Financial Mirror - 18.07.2012

July 18 - 24, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

2 | NEWS

Bernanke offers few hints on QE3 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday offered few new clues on whether the U.S. central bank was moving closer to a fresh round of monetary stimulus, repeating the Fed’s pledge to act if needed.

Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee the U.S. economic recovery was being held back by anxiety over Europe’s debt crisis and the path of U.S. fiscal policy.

But he hewed closely to the message of watchful waiting that the central bank’s policy panel delivered in June.

“Reflecting its concerns about the slow pace of progress in reducing unemployment and the downside risks to economic growth, the committee made clear at its June meeting that it is prepared to take further action,” Bernanke said in his testimony on the Fed’s semi-annual monetary policy report. Some investors had hoped the Fed chief would signal that the central bank was moving close to a third round of bond purchases - or QE3 in market parlance - to support the economy.

Prices for U.S. stocks initially fell but clawed back into positive territory by midday, while the dollar rallied and prices for longer-dated U.S. government debt erased losses.

The Fed’s next policy meeting lasts two days and ends August 1. The Fed has held overnight borrowing costs near zero since December 2008 and has bought $2.3 trln in government and mortgage-related debt in an effort to push long-term interest rates lower.

As the recovery faltered, it has promised to hold rates at rock bottom levels until at least 2014 and extended the average maturity of bonds in its portfolio in a further effort to depress

long-term borrowing costs. At its June meeting, the Fed ramped up its efforts to rebalance its portfolio.

Despite the Fed’s support, the economy is growing too slowly to lower unemployment. U.S. GDP expanded at a tepid 1.9% annual rate in the first quarter, and economists think its second quarter performance was even weaker.

With growth slowing around the globe, many other central banks have also eased policy recently, including the European Central Bank and the central banks of Britain and China.

Bernanke said Fed policymakers would consider a range of tools to further stimulate growth if it became clear the labor market was not improving or if there was a risk of a deflation.

EUROPEAN SHARES FALL European shares fell in thin trading on Tuesday after the Fed gave no signs it was any nearer to launching fresh monetary stimulus measures to support the fragile economic recovery that threatens company earnings and consumer spending.

Equity markets had gained in the previous sessions on expectations that recent disappointing U.S. macroeconomic numbers, including Monday’s retail sales data, will prompt the Fed to offer launch a third round of quantitative easing. “The initial market reaction is negative for risky assets as market participants had hoped for more details,” Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets in Brussels, said.

HSBC predicted European equities to deliver returns of 1015% over the next 12 months, above their historical average of

7% during the past 20 years, as expectations had been lowered so much due to the tough economic environment.

Sectors linked to economic growth suffered on Tuesday, with the STOXX Europe Technology index down 1.4%, basic resources down 1.1% and construction shares falling 0.9% on concerns that a poor economic backdrop, especially in Europe, would hurt cyclical shares.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares finished 0.2% lower at 1,041.53 points. It has climbed about 10% since early June, when it hit a six-month low on poor data and jitters over the euro zone debt crisis. Trading volumes were 70% of its 90-day daily average.

The blue chip Euro STOXX 50 fell 0.1% to 2,250.75 points.

Charts signalled that the index was expected to hover in a broad range of 2,185 and 2,340 in the near term and needed to break a strong resistance level to march higher.

Sectors traditionally seen as defensives outperformed the wider market, with healthcare stocks up 0.1% and food and beverages rising 0.1%.

BNP Paribas also said that basic resources stocks had struggled in the past months and were among the most discounted in terms of valuation. Low expectations and underweight positioning could trigger a rebound after the second quarter earnings season.

According to Thomson Reuters StarMine, of 4 percent European companies that had reported second quarter results so far, 75 percent beat or met expectations, with 25 missing forecasts.

Turkey, Russia to talk ties, rivalries President Vladimir Putin hosts visiting Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in the Kremlin on Wednesday to talk business, energy and regional power politics.

Projects by construction company Enka, such as Moscow’s distinctive Turkish-built steel and glass towers of Naberezhnaya, the second tallest skyscraper in Russia, underscore Erdogan’s signature mix of business and politics that has expanded Turkey’s presence in the Middle East, Africa and former Soviet Union, where Russia still jealously guards its interests.

“Turkey today is much more assertive and independent than it was 20 years ago. It wants to be not only a part of NATO and American-led alliances, but also an independent player in the whole area,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.

But Turkey’s regional aspirations in areas where Moscow is sensitive to its waning influence have complicated an already intricate relationship in which cooperation in trade and energy politics is set off by conflicting regional foreign policies.

“Turkey and Russia resemble each other; they have the same claims. Psychologically, Putin and Erdogan understand each other quite well, but at the same time all their interests do not coincide. For example, we see that in the Middle East.”

Almost a year after the death of Russian ally Muammar Gadaffi in Libya, Moscow and Ankara are at diplomatic logger-

heads over the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Once photographed with Assad and his family at a vacation resort before anti-government uprisings demanding his departure, Erdogan has since turned his back on the former ally, calling for his removal and hosting Syrian rebel fighters on its soil.

Turkey’s ire was raised last month when Syria, recipient of Russian air defence systems, downed a fighter jet that it claimed was in its airspace. The incident forced Ankara to call on the other member states of NATO for consultations over what it called an “act of aggression”.

Putin however, fearing a replay of the Libyan scenario, has continued sending Assad arms and has protected him from harsher sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.

Moscow would be loath to see its last stronghold in the Middle East fall - especially one that hosts a small naval maintenance and repair facility, Russia’s only naval base outside of the former Soviet Union.

Russia and Turkey are also aware of their differences in the South Caucasus region where their respective loyalties to Armenia and Azerbaijan divide them in the frozen conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh. “In the Caucasus there is always a potential rivalry (between Russia and Turkey),” said Lukyanov.

But analysts say the construction projects Turkish firms receive are part of a complex tit-for-tat exchange between the two countries that has seen Turkey raise the amount of gas it

buys from Russia to nearly half its total imports. In 2008 Russia overtook Germany as Turkey’s biggest trading partner, the lion’s share of which has come from natural gas contracts.

Turkey has approved Russia’s plans to allow the almost $20 bln South Stream pipeline, which aims to supply southern Europe with 63 bln cubic metres of natural gas a year, to pass under its territorial waters.

Even with Turkey’s permission to build the pipeline through its waters, Ankara may still use the line as a chip in negotiations over gaining enough gas for its own domestic supply.

Hungary PM flags tax cuts as IMF arrives Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban grabbed the opportunity presented by the launch of credit talks with the IMF this week to signal new moves to bolster growth at the expense of looser public finances.

The long-awaited start of negotiations with the Fund on a vital financing backstop have prompted a rally in Hungarian government bonds and boosted hopes for a cut in official interest rates - offering Orban more room to manoeuvre on spending. The negotiations are expected to be difficult, however, and could drag on for several months due to the conservative government’s determination to retain its unorthodox economic policies.

Orban has flagged a possible extension of social tax cuts for employers to protect jobs in coming years and said he would fight for the measure if needed.

He said tax cuts for employers and small firms, designed to

save jobs in a slowing economy, could rise from an announced 300 bln forints ($1.27 bln) to 450-500 bln in later years, depending on the success of the programme.

The tax cuts pose a risk to the 2013 budget deficit target of 2.2% of economic output and the financing of the cuts — which the government said would partly come from a new tax on financial transactions — will be a thorny issue during talks with lenders.

Loaded with central Europe’s highest debt and its exportdriven economy headed into recession, junk-rated Hungary needs outside help to cut borrowing costs and avert a market blowout as a prolonged debt crisis engulfs the neighbouring euro zone.

