Germany’s economy is at a crossroads after treading water for five years, and will only recover should the country make radical structural changes, according to a leading economics research group, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Ifo Institute said that Germany’s economy would shrink 0.1% this year, and only grow 0.4% in 2025, unless the government implemented pro-growth policies that included lowering corporate taxes, lessening bureaucracy, improving infrastructure and boosting the labor supply.
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Resources Per Country
- Albania
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guernsey
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Jersey
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
The Swiss National Bank cut its interest rate by 50 basis points on Thursday, its biggest reduction in almost 10 years, responding to weaker than expected inflation in Switzerland and growing uncertainty about the global economy, Reuters reported. The central bank flagged tepid price increases, rising risks around future U.S. economic policy and political hazards in Europe as it reduced its policy rate from 1.0% to 0.5%, the lowest since November 2022.
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Italy will scale back plans to increase taxes on cryptocurrency capital gains, ruling politicians said on Tuesday, following criticism from the affected industry and rows within the party of the economy minister, Reuters reported. "The tax increase will be significantly reduced during the parliamentary work," lawmaker Giulio Centemero and Treasury Junior Minister Federico Freni, both from the co-ruling League party, said in a statement.
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Serbia's printing house Stamparija Borba said that its general assembly endorsed a decision by the company's management to initiate bankruptcy proceedings, SeeNews.com reported. Belgrade-based Stamparija Borba stopped operating in April 2023, all employees were declared redundant, and the printing equipment was scrapped and cashed out, the company said in a filing with the Belgrade bourse on Monday. The government holds a 37.5% stake in Stamparija Borba, the state pension fund owns 31.5%, the state health insurance fund holds 12.7%, while the city of Belgrade has a stake of 8.2%.
Swedish landlord SBB has launched a major overhaul of its debt structure as it prepares to fight a landmark litigation case against US hedge fund Fir Tree Partners in London next month, Bloomberg News reported. Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB, as the company is officially known, is planning to issue at least €1.7 billion ($1.8 billion) of new bonds that existing noteholders can exchange with their current securities.
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France has a debt problem, but the European Union in aggregate does not. French lawmakers last week ousted a prime minister for the first time in more than a half-century, the Wall Street Journal reported. Central to the paralysis that has gripped French politics is the government’s rising debt, which the ousted prime minister was proposing to tame through a combination of tax rises and spending cuts. It would seem like an unusual time for investment manager Pimco to declare its preference for European over U.S. government bonds.
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The Biden administration transferred $20 billion to Ukraine on Tuesday, providing an urgently needed economic lifeline in the form of a loan that will be repaid using interest earned from Russia’s frozen central bank assets, the New York Times reported. The transfer of the funds comes as Ukraine is facing a period of grave uncertainty with President-elect Donald J. Trump poised to take office next month and Russia’s war continuing unabated. Mr.
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Europe’s bid to build a homegrown battery industry to break China’s dominance in electric vehicles is failing, Bloomberg News reported. The most high-profile setback yet came with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Northvolt AB, a Swedish startup whose backers include Volkswagen AG and BMW AG. Fallout is spreading across the region as EV demand wanes and local manufacturers struggle to master the technology. Eleven out of 16 planned European-led battery factories have been delayed or canceled, according to a Bloomberg News analysis.
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Italy's Industry Minister Adolfo Urso announced a deal on Tuesday to avert 249 layoffs at suppliers to Stellantis, saying he hoped the breakthrough would help repair strained relations with the carmaker, Reuters reported. Stellantis and Italy's government have been at loggerheads for months, with politicians in Rome accusing Fiat's parent company and its CEO Carlos Tavares of neglecting historic Italian manufacturing sites and moving production abroad.
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