Transaction tax missing its targets March 29, 2013 TOUGH taxes on financial transactions across Europe have devastated market activity and failed to raise as much as politicians hoped, according to new figures out yesterday. Hungary implemented a 0.1 per cent tax at the start of the year. But it raised less than half the revenue the state had hoped for, bringing in 13bn [...]
UK branches of Cypriot banks reassure savers March 29, 2013 CYPRIOT banks with British operations reassured customers yesterday that their deposits were safe, with at least some savings covered under guarantee schemes. The Bank of Cyprus UK, which has three branches in London and another in Birmingham, said there would be “no effect on deposits” for its UK account holders, describing itself as a “separately [...]
Why capital controls are an economic and political disgrace March 26, 2013 THERE is something truly terrifying about capital controls, the harsh restrictions that may soon be imposed on Cypriots. The freedom to take your money out of a country, and into another, at will and with no taxes, is an essential bulwark of a free society. It is also a central tool in a world of [...]
Troika tells Cyprus they need to find another €900m March 25, 2013 MNI reports that the Troika has said that in the face of worsening conditions Cyprus has to stump up more cash. They’re now demanding €6.7bn as opposed to €5.8bn. That’s a huge increase given the size of Cyprus’ economy. Finance minister Michalis Sarris has said a deposit levy is definitely back on the table. We’re back to [...]
Why Osborne’s housing subsidies feel right out of the 1970s March 24, 2013 IT is all too easy to make comparisons between the behaviour of current politicians and those of their historic predecessors. But basic economic errors seem ingrained in the nature of those in positions of power, and keep happening in almost cyclical fashion, albeit always in superficially very different circumstances. I have previously compared George Osborne [...]
Osborne’s gambled on the wrong policy March 23, 2013 THERE is a striking paradox at the heart of George Osborne’s approach to the economy, as demonstrated yet again in yesterday’s Budget. He was remarkably risk-averse with his tax and spend policies, refusing to embrace the kinds of shock and awe tax reforms many of us wanted, or to cut spending faster, though he did [...]
Britain needs a Swedish-style fiscal rule to end its yearly Budget farce | Morning Wire March 22, 2013 BEN GUMMER HERE we are again, two days before the budget, and the chancellor is inundated with advice about what he should do to “fix” the British economy. It has become a tiresome ritual that comes around twice a year before the Budget and the Autumn Statement: a litany of suggestions, papers and proposals pushed [...]
Fastjet’s Kenya fight deepens March 22, 2013 RELATIONS between Aim-listed airline Fastjet and the head of its Kenyan subsidiary have soured further in the past week, with both sides now turning to legal action in a dispute over the terms of their tie-up. Don Smith, who agreed to sell most of his holding in Fly540 Kenya to Fastjet last year, instructed law [...]
Europe’s political elites betray the middle class March 22, 2013 ABOVE all, don’t lie, especially when it comes to people’s savings. That was a rule European politicians used to understand, especially in a continent where dispossessed middle classes have repeatedly turned to fascists when their savings were wiped out. Today, however, the political class and its corporatist allies have forgotten this golden rule – just [...]
Former lawyers heading FTSE 100 companies on the increase March 22, 2013 PEOPLE with a legal background are rising through the ranks in blue chip company boardrooms and taking senior management roles, a report out yesterday said. The number of chief executives with a legal background at FTSE 100 companies has increased since 2002 when there were just three. Today there are seven but some commentators say [...]