For Orban, entering talks on a multi billion-euro loan with the IMF and EU is a major political climbdown and he is not likely to give in easily to lenders’ demands. With one eye on an

election due in 2014, Orban has already pushed the key parameters of the draft 2013 budget through parliament, earmarking social tax cuts for employers and small firms to save jobs and bolster public support. He wants to preserve a flagship flat tax policy to help families and would be reluctant to impose a wealth or property tax that could hit large swathes of the population ahead of the election, a key test of his handling of the economy.

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

CYPRUS | 3

Has BOCY missed the boat with insurance?

Trust still keen to expand its business The new CEO of the Bank of Cyprus has nothing to be cheerful about.

Hardly a week in his new chair and Yiannis Kypri has to resolve the issue of the bonds debacle, offload the bank’s insurance subsidiaries and possibly deal with pressure for a merger with Laiki Bank, a tie-up unheard of a few years back.

On the other hand, Kypri needs to maintain good relations with the bank’s largest shareholder, Dmitry Rybolovlev, who understandably was miffed to see his 10% stake cut to half, as he opted out of the recent rights issue that was supposed to help in the bank’s recapitalisation plans.

However, Kypri’s biggest challenge will be to restore confidence among stakeholders, while trying to mend burnt bridges among board members, as a recent clash among directors left the bank undecided over whether to sell its lucrative insurance division – Eurolife and General Insurance Company – and as a result sought nearly half a billion euros in the form of a state bailout.

Had the insurance sale gone ahead, the bank would have been much closer to its recap needs, as had been claimed by BOCY’s management more than a month ago.

The deal went sour, but industry analysts want it revived, for more reasons than one.

Trust Cyprus Insurance, part of the Trust International insurance businesses of the Middle East-owned Nest Investments Group, was the main contender for the Eurolife and GIC, and probably the only party in Cyprus with the cash to pay for the takeover. The stumbling block was not the price, but what reasoning the management would have to give to its staff, associates and customers the day after In any case, the deal will still have to happen in order to relieve the bank from further capital needs under the stringent Solvency II requirements for insurance companies, in addition to the safety cushion of adequate funds demanded by the European Banking Authority.

Contacted by the Financial Mirror, Trust Cyprus officials would not disclose the bid price, but sufficed to say that “we are still interested to expand [our Cyprus insurance business], but it has to be a favourable deal.”

Industry experts said that in just three years of operation, Trust has built up a good reputation in the market and that the addition of Eurolife and GIC to its portfolio would be a wise move.

The economies of scale to be achieved would also trickle down in the form of benefits to the consumer, while Trust would also move up the ladder from 12th position in only the general insurance market and a 3% market

increase their stakes in the bank.

Likewise, Chinese investors have reportedly told Cyprus that any investment they might make would be in the Popular Bank alone, where the state enjoys an 84% control subject to the 1.79 bln euro bailout to write off the bank’s losses incurred on Greek government bonds.

share to a ‘top eight’ ranking supported by the mother company’s reinsurance business that enjoys A- and BBB+ ratings by leading agencies like S&P. “I have been working with both Eurolife and Trust and I think my clients would be better served with the combination,” a leading insurance broker told us. “Trust has a different corporate philosophy than what we are used to in Cyprus.”

The facts also speak for themselves. Trust International has policies under management worth about 500 mln euros, while the whole of the Cyprus market is estimated to be worth 450 mln. Last year, Trust Int’l reported some 35 mln dollars in profits, a growth rate it has enjoyed steadily over the past years.

RYBOLOVLEV The Bank of Cyprus CEO is expected to meet major shareholder Rybolovlev in person in order to give him assurances that his stake, diminished from 9.9% to 5.2%, still has worth and possibly even ask him to invest more funds in the bank.

According to Financial Mirror data, other foreign institutionals have also been hit by the writedowns and the subsequent recao plans, with the share of foreign investors now standing at 8%, compared to 30% before.

Kypri is also expected to meet with the employees’ union ETYK inorder to reauusre them that jobs will be secured as best possible with the least effect on wages.

Rybolovlev, who made his fortune from fertiliser deals in the post-Yeltsin era of liberalisations, is keen to increase his stake in the bank, according to the daily Alithia. If this happens and he exceeds the 10% threshold, he will need Central Bank approval and secure a greater say on the bank’s board.

According to the newspaper report, Russian officials informed their Cypriot counterparts that their government is ready to grant a 5 bln euro loan if Russian shareholders are allowed to

Kypri takes over from Eliades Bank of Cyprus on Thursday appointed Yiannis Kypri as chief executive following last week’s resignation of Andreas Eliades, the group CEO for the past eight years.

Kypri, a chartered accountant and graduate of the London School of Economics, held the post of deputy CEO for the past two years having joined the bank in 1980.

Eliades quit the bank citing a lack of cohesion in dealing with challenges in the banking sector.

The bank posted significant losses on Greece’s debt writedown and has sought 500 mln euros aid from the government to cover a regulatory shortfall in its core Tier 1 capital.

The bank’s board also decided to keep Yiannis Pehlivanidis as First Deputy CEO. Bank of Cyprus and the Popular Bank, booked a combined 4 bln euros in losses in the value of their Greek sovereign debt holdings after European leaders agreed to impose a haircut on private investors of Greek government debt to make Athens’s debt pile more manageable. Imposing the haircut on holders of Greek sovereign debt essentially pushed Cyprus, shut out of international capital markets for a year and in recession, to seek international aid.

MISLED INVESTORS Meanwhile, the CEOs of the island’s two main banks admitted in a parliamentary hearing on Monday that their staff may have misled unknowing investors to buy 1.4 bln euros worth of bonds, with the fear that these securities have lost their value and may be redeemed for far less than at their issue.

The banks have also suspended interest payments on these bonds, which for many investors was their livelihood, while for others, such as charities, the sole source of fund raising. Even Attorney General Petros Clerides joined the arguments saying that the blame went beyond the banks.

MPs were furious that they may have been tricked into approving a government bill that did not mention any suspension of interst payments or loss of capital.

Finance Ministry officials have reiterated

that parliament received due warning and that the troika of EU, ECB and IMF officials who visited Cyprus to investigate a potential bailout and subsequent reforms, had said that it should be consulted before giving the green light to any action related to securities of banks undergoing recapitalisation.

Blogger Gavin Jones wrote on the Cyprus Mail site, “If the CEOs of both Bank of Cyprus and Popular have openly admitted that “mistakes and omissions may have been committed by their banks’ staff” in the the selling of 1.4 billion worth of securities, then potentially this amount may have to be repaid to investors and added to the already massive amount of money that will be required to recapitalise the banks.” “This is turning into a real horror show: and it’s the taxpayer who will yet again have foot the bill. No doubt a lot more will be revealed when the troika returns,” he added.

Another blogger, Nigel Howarth, commented: “The banks may also have misled investors by pushing Swiss Franc mortgages at them without explaining the risks.”

Earlier, lawyer Christos Clerides said that nearly 50 investors planned to sue the Popular Bank for “not revealing the whole truth” to investors regarding the risks behind the securities.

July 18 - 24, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

4 | CYPRUS

We are all used-car salesmen now!

A Crisis of Trust Threatens Economic Paralysis We don’t trust the EU and we don’t trust our government; we don’t trust our parliament and we don’t trust our courts; we don’t trust our banks and we don’t trust each other. To each of us, all the others, whether individuals or institutions, look like the proverbial used-car salesman who praises the qualities and hides the defects of his product to a degree that he makes us believe he is selling us a peach when he is, in fact, selling us a lemon. Hence we learned not to trust him. And, when we want to challenge someone’s honesty and integrity we call him “a used-car salesman” or ask rhetorically “would you buy a used car from this man?”

No aspersion is intended against used-car salesmen, many of whom are honest and trustworthy, but their profession has acquired the reputation of un-trustworthiness due to the actions of a few unscrupulous salesmen in the past and it has stuck for all eternity. This is exactly what we are risking will happen to us with our thoughtless behaviour in a desperate effort to maintain the status quo, to secure are ill-acquired gains and to avoid paying for our past mistakes and excesses.

