from-the-group

Video: Bennenbroek Says Euro Is Facing `Risk of Disappointment’

by on February 18, 2011

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) — Nick Bennenbroek, head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo & Co., talks about the outlook for currency discussion at the meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 countries today and tomorrow in Paris. Bennenbroek talks with Betty Liu, Sheila Dharmarajan and Jon Erlichman on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Dunaway Expected More Progress From G-20 on Currencies

by on November 13, 2010

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — Steven Dunaway, adjunct senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, talks about the results of the summit of leaders from the Group of 20 nations in Seoul. Dunaway speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Barroso Says the EU’s Economic Fundamentals `Are Good’: Video

June 25, 2010

June 25 (Bloomberg) — European Commission President Jose Barroso said the European Union’s economic “fundamentals are good.” Barroso, speaking yesterday in Toronto where leaders from the Group of 20 countries are gathering this weekend, also said China’s plan to provide more currency flexibility was a “move in the right direction.” Bloomberg’s Sara Eisen reports. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Dubai World Receives More Than $6.2 Billion Government Loans in 12 Months

February 6, 2010

By Camilla Hall Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) — The Dubai government said it lent Dubai World, the state-owned investment company that’s in talks to reschedule about $22 billion of debt, more than $6.2 billion in the past 12 months. “The money is in the form of a loan, on commercial terms, and the Dubai Support Fund hasn’t taken an equity stake in the company or taken any assets from the group,” a government spokeswoman said by phone, declining to be identified, in line with government policy. The Abu-Dhabi-based National newspaper reported the figure yesterday. Dubai World failed to present a restructuring offer to lenders in December and declined to say when a deal could be struck. Six months may be enough time to reach an agreement, Henry Azzam , Deutsche Bank AG’s regional chief executive officer, said this week at the opening of the bank’s Abu Dhabi branch. Debt restructuring by Dubai state-run companies may reach $46.7 billion, Morgan Stanley said in a Dec. 8 report. There’s $4.9 billion left in the Dubai Support Fund, set up last year to support the emirate’s state-owned companies, which may be available to Dubai World if it reaches a standstill agreement with creditors, the spokeswoman said. Dubai stocks and bonds tumbled in November after the government said Dubai World would seek to delay payments to creditors until at least May 30. The United Arab Emirates’ central bank bought $10 billion in Dubai government bonds last year and the emirate received a further $10 billion from the Abu Dhabi government and two Abu-Dhabi based banks. Istithmar World PJSC, a unit of Dubai World, sold its 13 percent stake in SpiceJet Ltd. to mutual funds, Ajay Singh, a director at the Indian budget carrier, said yesterday. To contact the reporter on this story: Camilla Hall in Dubai at chall24@bloomberg.net

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G-7 Discussion Paper Says Nations Must Allow Greater Currency Flexibility

February 6, 2010

By Simone Meier Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) — Major economies with inflexible exchange rates must consider allowing them to strengthen to help narrow international trade imbalances, according to a report prepared for a meeting of finance chiefs from the Group of Seven. “Countries with inflexible nominal exchange rates must permit greater flexibility in real exchange rates either through higher inflation or a nominal appreciation of their currency,” the document, drawn up by Canada’s finance ministry and obtained by Bloomberg News, said. G-7 finance ministers and central bankers are meeting in Iqaluit, Canada, today. The document doesn’t mention which countries are viewed as having inflexible currencies. China has attracted international criticism this year from foreign governments for controlling the value of its yuan since July 2008 after it strengthened 21 percent against the dollar over the previous three years. Although nations are entitled to set their own currency policies, the “freedom to choose their exchange rate arrangements carries an obligation not to manipulate exchanges so as to gain a competitive advantage,” the document said. To contact the reporters on this story: Simone Meier in Iqaluit at smeier@bloomberg.net

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Bank Tax: Geithner And U.K.’s Gordon Brown Face Off On Bank Transaction Tax At G20 Meeting

November 9, 2009

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner clashed over potential taxes on bank transactions at a weekend meeting here of finance policy makers from the Group of 20 leading economies. At the gathering, G-20 finance ministers and central-bank chiefs discussed the fragility of the global economic recovery, agreed that stimulative efforts should continue and approved a timetable for agreeing on policies to help rebalance the global economy.

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Video: Egypt’s Boutros-Ghali Says Global Economy Past the Worst: Video

November 6, 2009

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) — Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali talks with Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua about the outlook for the global economy. Boutros-Ghali, speaking in St. Andrews, Scotland, where finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations are meeting, also discusses emerging market investment trends and efforts to prevent asset bubbles. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Geithner Says Too Soon for Governments to Unwind Aid Amid Recovery Signs

October 3, 2009

By Rebecca Christie Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said signs of economic recovery are “stronger” and have appeared “sooner” than expected, while reiterating it’s not yet time to roll back stimulus programs. Financial conditions have improved “dramatically,” particularly in the U.S., where the housing market has stabilized, Geithner said in a statement issued in Istanbul today. Still, jobless rates are “unacceptably high” and the financial system remains damaged. As a result, it’s too soon for governments to withdraw stimulus, Geithner said. “Planning for an eventual exit is the responsible and necessary thing to do, but we are not yet in the position where it would be prudent to begin to withdraw fiscal and monetary policy support,” Geithner said in remarks released after a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven nations. “Exit will not be like flipping a switch,” he said. “Instead, as conditions stabilize and growth strengthens, we will unwind the extraordinary policy measures we’ve taken, phasing them out carefully to avoid a damaging cliff.” G-7 policy makers meet at the end of a week in which officials from France to Canada voiced concern that a sliding dollar is threatening to impede their recoveries from the deepest global recession since World War II. The dollar has dropped 14 percent against a basket of seven currencies since early March. Geithner didn’t mention currencies in his prepared remarks. In his recent public comments, he has reiterated that the U.S. doesn’t intend for the dollar’s role in the global economy to diminish. To contact the reporter on this story: Rebecca Christie in Washington at Rchristie4@bloomberg.net .

