Cyprus communist president Demetris Christofias has blamed an “alliance” intent on harming the government for a downgrade of the country's debt rating by Standard and Poor's, saying his administration could assume no blame for the cut, despite the government's refusal to tackle a growing civil service payroll with parliamentary elections in mid-May. S&P unexpectedly cut
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Credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Portugal on Friday saying the debt-laden country needed a bailout, while rival agency S&P cut Ireland's rating after bank stress tests revealed another black hole. Despite a successful Portuguese debt sale on Friday, Fitch slashed its rating to the lowest investment grade rank of BBB-. “The severity of the downgrade
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Pay at Greece's biggest refiner, Hellenic Petroleum, is too high and must be linked to productivity, its chief executive said on Friday, shortly before the planned start of strike action. The average cost per employee at Hellenic is 85,000 euros ($120,300) a year, the company said in a statement, with productivity lagging that of Western
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Marfin Popular Bank, the second-largest lender in Cyprus, announced that it will fully acquire the Russian subsidiary OJSC RPB Holding, owner of Rossiysky Promyishlenny Bank (Rosprombank) and OOO RPB Leasing, for 51.6 mln euros ($72.6 mln). Marfin had acquired 50.04% of OJSC RPB Holding in 2007 for 83 mln euros ($119 mln). The agreement to
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Ireland is set to reveal up to a 25 billion euro hole in its banks' capital and a radical restructuring of the sector as it releases stress test results on Thursday in a last ditch bid to calm nervous markets. The government will also announce plans to fold the EBS building society into the country's
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European shares slipped on Thursday as investors traded cautiously ahead of the Irish bank stress tests results, with banking stocks reversing earlier gains, while H&M fell after earnings missed forecasts. By 0928 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.1 percent at 1,133.32 points, but the index is still on track
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A new technology that allows hydrogen to be stored in a cheap and practical way, could make its widespread use as a carbon-free alternative to petrol a reality, according to its developers. The technology is based on a new way of producing nano-fibres from hydrides, materials that soak up hydrogen like a sponge, and then
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France wants to host a meeting of G20 nuclear industry officials in May to set out new global standards in the wake of the disaster in Japan, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday. A meeting of energy advisers has already been set for April 5 in Abu Dhabi, but French Energy Minister Eric Besson said
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Inconsistency in exchange rate policies is the most important problem in the international monetary system, with some countries running tightly managed currency regimes that harm the global economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a G20 meeting on Thursday. The solution to the problem is not complicated, he said. Rather than a new treaty or
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China pushed back on Thursday against pressure from Paris and Washington for swift reform of a global monetary system that French President Nicolas Sarkozy said is so unstable that it could tip the world economy back into crisis. The diverging views, on display at the start of a meeting of the Group of 20 leading
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