The examples are legend. Take some of our banks which we have been blindly trusting with our savings and our pension funds. Unrepentant for the big part they played in our economic predicament, our two largest banks have apparently been legally misleading people to put money in high-interest and high-risk securities, by playing up the high return in their oral pitch to clients and obscuring the high risk in the small print of their brochures, just like the proverbial used-car salesman.

This was very much in character as they have being gambling with our savings, by buying Greek bonds even when the Greek economy was in free-fall and the Germans and others were ditching them by the truckload. How different is buying used cars with our money from buying bonds at a 30-50% discount in the secondary market or lending our money to Greek businesses and households about to default?

DENIAL AND BLAME Instead of apologising to depositors and investors that trusted them with their savings, banks tried to extract more money by misleading them to recapitalise themselves even if this meant de-capitalising their unsuspected clients. This is a textbook application of the Cypriot proverb: “I blindfold you to sell, keep your eyes wide open when you buy” which is responsible for the demonisation of business and profit in our culture to our great detriment.

This would have been digestible if we could trust the rest of

THEODORE PANAYOTOU Cyprus International Institute of Management

our institutions. But how can we? Whether it’s the budget deficit, the state of our economy or our national problem we are never told the full story. Our executive branch starts with a denial (“everything is hunky dory”), followed by a partial admission of the problem (“the problem is manageable”), followed by concession that the problem is much bigger but others are to be blamed (“the global economic crisis, the Greek economy, the banks”), followed by desperate and ineffective measures after the problem is well beyond our control. This is again very much in line with our culture aptly described by the Cypriot proverb “after she was raped, the granny put a lock on her door” or the English “we closed the barn door after the horse has bolted”.

NO CONFIDENCE When we finally “cry uncle” and ask for help from our European partners we garnish our request with conflicting statements, with red lines, and concurrent search for alternative sources of help in the hope that we will get the funds we badly need while continuing to carry on with business as usual. We don’t actually believe that mistakes must be paid for, distortions corrected and excesses eliminated. The result is that our partners get a sense that we don’t really want to change and we don’t trust them much, and in return they don’t trust us either. We inadvertently undermine their trust by our own actions at a time when we need their trust most in order to be effective as the EU presiding country.

But perhaps we can trust our parliament. After all, we have only recently elected them to represent us and help get us out of the economic mess we got ourselves into. You would think that after the Eurocypria 35 mln euro debacle they will not vote another 31 mln euros down a black hole to keep Cyprus Airways afloat for another six months. But they did exactly that, possibly against EU regulation, and by attaching some terms that inspire no confidence in the future of the airline.

Likewise, the way parliament dealt with the big problem of the semi-public dinosaurs by limiting the term of their appointed

boards from 36 to 30 months, does not inspire any confidence that they actually comprehend the magnitude and the root cause of our economic problems.

If not the banks, the executive or the legislative institutions, we can surely trust our legal system and the courts to deliver justice. Unfortunately, we are not doing much better here. Whether it is the stock exchange debacle, the Helios airline disaster or the Mari tragedy we haven’t seen justice delivered in a way that builds trust in the system. We have a way of deflating even the most serious injustice and preach of the law with procrastination and delay upon delay, legal technicalities and legalistic jargon to end up with hardly a case to rule on.

Satisfying the public’s sense of justice may not be the way to deliver justice in every case but when virtually all cases end up having the same fate, the citizen loses faith in the justice system.

Thus, while we are all (state, businesses and individuals) absorbed by our preoccupation with our dwindling bank accounts and the mounting deficits and debts, we should not lose sight of the even bigger deficit of trust that has built up in our society. Our trust accounts are running very low and in many cases are in the red.

There are not many around us we can trust or many who can trust us. Little by little we lost credibility and trust. Unless we regain both we will not regain our confidence in our future; the generalised crisis of trust threatens us with economic paralysis.

More than money, we need to build trust in our institutions, in others and in ourselves. Whatever we say and don’t say communicates, whatever we do and don’t do communicates. We should make sure it communicates credibility and builds trust, not the reverse. As business writer Ram Charan famously said, “without trust the rest doesn’t matter”. Our market system depends critically on trust. “Mistrust doubles the cost of doing business” according to Professor John Whitney of Columbia Business School. And the only way to built trust is by being trustworthy ourselves.

Dr. Theodore Panayotou is the Director of the CIIM and Professor of Economics and the Environment at Harvard University, served as consultant to the UN and to governments in the U.S., China, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Cyprus. He has published and was recognised for his contribution to the Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. theo@ciim.ac.cy

Ban bonuses at greedy banks, limit leveraging Many people are searching for an answer on whether the reason why banks are involved in scandals around the globe is because of the greed factor of earning a huge bonus on top of already high salaries or if the failure is due to inadequate monitoring, testing and oversight of their operations or due to overleveraging.

While most analysts, columnists and media commentators have had an easy ride blaming the Christofias government for doing nothing during the past four years when the EU debt crisis was knocking on our doors and it was obvious that the problems from Greece and other EU countries would eventually reach Cyprus, the real problem currently facing Cyprus is the problem with our banks.

After all, fixing the government imbalances would require EUR 2 bln at most and is manageable, but the same cannot be said of the bank bailout price tag.

The revelation by the Troika that Cyprus banks have opted to consider non-performing loans with property pledged as performing, in sharp contrast to the practice abroad is a serious scandal by itself which raises questions about the way Cyprus banks have been operating and why Cyprus banks were allowed to follow a different policy than those of other eurozone member banks?

While everybody has blamed the crisis in Greece for the Cyprus banking woes, especially the decision to purchase Greek government bonds, the real scandal is the way banks treated non-performing loans over the years and “kicked the problem down the road” for others to solve.

Rating agencies have been blaming non-performing loans as part of the reason why they have knocked the rating of

SHAVASB BOHDJALIAN Certified Investment Advisor and CEO of Eurivex Ltd.

Cyprus banks to junk status, but it’s unfortunate that they did not explain the problem in simple language, the way the Troika representatives did.

I wish one could say the problem was related to Cyprus, but it is not. The problems and scandals involving banks is global and is affecting many countries. Bankers were to blame for forcing Iceland into bankruptcy and default. Bankers were also to blame for forcing Ireland into a very expensive bailout and banks are to blame for the woes now facing Spain.

In fact, it was the banking crisis in 2008 in the US and the collapse of Lehman Bros which started the whole global financial crisis that spread to the eurozone.

Almost on a daily occurrence, we hear of more scandals involving the banks. During the past weeks, we heard how JP Morgan Chase recorded losses on disastrous credit bets, how HSBC is cooperating on anti-money laundering charges which would cost it $1 bln and how Barclays agreed to pay $453 mln to settle charges by US and UK authorities that its employees manipulated LIBOR, a key benchmark rate used to fix the interest rate on most global loans.

Talking of scandals, one should not forget the Capital Securities that the banks dumped on the unsuspecting public

here as they wanted to raise capital at all costs. While a CySEC investigation cleared the banks of any regulatory wrongdoing, the way the banks sold those products has shattered the trust they enjoyed with the public.

Is this the last we shall hear of a scandal involving a bank, either in Cyprus or another country? Probably not. Is there a quick fix? Yes and no. For a start, it’s obvious that greed plays a significant role and probably the first thing regulators need to do is ban bonuses for bank employees.

Regulators should also order a complete and total revamp of how banks monitor, test and control their operations at all levels, starting from the CEO and making sure that the non-executive independent directors are in fact independent and not the ‘koumparos’ of the CEO or the Chairman. And no director should be allowed to receive a loan from the bank, end of the line. If they have their businesses, then they have no place on a bank board seat. And finally, banks should not be allowed to become “too big to fail”. Overleveraging and over-expansion should be prohibited or allowed only under strict rules and subject to high capital adequacy ratios.

