2009年1月29日星期四

EU economy commissioner

Several member states were now considering how to solve the problem of toxic assets, which would continue to undermine confidence and hamper leading so long as they have remained on bank's balance sheets, he noted.
"Needless to say, this solution (of creating a bad bank) is not free of problems and it is just one among several possible avenues," Almunia said.
Britain proposed last week to create a 'bad bank' to buy up the toxic assets to restore trust and kickstart lending.
"But I believe that before rushing into the 'bad bank' debate we have to coordinate at EU level our views on first, what are the 'bad assets' that we need to deal with, second, what is the best way to value them, and only then to address the issue of what is the best way to manage them," said Almunia.
At the same time, he stressed "at this point that any further aid to the banking sector must be based on the principle of transparency".

2009年1月16日星期五

Car sales drop

In Western Europe, new car sales contracted by 8.4 percent in 2008. The downturn was most prominent in the last quarter when new car sales dropped by 19.3 percent compared with the same period of 2007. Only four countries posted growth, i.e. Finland, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland.
While fiscal measures helped sustain growth in Finland and Portugal, the Belgian and Swiss sales levels seem to have better resisted the financial and economic crises prevailing throughout Europe, the ACEA said.
Iceland and Ireland were among the countries recording the most remarkable downturn last year, down by 43.3 percent and 18.7 percent respectively.
In Central and Eastern European countries, which joined the EU after 2004, new car sales slipped by 0.7 percent in 2008, similarly affected by a worsening performance towards the end of the year.