Post Tagged with: "Baltics"
Latvia’s economy contracts almost 18 percent in Q4 2009
This post was originally published at A Fistful of Euros. Well, as we say in English, it never rains but it pours. Latvia, which has had the deepest recession of all 27 European Union member states, contracted by nearly 18 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009, when compared to the same period a
Latvia warns Swedish banks to resume lending
This comes via the FT: Latvia’s prime minister has warned Swedish banks they risk choking off recovery in the Baltic state’s crisis-hit economy unless they resume lending. Banks such as Swedbank and SEB, which dominate the Latvian market, have reined in credit as they struggle to contain rising bad loans amid the deepest recession in
Estonia looks to join the Eurozone in 2011
This comes from Bloomberg News: Estonia is set to meet its goal of adopting the euro in 2011 because of the Baltic country’s work on fulfilling fiscal requirements, European Union Economic Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said. “It is quite possible that Estonia will be in the euro by 2011,” Almunia told the European Parliament in
Gulf states agreement to enter currency union seen as dollar threat
The last I had heard about a prospective Gulf currency union came yesterday morning in a note by Marc Chandler who is the Chief Strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman’s FX group. He indicated that he was more optimistic about a Gulf currency union on the than a Latin American one on the eve of a
Greece risks financial Armageddon while Ireland makes cuts
The Irish government announced draconian spending cuts of 6 billion Euros in order to stave off a debt crisis in the worst modern-day downturn in the nation’s history. Even so, Irish government bond yields have been rising relative to German government bond yields, the benchmark for the Eurozone. Over the past five years the spread
Expect continued losses from Nordic bank exposure outside home market
Moody’s anticipates continued losses at Danske Bank, SEB, and Swedbank due to large exposure outside of the Nordic markets. In particular, exposure in the Baltics is likely to lead to continued writedowns for Nordic banking institutions. The Irish Independent reports: Danske Bank A/S, SEB AB and Swedbank AB will keep suffering losses from their non-Nordic
New Citigroup maven Buiter warns of sovereign debt delusion
This post from November 2009 is a reminder of how things looked in the sovereign debt crisis just a few months ago
Latvia – the insanity continues
Marshall Auerback here. I want to add a few thoughts on the situation in Latvia which Ed has highlighted on several occasions. His allusion to Argentina to describe the situation in the Baltics last July was on the money. I have a solution here out of the Argentine playbook. In Latvia, the neo-liberal insanity continues.
Sweden prepares for financial collapse in Latvia and major bank losses at home
The following is my translation of a much-discussed article that appeared in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet at the weekend. This information was being withheld from the public and leaked at an inopportune moment. Note that the Swedish government has secretly been preparing the banks for financial Armageddon, encouraging Swedbank into a rights issue which arguably
Moody’s: Iceland, Latvia and Hungary in “fragile stabilization”
Today, Moody’s warned that Iceland, Latvia and Hungary were stabilizing but that their economies remained fragile. The problem is high debt levels, which is restraining consumer spending. Recovery in the Eurozone has been the main aid to stabilization, the report said. Absent this support, the outlook is considerably worse. Moody’s re-affirmed Iceland and Hungary’s ratings
More trouble in the Baltics as S&P downgrades
Both Latvia’s and Estonia’s debt ratings were downgraded by Standard and Poors. Estonia was cut from A to A-, while Latvia was cut to BB+ to BB – its considered high yield securities aka junk bonds. This should come as no surprise as both countries have been in the news due to severe economic dislocations
Earnings results at Swedish banks show large writedowns in Baltics
Earnings season is upon us and the Swedish banks have begun reporting earnings. Their results have seen huge writedowns that demonstrate large and continued exposure to souring loans in the Baltics. Handelsbanken and Nordea reported today. Despite the writedowns, you do get the sense that things are going better than expected as the banks beat