Eventually the problems involving the banks will be fixed, but I doubt if the banks ever regain the confidence of the public. shavasb@eurivex.com (Eurivex Ltd. is a Cyprus Investment Firm, authorized and regulated by CySEC, license #114/10 and approved by the Cyprus Stock Exchange to act as Nomad for listings on the Emerging Companies Market. The views expressed above are personal and do not bind the company and are subject to change without notice)

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

CYPRUS | 5

Cyprus has a growing housing stock overhang If you are wondering why the real estate market has been doing so badly lately, the recently released data on dwellings from the October 2011 census provide a good clue.

The number of new dwellings constructed swelled from 70,094 in the ten-year period of 1991-2000 to 136,906 in 200110, marking an increase of 95%. Yet the number of households in the same period grew by only 71,100, or 31%.

This building boom also led to an even higher increase in the number of new dwellings that lay vacant.

Newly constructed vacant dwellings grew by 288% in the same period, from 5,246 in 1991-2000 to 20,364 in 2001-2010.

Even allowing for the fact that some dwellings were built to be used as holiday homes (these are itemised separately in the figures from vacant dwellings), one has to wonder why so much investment was poured into dud real estate.

Annual construction of new dwellings peaked at 19,200 in 2008, but had dropped to 10,098 by 2011.

Construction of new dwellings that were vacant also dropped from 3,562 in 2008 to 3,039 in 2010.

But they mysteriously rose again in 2011 to 4,722.

What does this increase tell us?

One thing it tells us is that developers and their creditors must be eternal optimists.

The relationship between dwelling permits and dwellings constructed shows that new dwellings normally take around a year to construct.

The year 2010 was when Cyprus climbed out of recession and we all thought that the crisis was behind us .

So although new dwellings authorised actually dropped in 2010, it looks like developers took the mild upswing as an encouragement to build more, resulting in a higher number of new vacant dwellings in 2011.

Unfortunately all this has done is to have left us with a big overhang of housing stock.

In 2011 we had a total housing stock of 431,059 but only 309,300 households to fill them.

Yet ten years earlier, in 2001, we had a total housing stock of 294,143 and total households of 229,000—just enough spare for the few tourists who decide to buy.

With Europe in the doldrums, these dwellings are likely to

Ho u s eh ol d s a n d H ou s i n g s t oc k 450 000 400 000

Ho us e ho l d s Ho u si ng stock

350 000 300 000 250 000 200 000

2001

201 1

remain empty, and getting crumblier and uglier by the day, for the foreseeable future.

So maybe next time developers and bankers get excited about a real estate upswing, someone should tell them to call an economist.

Fiona Mullen www.sapientaeconomics.com

Hellenic boosts capital with share issue Hallenic Bank announced an increase in its share capital by 46.8 mln euros through a rights issue that will result in 271.9 mln new shares this week. This comes on the back of a first quarter profit of 8 mln euros.

Hellenic posted a loss of 99.5 mln euros last year after the writedown of 110 mln euros in Greek sovereign debt, a

fraction of the amount that its peers Bank of Cyprus and Popular lost having written off nearly 2.5 bln euros in GGBs. Unlike other banks, Hellenic’s major shareholder, the Church of Cyprus, declared from the outset that it would support the bank and its rights issue, extending confidence to other investors too.

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

6 | COMMENT

Noise pollution? What noise?

EDITORIAL It would seem that the mayors of Engomi and Yermasoyia have one thing in common – their determination to fight what they call “noise pollution” and the late-night races of high-speed, suped-up cars driven by death-defying youths who obviously have nothing better to do.

The new mayor of Engomi took it upon himself to start his crusade with a protest along Griva Digheni Avenue this week aimed at raising awareness about the problem.

But will any such protest prevent young drivers from

showing off their supercharged racers? Is this the way to resolve the problem that could lead to tragic accidents on one of the capital’s busiest thoroughfares?

If speeding is the problem, which admittedly is a global phenomenon in many economically developed communities, then why not encourage regular speed traps whereby the police would surely make up for the officers’ overtime pay simply by slapping hefty fines on these budding Schumachers.

On the other hand, municipalities have the responsibility of installing or removing speed bumps. So, why have these not been dotted along the road that has been dubbed the “café strip” of Nicosia or the heart of Limassol’s “tourist area”? Could it be that café owners

would complain or even object to such humps and the municipalities would lose precious revenue?

In that case, why don’t all the affected municipalities and their mayors also do something about the noise and parking problems created by the café and restaurant owners along their valuable commercial roads? Is this not an issue of double standards? Local resident have to put up with the noisy racers as well as the noisy cafés that also take up their parking spaces.

If they want to clean up their municipalities, perhaps mayors ought to plan ahead with a vision for future development and not be eager to satisfy the short-term whims of local café or restaurant owners who are here today gone tomorrow.

Best workforce money can’t buy Apart from the discovery of natural gas, we haven’t heard positive economic news here in Cyprus for a good while. For the past two years, local companies have been challenged with deteriorating business conditions, which caused many of them to freeze or cut salaries, and in some cases even reduce staff and increase the workload on those who have kept their jobs. The morale of the existing employees is at the moment at its lowest level, - which in turn negatively affects the business, creating a vicious circle. Is it possible that local companies are ignoring one good opportunity that the crisis has delivered?

Five Reasons to Invite Interns

Paid or Unpaid?

By using an intern you get a chance to test out new ideas with minimum or no cost. For example, an intern who is enrolled in a master’s business programme, like the MSc in Management at CIIM, will collect for you valuable information about your customers and competitors, perform useful analysis and make relevant comparisons with similar projects elsewhere.

According to Robin Richards, the CEO of Internships.com, only 34% of all internships are paid.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of the US lists specific criteria which determine whether an internship qualifies as an unpaid one.

The general idea is that the internship is a training experience (as opposed to just performing certain routine tasks), and this experience is for the benefit of the intern.

Furthermore, “the intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern.”

Finally, there is a condition that the intern “is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship.” It does not mean that the company is not allowed to hire its interns later after the internship is over. This in fact often happens. Instead, it means that unpaid internships generally should not be used by the employer as a trial period for individuals seeking employment. If that is the case, the internship should be paid.

Dr OLGA KANDINSKAIA

Encouraging Internships

Cyprus International Institute

With unemployment on the rise, many young people realize that their chances to get a job will improve considerably if, apart from a degree, they can also acquire some work experience. So they seek internships. Many universities, colleges and business schools see internships as an important part of learning experience and help their students to find an appropriate placement with a company. The interests of both an intern and an educational institution are clear, but what about a company? Why does it make sense to encourage internships? In other words, how can an intern add value?

In countries like the US and the UK, internships are nothing unusual. In fact, ever since the financial crisis of 2008 has hit their economies, internships have been steadily on the rise. Promoted by universities and often supported by government, unpaid internships are an attractive proposition for businesses. Companies in the US and the UK are making good use of such an opportunity, and here is why.

of Management (CIIM)

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Interns may take certain load off your regular employees, though it is important to maintain the right balance between creative tasks and routine duties. Internship should be a valuable educational experience for the intern.

Hosting an intern provides you with a pair of fresh eyes.

Very often simple obvious things can make a difference, but over time we may lose the ability to notice them. In such a case a fresh opinion of an intern-outsider can be very helpful.

Interns may help you out with improving your company’s online presence, especially in social media. Most young people have advance experience in browsing internet. Their advice on your web page and the Facebook presence shouldn’t be underestimated.

Finally, having an intern will be healthy for the overall mood of your employees since a typical intern is a young, enthusiastic individual who is keen to make a good impression. You will be pleasantly surprised to have this unexpected source of positive energy and optimism among your staff.

Conclusion There is every indication that internships represent an excellent opportunity for companies. Hosting interns will help you refresh your business ideas and lift up the office spirit. Finding a steady source of well-educated interns by teaming up with such a well-known business school as CIIM is one easy shortcut of how to start.