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Greenspan Says Banks Should Be Forced to Boost Capital on Balance Sheets

September 7, 2009

By Pooja Thakur and Anoop Agrawal Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said banks should be forced to hold more capital on their balance sheets, echoing a weekend push by finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations. “Capital requirements even during non-crisis periods have to have a larger buffer,” the 83-year-old former policy maker said today via teleconference to the Antique India Markets Conference in Mumbai. “We do need significant changes.” Greenspan made his call for tighter capital requirements two days after a G-20 meeting in London proposed requiring banks to increase the quantity and quality of assets they keep in reserve for when economies stumble. The drive to revamp regulation comes after excessive risk-taking by the world’s banks led to $1.61 trillion in losses and writedowns, taxpayer- funded bailouts and a global recession. “Financial intermediaries allowed institutions to go into default by taking this kind of risk,” Greenspan said. “There’s no substitute for capital. Don’t think the crisis could have been prevented unless we can change human nature.” Once regarded by some observers as the greatest central banker, Greenspan has seen his legacy criticized since the U.S. subprime-mortgage market collapsed in 2007. Having run the Fed from 1987 to 2006, he said last in October that a “flaw” in the ideology of free-market risk management he had espoused contributed to the “once-in-a-century” credit crisis. ‘Euphoria’ Greenspan today repeated how rare the turmoil was and blamed it on an under-pricing of risk or “building of euphoria” that emerged at the start of the century as interest rates and inflation ran into single-digits. His hands-off approach to asset bubbles has been challenged by some Fed district-bank presidents, such as Janet Yellen . Former Fed Vice-Chairman Alan Blinder and Stanford University professor John Taylor are among the economists who say Greenspan also left interest rates too low for too long earlier this decade, encouraging the easy credit that fostered the housing bubble . Speaking a week before the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Greenspan said that event had led to a “massive contraction” in trade financing and surge in inventories. He predicted some exotic financial instruments, such as collateralized debt obligations, won’t return even after the crisis passes. The former Fed chairman has returned to his role as a private economic forecaster, speaking at conferences and to groups of bankers and investors, while consulting for clients such as Deutsche Bank AG. To contact the reporter on this story: Pooja Thakur in Mumbai at pthakur@bloomberg.net

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Japanese Stocks Gain on U.S. Unemployment Report; Sony, Nissan Motor Rise

September 6, 2009

By Masaki Kondo and Kotaro Tsunetomi Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) — Japanese stocks rose, rebounding three days of losses, after a government report showed U.S. companies cut fewer jobs than estimated in August. Sony Corp., which gets almost a quarter of its sales from the U.S., and Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s No. 2 automaker, both climbed 1.4 percent. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.9 percent to 10,276.41 as of 9:03 a.m. in Tokyo. The broader Topix index added 0.8 percent to 943.07. Both gauges fell for a third day on Sept. 4, the longest stretch of declines in seven weeks. “Investors are focusing on the relative cheapness of equities” since their retreat from the high, said Hiroichi Nishi , an equities manager at Tokyo-based Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. In New York, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.3 percent in the latest session. A Labor Department report showed U.S. companies cut fewer jobs last month than economists had estimated. The unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent, the highest level in 26 years. Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations concluded talks in London on Sept. 5. They agreed on plans to rein in bank bonuses and force lenders to hold more capital to avoid a repeat of the global financial crisis. To contact the reporter for this story: Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net ; Kotaro Tsunetomi in Tokyo at ktsunetomi@bloomberg.net .

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G20 Finance Ministers Committed to Maintain Stimulus, Reforms, Swan Says

August 23, 2009

By Gavin Evans Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) — Finance ministers meeting in London next month will speak against any premature end to stimulus programs and press on with reforms of the global financial system, Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said today. Ministers from the Group of 20 industrial and emerging nations will meet Sept. 4. Discussions last week with some of those attending shows that there are still concerns about the fragility of the global recovery, Swan said. “All of them underscored the importance of fully implementing our commitments to support jobs and growth,” he said in a weekly economic newsletter. “Ministers will be committed to implementing reforms to the global financial system and ensuring we support recovery in developing countries.” World leaders pledged more than $1 trillion in emergency economic support and tighter regulation of hedge funds, banks and credit-rating companies at the Group of 20 meeting in April. They will gather again next month in Pittsburgh after a meeting of their finance ministers. Australia distributed A$12 billion ($10 billion) in cash handouts to households this year and pledged a further A$22 billion to upgrade roads, railways, ports and hospitals to help keep its economy afloat. Economic Forecast Earlier this month, the central bank reversed a forecast 1 percent economic contraction this year, instead predicting gross domestic product will expand 0.5 percent in 2009 and grow 2.25 percent next year. The strength of Australia’s financial system, assisted by the government’s banking guarantees, has been an important factor in the strong performance of the economy, Swan said today. Credit has continued to flow, allowing businesses to keep operating and keep employing people, he said. Small businesses face “tough conditions” and it is important the government maintains its tax breaks and stimulus measures to help keep them afloat through the global recession. “There are still so many challenges presented to us by the global recession and the job of supporting employment in our economy is far from finished,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Gavin Evans in Wellington at gavinevans@bloomberg.net .

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