fossil fuel was still a key energy resource, though the U.S. economy remained highly diversified in its energy needs.
In a radical policy shift, the European Commission has called for the creation of a “banking union” that can centrally oversee and if necessary bailout the banking sector. As concerns over Spain’s financial health continue to grow, the policy shift would allow the banking union to share the burden of bank failures, without having to go through national governments.
Newly elected French President Francois Hollande has set about in fulfilling his prior campaign promises by unveiling drastic new salary plans for state-owned companies, in which top executives will have their salaries capped to just twenty times that of the firm’s lowest-paid worker.