Dr Olga Kandinskaia is Assistant Professor of Finance at the CIIM Business School and Director of the MSc in Management Programme, olga@ciim.a.cy

Workshops for young achievers S.M.A.R.T. Options Educational Services is introducing a series of four workshops from September to December for teenagers aged 15-19 on Skills for Life.

The aim, according to programme director Marlene Philippou, is to inspire them and show them how to develop skills that will be useful for their studies at high school, their university years, their employability and life. “Self-awareness, critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, leadership, time management, communication skills, conflict resolution are among some of the skills we will work on,” said Philippou.

The first workshop (3-6 September) will be facilitated by a gifted teenagers’ coach, Michael Donahue

(www.boldleaders.org), from Denver, Colorado.

The “investment” for the first 4-days workshop that will include outdoor activities, lunches and refreshments, is 380 euros plus VAT (444.60). All the participants will be invited to receive their Certificates of Attendance at a special ceremony and Youth Empowerment event at the Cyprus Hilton on September 7. The event will be sponsored by The European Commission and European Parliament – Cyprus offices.

Those interested are encouraged to register before the end of July as places are limited and will be offered on a “first-comefirst served” policy.

Call 22 66 90 61 or visit www.smartoptions.com.cy.

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July 18 - 24, 2012

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July 18 - 24, 2012

8 | CΟΜΜΕΝΤ

Is Inequality Inhibiting Growth?

CHICAGO – To understand how to achieve a sustained recovery from the Great Recession, we need to understand its causes.

And identifying causes means starting with the evidence.

Two facts stand out. First, overall demand for goods and services is much weaker, both in Europe and the United States, than it was in the go-go years before the recession. Second, most of the economic gains in the US in recent years have gone to the rich, while the middle class has fallen behind in relative terms. In Europe, concerns about domestic income inequality, though more muted, are compounded by angst about inequality between countries, as Germany roars ahead while the southern periphery stalls.

Persuasive explanations of the crisis point to linkages between today’s tepid demand and rising income inequality. Progressive economists argue that the weakening of unions in the US, together with tax policies favoring the rich, slowed middle-class income growth, while traditional transfer programs were cut back. With incomes stagnant, households were encouraged to borrow, especially against home equity, to maintain consumption.

Rising house prices gave people the illusion that increasing wealth backed their borrowing. But, now that house prices have collapsed and credit is unavailable to underwater households, demand has plummeted. The key to recovery, then, is to tax the rich, increase transfers, and restore worker incomes by enhancing union bargaining power and raising minimum wages.

This emphasis on anti-worker, pro-rich policies as the recession’s primary cause fits less well with events in Europe.

Countries like Germany that reformed labor laws to create more flexibility for employers, and did not raise wages rapidly, seem to be in better economic shape than countries like France and Spain, where labor was better protected.

So consider an alternative explanation: Starting in the early 1970’s, advanced economies found it increasingly difficult to grow. Countries like the US and the United Kingdom eventually responded by deregulating their economies.

Greater competition and the adoption of new technologies increased the demand for, and incomes of, highly skilled, talented, and educated workers doing non-routine jobs like consulting.

More routine, once well-paying, jobs done by the unskilled or the moderately educated were automated or outsourced. So income inequality emerged, not primarily because of policies favoring the

rich, but because the liberalized economy favored those equipped to take advantage of it.

The short-sighted political response to the anxieties of those falling behind was to ease their access to credit. Faced with little regulatory restraint, banks overdosed on risky loans. Thus, while differing on the root causes of inequality (at least in the US), the progressive and alternative narratives agree about its consequences.

By RAGHURAM RAJAN A former chief economist of the IMF, is Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the author of Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy

The alternative narrative has more to say. Continental Europe did not deregulate as much, and preferred to seek growth in greater economic integration. But the price for protecting workers and firms was slower growth and higher unemployment. And, while inequality did not increase as much as in the US, job prospects were terrible for the young and unemployed, who were left out of the protected system.

The advent of the euro was a seeming boon, because it reduced borrowing costs and allowed countries to create jobs through debt-financed spending. The crisis ended that spending, whether by national governments (Greece), local governments (Spain), the construction sector (Ireland and Spain), or the financial sector (Ireland). Unfortunately, past spending pushed up wages, without a commensurate increase in productivity, leaving the heavy spenders indebted and uncompetitive.

The important exception to this pattern is Germany, which was accustomed to low borrowing costs even before it entered the eurozone. Germany had to contend with historically high unemployment, stemming from reunification with a sick East Germany. In the euro’s initial years, Germany had no option but to reduce worker protections, limit wage increases, and reduce pensions as it tried to increase employment. Germany’s labor costs fell relative to the rest of the eurozone, and its exports and GDP growth exploded.

The alternative view suggests different remedies. The US should focus on helping to tailor the education and skills of the people being left behind to the available jobs. This will not be easy or quick, but it beats having corrosively high levels of inequality of opportunity, as well as a large segment of the population dependent on transfers. Rather than paying for any necessary spending by raising tax rates on the rich sky high, which would hurt entrepreneurship, more thoughtful across-the-board tax reform is needed.

For the uncompetitive parts of the eurozone, structural reforms can no longer be postponed. But, given the large adjustment needs, it is not politically feasible to do everything, including painful fiscal tightening, immediately. Less austerity, while not a sustainable growth strategy, may ease the pain of adjustment. That, in a nutshell, is the fundamental eurozone dilemma: the periphery needs financing as it adjusts, while Germany, pointing to the post-euro experience, says that it cannot trust countries to reform once they get the money.

The Germans have been insisting on institutional change – more centralized eurozone control over periphery banks and government budgets in exchange for expanded access to financing for the periphery. Yet institutional change, despite the euphoria that greeted the latest EU summit, will take time, for it requires careful structuring and broader public support.

Europe may be better off with stop-gap measures. If confidence in Italy or Spain deteriorates again, the eurozone may have to resort to the traditional bridge between weak credibility and low-cost financing: a temporary International Monetary Fundstyle monitored reform program.

Such programs cannot dispense with the need for government resolve, as Greece’s travails demonstrate. And governments hate the implied loss of sovereignty and face. But determined governments, like those of Brazil and India, have negotiated programs in the past that set them on the path to sustained growth.

As a reformed Europe starts growing, parts of it may experience US-style inequality. But growth can provide the resources to address that. Far worse for Europe would be to avoid serious reform and lapse into egalitarian and genteel decline. Japan, not the US, is the example to avoid. © Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org

Revolutionizing Arab Economies The ongoing showdown in Egypt between the country’s Islamists and its military rulers is a clear reminder of how difficult democratic transitions in the Arab world are likely to be.

Obviously, failure to reach a power-sharing agreement will prolong political instability. But the resulting economic inaction would be just as damaging to the consolidation of democratic rule. Emerging Arab leaders, from Islamists to re-invented former regime officials, are keenly aware of the need to improve their countries’ economic prospects. They know full well that their popularity can be sustained only if they are able to deliver growth, employment, and higher living standards. This would be a difficult challenge under any circumstances – and is all the more daunting against the backdrop of the Arab Spring’s destabilization of the economic systems across the Middle East and North Africa.

Even in countries like Tunisia and Egypt, where the transition to democracy is more advanced, political uncertainty has tended to plague economic achievements. For the first time since 1986, Tunisia’s economy shrank in 2011, by 1.8%.

Unemployment reached 18% last year, up from 13% in 2010.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian economy contracted by 0.8%, and one million Egyptians lost their jobs. Egypt’s foreign-investment inflows have also dried up, falling from $6.4 billion in 2010 to a mere $500 million in 2011.

The combination of these negative trends is affecting these countries’ fiscal as well as external balances. Egypt’s budget deficit reached 10% of GDP, while its foreign-exchange reserves have fallen to $15 billion – barely enough to cover the country’s import bill for the next three months. In Tunisia, too, the budget deficit has widened sharply in the wake of the revolution, rising from 2.6% of GDP in 2010 to 6% in 2011.

