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Letta Vows to Suspend Italian Property Tax to Bolster Economy
- (www.bloomberg.com) Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said his plans to cut taxes for
homeowners, consumers and companies will keep the budget deficit within
European rules. Letta, 46, outlined his priorities in a speech today in the
lower house of Parliament in Rome, one day after being sworn in to replace
Mario Monti. He then won a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies, and his
government will be officially installed after another vote tomorrow in the
Senate. While Letta didn’t give full details about financing the stimulus, he
said Italy will have options once the European Union ends its budget review,
known as the excessive-deficit procedure.
Moody's says Italy may still eventually need bailout- (www.reuters.com) Rating agency Moody's believes Italy may still
eventually need to seek a bailout despite forming a new government and avoiding
immediate crisis. "We cannot yet rule out Italy will end up
asking for help to the European Central Bank and the European Stability
Mechanism," Dietmar Hornung, senior credit officer at Moody's, was cited as
saying in Monday's told La Repubblica. Prime Minister Enrico Letta's new
Italian government was sworn in on Sunday and the premier will seek the backing
of parliament in a confidence vote at 3 p.m. on Monday. Letta is expected to
have the backing of his own center-left Democratic Party and former prime
minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom party, to break a
stalemate that lasted around two months after February's vote.
Europe's
healthier carmakers flinch as market slumps - (www.reuters.com) Europe's deepening car market slump is starting to strain its most
prosperous automakers as they respond to profit-crushing discounts imposed by
loss-making rivals in a desperate battle for customers. The region's car sales
are heading for their sixth straight yearly decline to a two-decade low and
industry forecasters now say the crisis could drag on for years. German
manufacturers with some of the industry's strongest brands have held up better
than mass-market competitors such as France's loss-making Peugeot or Italy's
Fiat.
Analysis: Cheap debt may prove costly for emerging market firms
and families - (www.reuters.com) Korean homebuyers and Chinese small firms, Brazilian motorists and
Turkish banks are now among
the main culprits in running up emerging market debt, replacing governments who
have largely put their books in order. Investors' eagerness to lend at record
low interest rates in a world awash with cheap money is seducing companies and
households, and threatening to counter a decade of government efforts to lower
debt ratios. The emerging sovereign debt that was so blighted by default in the
past may well be on firmer ground. But the steady climb in private debt is
alarming for those who have bought into emerging markets either as a
low-debt alternative to the over-leveraged West or in the hope that a long
history of debt default in developing countries has passed.
IMF flags risks of asset bubbles, middle income trap in Asia
- (www.reuters.com) Asia needs to guard against asset bubbles and its emerging economies
must improve government institutions and liberalize rigid labor and product
markets if they wish to reach the level of developed countries, the
International Monetary Fund said on Monday. "Emerging Asia is potentially
susceptible to the 'middle-income trap,' a phenomenon whereby economies risk stagnation
at middle-income levels and fail to graduate into the ranks of advanced
economies," the IMF said in its latest Regional Economic Outlook for Asia
and the Pacific.
Rush to help airlines, travelers could crack open budget door
- (www.bloomberg.com)
Reinhart-Rogoff Rebuttal Says UMass Critics Politicized Debt - (www.bloomberg.com)
Reinhart-Rogoff Rebuttal Says UMass Critics Politicized Debt - (www.bloomberg.com)
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