This rapid economic deterioration, combined with the high expectations raised by the onset of political transition, is creating a sense of urgency. Emerging political actors feel compelled to

develop more detailed economic programs and to address their populations’ growing material grievances. For example, whereas the Islamists had essentially focused on political themes, highlighting participation, inclusiveness, and democratic reforms, the recent election campaigns witnessed a rhetorical shift to economic aspirations.

By SINAN ULGEN Visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and the chairman of the Istanbul-based EDAM think tank

Overall, the emerging political players – particularly the Islamist parties – have adopted a rather conciliatory tone regarding engagement with international actors. These parties’ economic programs are by and large pro-market, emphasizing the private sector’s role in driving growth and the need to attract foreign capital. The state is seen as a vehicle for ensuring social justice, and there are scant references to sharia principles.

Both in Tunisia and Egypt, for example, Islamist politicians have given assurances that the economically critical tourism sector will not be hindered by restrictions related to Islamic law. The Islamists’ economic programs also foresee a role for international institutions in helping their countries to overcome the challenges that they face.Indeed, whereas resistance to foreign intervention and assistance has been strong with respect to democratic reforms, new Arab leaders seem more receptive to a partnership with the West on economic objectives. Economic weakness thus provides an unprecedented opportunity for international engagement with the new Arab leadership, which should

incorporate short-, medium-, and long-term goals. Short-term goals must have priority, because many Islamist parties are being pressed to produce positive results within a single electoral cycle.

The new governments will face the immediate challenge of creating jobs, for which the only available recipe is investment in large-scale public-works projects. This type of government spending can create labor-intensive jobs that will help to stem rising unemployment. The international community can help the Arab governments to launch and sustain such initiatives in several ways. First, it can increase the amount of promised financial assistance. It can also provide technical expertise to Arab policymakers on debt management. Without first-rate expertise in debt management, an economy implementing large-scale public outlays risks crowding out private investment through overreliance on domestic savings.

Finally, the international community can help Arab governments to establish a secure and predictable legal and regulatory framework for public-private partnerships for large-scale infrastructure projects. International actors, jointly with Arab governments, can then help to market these opportunities, allowing Arab economies to benefit from infrastructure-focused longterm international financing.

Only a combination of these options would allow Arab economies to create jobs in the short term, while avoiding the risks of destabilizing fiscal imbalances or a lack of financing for private-sector investment. The West, for its part, stands to gain in myriad ways from a solid partnership with the Arab world to improve its societies’ economic future. Even in the midst of a protracted currency crisis, European governments can surely sign on to an agenda that prioritizes transfers of know-how over cash infusions. © Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org

July 18 - 24, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

COMMENT | 9

Bell Tolls for India’s Congress Party Second, and more important, voter attitudes have shifted Politics in Asia’s two giants, India and China, has suddenly turned very uncertain. China remains in authoritarian mode, significantly during the past decade. Average annual economic of course. But egregious human-rights violations and suppres- growth of 8.5% over the eight-year period from 2003 to 2011 sion of dissent are raising the specter of growing internal dis- has led to a revolution of perceived possibilities. As the econoruptions, particularly in the wake of purges within the top lead- mists Poonam Gupta and Arvind Panagariya have demonstrated, voters in most Indian states now support leaders and parership.

By contrast, India, with its firmly rooted liberal democracy, ties that deliver good economic outcomes, and turn out those smells to some like roses. But many believe that India, too, who do not. This marks a major shift from the fatalistic attitudes of the past, which generally helped incumbents, who faces uncertain political prospects.

In particular, there is widespread belief in India today that benefited from voters’ belief that there was no real alternative one of the country’s two main political parties, the Indian to existing arrangements.

National Congress, essentially run by Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul Gandhi, has now run its course and will sink into oblivion. According to The Economist: “The

By JAGDISH BHAGWATI Congress Party…is in a funk” and “in danger of…longand ARVIND PANAGARIYA term decline.”

But the Congress has been written off before: the article from The Economist was published in January 2003.

Indeed, the uniform prediction prior to the 2004 election This voting behavior has been reinforced by recent examwas that, after having lost three elections in a row, the Congress was heading for its fourth defeat and eventual disso- ples of political failure and success. Brazenly corrupt leaders lution. Yet it won that election, and then won a second parlia- such as Kumari Mayawati of Uttar Pradesh and Digambar Kamat of Goa were each bundled out after one term. mentary election in 2009.

Politics is, of course, full of reversals of fortune. But, unlike Meanwhile, positive role models like Nitish Kumar of Bihar, in 2004, it is unlikely, for several reasons, that the Congress can Narendra Modi of Gujarat, and Navin Patnaik of Orissa have all been returned to power as Chief Ministers at least once; all have survive the dire predicament that it now faces today.

For starters, in 2004, the Congress was challenging an delivered remarkable results while maintaining an unblemincumbent government that had served for six years. This ished record of personal integrity. The Congress will inevitably time, the Congress has formed the incumbent government for be under acute pressure to perform, as the electorate now two consecutive terms, and its tenure has recently been knows that better performance is not beyond its grasp.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination over two marked by scandals that have made it look ineffectual, rudderless, and corrupt. To make matters worse, India is experiencing decades ago created a wave of sympathy for his widow, Sonia, a sharp economic slowdown, further undermining the on whose sari-tails the Congress won in 2004. Today, no such Congress’s prospects in elections that must be held no later tragedy is likely to help the Congress. Sonia Gandhi is rumored to have cancer, but, rather than capitalizing on it, she has kept than June 2014.

the details within the walls of the Gandhi family compound in New Delhi.

But the real problem is that brand-name politics is increasingly at a discount in India, much as it is in the United States.

Like the Kennedy and Bush brands, the Nehru-Gandhi label has lost its luster in India.

That is partly a function of rapidly changing demographics.

Individuals born after 1975 now account for a very large proportion of the electorate. For these voters, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi are merely historical figures, and are a distant memory even for many voters born before 1975. It is not surprising that Rahul Gandhi proved unable to bring the Congress a victory in a recent election in a constituency that historically had been a bastion of support for his family.

Indeed, the Nehru-Gandhi condominium that has dominated Indian politics has itself undermined the party’s survival prospects by making it immensely difficult for it to recruit and develop new leaders. It is common knowledge that, for the last eight years, Sonia Gandhi has exercised virtually total control within the party. As a result, no rival to Rahul Gandhi has emerged.

With Sonia Gandhi in ill health, Rahul unable to connect to the electorate even in his historically “safe” constituency, and the Nehru-Gandhi brand name having lost its appeal, the prospects for the Congress in 2014 look bleak. Only the outcome will tell whether it can survive.

Jagdish Bhagwati is Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Professor of Economics and Law at Columbia University. Arvind Panagariya is Professor of Economics and of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University. © Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org

Obama versus Romney on Jobs The United States has just completed its third year of economic recovery, but the unemployment rate remains above 8%, and there are worrisome signs of a slowdown. So it is no surprise that jobs have become a major focus in the presidential campaign – or that the candidates have very different ideas about how to boost employment.

Last autumn, President Barack Obama proposed the American Jobs Act, a $450 billion package of fiscal measures aimed at job creation. The AJA amounted to about 3% of GDP and was designed to take effect in 2012, providing a timely employment boost and insurance for the US recovery against global headwinds. Most of its measures had enjoyed bipartisan support in the past; tax cuts comprised about 56% of the total cost; and the package was paid for in Obama’s long-term deficit reduction plan.

Several independent economists concluded that Obama’s plan would provide a significant lift to the job market in 20122013. Indeed, two of the nation’s most respected forecasters predicted that the AJA would add 1.3-1.9 million jobs in 2012 and more than two million jobs by the end of 2013. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also found that most of the AJA’s policies ranked high in budgetary effectiveness, measured by the number of jobs created in 2012-2013 per dollar of budgetary cost.

The AJA was filibustered by Senate Republicans, and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives likewise prevented the bill from coming to a vote. Mitt Romney, now the Republican presidential candidate, attacked the plan as “mere stimulus” that would “throw a cup of gasoline on the embers” of the recovery. Ultimately, Obama, bolstered by polls endorsing his plan, won partial passage of two AJA policies: a one-third cut in employees’ payroll taxes (he had proposed one-half), and an extension of unemployment benefits by about 60% of what he had recommended.

But Congress failed to approve a 50% cut in employers’ payroll taxes – a business tax cut that many Republicans favored in the past and that ranks high on budgetary effectiveness. Nor did Congress approve $30 billion in federal grants to states to enable them to employ about 135,000 teachers, police, and firemen, despite strong voter support. Such grants between 2009 and 2011, totaling $130 billion, helped states to maintain vital

services and retain the public employees providing them.

Romney opposes more federal money for the states, arguing that “it is time to cut back on government and help the American people.” But teachers, firemen, and police are American people who help other American people. Government employment is falling at the fastest rate since the 1940’s, and is now at its 2006 level. If public employment had grown during the last three years at about the same rate as the population, as it did during George W. Bush’s presidency, the unemployment rate would be around 7% rather than 8.2%, owing to about 800,000 additional jobs.

By LAURA TYSON A former chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, is a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley

Likewise, Congress failed to approve Obama’s call for $90 billion in additional infrastructure spending, which would have supported about 400,000 jobs, despite the fact that the US has at least $1.1 trillion in unfunded infrastructure needs.

Moreover, infrastructure investment not only creates jobs in the near term, but also promotes long-term competitiveness.

Altogether, Congress left at least one million jobs on the negotiating table, holding unemployed workers hostage to the outcome of November’s election.

Meanwhile, in response to persistent media pressure, Romney has unveiled his policies to boost short-term job creation. They are not convincing. Romney says that he would ensure that the US puts more people to work in the energy sector. But, while the oil and gas industry has grown significantly since 2007, it employs fewer than 200,000 people, implying a negligible effect even if employment in this sector doubled in the short run.

And, while Romney says that he would open new foreign markets, Obama has been doing just that, winning passage of three major trade agreements and increasing federal support for

US exports, which have been growing nearly twice as fast as they did during the recovery from the 2001 recession.

Moreover, Romney’s promise to charge China, America’s thirdlargest export market, with currency manipulation, and to impose large tariffs on Chinese imports, would almost certainly invite retaliation, causing a decline in US exports and jobs.

Romney would also repeal “Obamacare” – the 2010 healthcare reform legislation – because it “is scaring small business from hiring.” But the evidence for this claim is meager and anecdotal. A recent survey found that most small businesses support the reform. Most businesses, large and small, cite insufficient demand as the primary reason they are not hiring.

Nor is Romney’s promise to enact immediate cuts in federal discretionary spending by an additional 5% likely to boost job growth, as he asserts. When an economy is suffering from high unemployment and weak aggregate demand, spending cuts are contractionary. Romney conceded this point recently, acknowledging that the “fiscal cliff” – the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts at the end of this year, combined with large spending cuts already scheduled to take effect – would push the economy back into recession.

Finally, in addition to extending Bush’s tax cuts, Romney promises an across-the-board 20% reduction in marginal personal-income-tax rates and a significant cut in the corporate rate to encourage businesses to hire more workers. Despite large cuts in marginal income-tax rates at the start of the Bush administration, however, job growth between 2000 and 2007 was half the rate of the previous three decades.

Even if Romney’s new tax cuts strengthened investment and growth in the long run (a debatable proposition that depends on how they are financed), their short-term effect on job creation would be minimal, and they would entail a significant loss of revenue. Indeed, these cuts perform poorly on the CBO’s measure of budgetary effectiveness.

Obama’s proposals to boost job creation are convincing, whereas Romney’s proposals would have little or no effect – and some could even make matters worse. Voters need to know the difference. © Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

12 | WORLD

IMF cuts global growth forecast as emerging economies slow The International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its forecast for global economic growth and warned that the outlook could dim further if policymakers in the euro zone do not act with enough force and speed to quell their region’s debt crisis.

In a mid-year health check of the world economy, the IMF said emerging market nations, long a global bright spot, were being dragged down by the economic turmoil in Europe. It said a drop in exports in these countries would combine with earlier policies meant to prevent overheating and slow growth more sharply than hoped.

The IMF shaved its 2013 forecast for global growth to 3.9% from the 4.1% it projected in April, trimming projections for most advanced and emerging economies. It left its 2012 forecast unchanged at 3.5%.

“Downside risks to this weaker global outlook continue to loom large,” the IMF said. “The most immediate risk is still that delayed or insufficient policy action will further escalate the euro area crisis.”

U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Monday as investors worry about the economy losing steam.

The global lender said advanced economies would grow only 1.4% this year and 1.9% in 2013.

It also trimmed its forecast for emerging economies, projecting they will expand 5.9% in 2013 and 5.6% in 2012. Both figures are 0.1 of a percentage point lower than in April.

The IMF cut its 2013 growth forecast for the crisis-hit euro zone to 0.7%, while maintaining its projection of a 0.3% contraction this year. It said it now believes Spain’s economy will shrink both this year and next.

The IMF sharply revised down its growth projections for Britain to 0.2% this year and to 1.4% in 2013. In April, the fund said the UK economy would expand 0.8% in 2012 and 2.0% next year.

Central banks in China, the euro zone and Britain have all eased monetary policy in recent weeks to support growth. The U.S. Federal Reserve has said it is poised to do more if needed.

The IMF said the European Central Bank had room to ease policy further and said officials in emerging economies should stand ready to cope with a drop in trade and increased volatility in capital flows.

IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, BUT ...

The fund praised crisis-fighting measures adopted by European leaders at a summit in June as “steps in the right

direction,” but called for more fiscal and banking integration.

It urged the creation of a pan-European deposit insurance guarantee program and a mechanism to resolve failing banks, and called on the ECB to provide ample liquidity to support banks under “sufficiently lenient conditions.”

It made clear, however, that Europe was not the only risk.

The IMF, which trimmed its U.S. forecasts slightly, said concerns were rising over a political battle brewing in Washington over how to avoid painful automatic spending cuts and tax increases at the start of next year.

The United States faces a “fiscal cliff” with the scheduled expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and $1.2 trln in automatic spending reductions - enough budget tightening to knock the still-weak U.S. economy back into recession.

If the United States failed to deal with the “fiscal cliff” it could potentially be an “enormous shock” to the U.S. and other advanced economies, IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard told a news conference.

Washington is also expected to run into the statutory $16.4 trln cap on its debt before the end of the year, raising the prospect of a default absent congressional action to raise it.

While financial markets believe Congress and the White House will find a way to avoid a fiscal train wreck, the IMF warned of the “potential for a significant adverse market reaction” if that consensus view began to falter.

The IMF said while emerging economies, such as China, may no longer be growing at a rapid 10% annually, growth in these countries was likely to remain strong.

“It is really case by case but in general we think (emerging economies) will be able to increase demand and grow at fairly high rates,” Blanchard said.“The question here is whether these countries will be able to handle this slowdown in demand? Here we think they really have the policy space to do it,” he said, “In terms of sustaining high growth, we think they can do it.”

Earlier this year, policymakers in emerging economies were worried about large-scale capital inflows and excessive appreciation of their currencies. Now, concerns have shifted to a rapid depreciation and increased volatility in exchange rates.

Currencies like the Brazilian real and Indian rupee have depreciated by between 15 and 25% in less than a quarter, the IMF noted.

The IMF cut its 2012 growth forecast for China to 8.0% from 8.2%, and said it now expects growth of 8.5% next year, down from 8.8%.

It revised its growth projections for India to 6.1% this year from 6.9%, and chopped its 2013 forecast to 6.5% from 7.3%.

Blanchard attributed the fall-off in Indian growth and investment to “political uncertainty about policy” and freezing of permits for infrastructure projects. The country faces tough elections by 2014 that are widely expected to produce a fragmented parliament with no clear winner.

Meanwhile, Africa’s growth is still seen at a robust 5.4% this year and 5.3% in 2013, as the region remains relatively insulated from external financial shocks.

The IMF said growth in the Middle East will be stronger this year as key oil-producing countries boost production and Libya’s economy rebounds from conflict in 2011, but it held its forecast for next year at 3.7%.

Companies place too much emphasis on social media In communicating with their customers, most companies have focused too much on social media and appear to be under-investing in mobile and other new communication channels. That’s the conclusion of a new study from the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Genesys, that examines how companies are responding to the changing dialogue between customers and companies.

This focus on social media at the expense of mobile platforms suggests that many companies are in reaction mode, responding as best they can to the rapid proliferation of social media, rather than developing a coherent strategy that addresses the spread of mobile technology as well. While social media has grown rapidly over the last 5 years, mobile phone penetration globally is expected to reach 99% this year, according to EIU forecasts.

“The rapid adoption of social media and the huge growth in the mobile market go hand in hand but companies seem very focused on social media as a singular force and don’t

appear to have grasped how interconnected the two trends are,” said EIU deputy editor Annabel Symington.

The study also found that: l Too many companies are reacting to complaints rather than solving the underlying problems. Executives appear focused on responding to customer comments and complaints on social networks rather than addressing the root cause of problems. l A breakdown in internal communication is the greatest obstacle to a coherent communication strategy. The C-suite and middle management disagree about how to respond to the new communication reality – and who should be, and is, in charge. l Communication efforts are too de-centralised. Making a single individual responsible for managing customer communication channels reduces disagreements between senior and middle managers. It also reduces internal confusion and helps companies present a consistent message to customers.

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AÚ. 873

∆∂∆∞ƒ∆∏, 18 π√À§π√À, 2012

¶ÔÓÔΤʷÏÔ˜ Ù· ·ÍÈfiÁÚ·Ê· ÕÙ˘Ë Û‡ÛÎÂ„Ë ÁÈ· ÙÔ ı¤Ì· ÙˆÓ ·ÍÈÔÁÚ¿ÊˆÓ Ú·ÁÌ·ÙÔÔÈ‹ıËΠ¯ı˜ ÛÙÔ ÀÔ˘ÚÁÂ›Ô √ÈÎÔÓÔÌÈÎÒÓ ÛÙËÓ ·ÚÔ˘Û›· ·ÓÒÙ·ÙˆÓ ‰È¢ı˘ÓÙÒÓ Ù˘ §·˚΋˜ ∆Ú¿Â˙·˜ Î·È Ù˘ ∆Ú¿Â˙·˜ ∫‡ÚÔ˘, Ù¯ÓÔÎÚ·ÙÒÓ ÙÔ˘ À¶√π∫, Ù˘ ¡ÔÌÈ΋˜ ÀËÚÂÛ›·˜, Ù˘ ∫ÂÓÙÚÈ΋˜ ∆Ú¿Â˙·˜, Ù˘ ∂ÈÙÚÔ‹˜ ∫ÂÊ·Ï·È·ÁÔÚ¿˜ Î·È ÙˆÓ ÂÂÓ‰˘ÙÒÓ Στην σύσκεψη οι κάτοχοι αξιογράφων έθεσαν ενώπιον των αρµοδίων διάφορα σενάρια, ενώ οι επηρεαζÞµενοι απÞ την αναστολή ή κατάργηση τÞκων και απÞ την ανταλλαγή των χρεογράφων εισηγήθηκαν µετατροπή τουσ σε χρεÞγραφα συγκεκριµένησ χρονικήσ διάρκειασ ή ανταλλαγή τουσ µε κρατικά οµÞλογα. Παράλληλα την απÞδοση ευθυνών σε Þσουσ «εσκεµµένα ή άθελα τουσ «συνωµÞτησαν’ ή και ενθάρρυναν» για να γίνει το µεγάλο «φάγωµα» των χρηµάτων των απλών αλλά και των θεσµικών καταθετών» ζητεί η Παγκύπρια Ένωση Καταναλωτών και ΠοιÞτητασ Ζωήσ. Ευθύνη, τονίζει η Ένωση, αναλογεί και στην Κεντρική Τράπεζα που απλά περιορίστηκε σε µια απλή επιστολή προσ τισ τράπεζεσ και δεν πήρε τα αναγκαία µέτρα και ελέγχουσ ώστε να προστατευτούν απÞ τυχÞν αυθαιρεσίεσ οι καταναλωτέσ. Το ίδιο

ευθύνη καταγγέλλει Þτι έχει και η Επιτροπή Κεφαλαιαγοράσ που περιορίστηκε απλά και µÞνο να διαβάσει τα δελτία έκδοσησ των τραπεζών αν ήσαν σύµφωνα µε το γράµµα του νÞµου και των κανονισµών τησ, χωρίσ να νοιαστεί ποσώσ για τουσ καταναλωτέσ, αναφέρει η Παγκύπρια Ένωση. Πάντωσ οι υπηρεσιακοί του ΥΠΟΙΚ ζήτησαν απο τούσ κατÞχουσ αξιογράφων να καταθέσουν στοιχεία τα οποία να δοθούν στον αρµÞδιο υπουργÞ Βάσο Σιαρλή ο οποίοσ θα εξετάσει ένα τέτοιο ενδεχÞµενο. Εκ µέρουσ των επηρεαζÞµενων κατÞχων αξιογράφων, ο Φοίβοσ Μαυροβουνιώτησ, δήλωσε Þτι σε περίπτωση που τα αξιÞγραφα µετατραπούν σε χρεÞγραφα, αυτά δεν κινδυνεύουν να υποστούν κούρεµα, ούτε να µηδενιστούν. Κάλεσε την κυβέρνηση να µην δεχθεί το κούρεµα των αξιογράφων Þπωσ δεν αποδέχτηκε την αύξηση του εταιρικού φÞρου.

Οι επηρεαζÞµενοι θα συναντηθούν σήµερα το απÞγευµα στη Χοιροκοιτία για να ανταλλάξουν απÞψεισ για τισ επαφέσ που είχαν µε τη βουλή, την κυβέρνηση και τουσ άλλουσ εµπλεκÞµενουσ φορείσ.

∆Ú·Â˙È΋ ‚Ô‹ıÂÈ· Σε µια άλλη εξέλιξη σωσίβιο ρευστÞτητασ έριξαν οι τράπεζεσ στο κράτοσ για να αποφύγει τη στάση πληρωµών και να αντιµετωπίσει τισ συνθήκεσ ρευστοτικήσ στενÞτητασ που αντιµετωπίζει. Οι προσπάθειεσ του υπουργείου για κάλυψη των βραχυπρÞθεσµων αναγκών του κράτουσ φαίνεται να αποδίδουν καρπούσ, καθώσ κάποιεσ απÞ τισ τράπεζεσ που δραστηριοποιούνται στην Κύπρο φαίνεται να είναι πρÞθυµεσ να αναχρηµατοδοτήσουν το χρέοσ. ΠρÞκειται για την FBME Bank και την

Εθνική Τράπεζα τησ Ελλάδοσ, οι διοικήσεισ των οποίων, φέρονται να έχουν συµφωνήσει µε το υπουργείο για την ανανέωση του χρέουσ που κατέχουν. Οι ανάγκεσ του κράτουσ για το µήνα Ιούλιο ανέρχονται στα 500 εκ. ευρώ και τον ερχÞµενο Αύγουστο θα προκύψουν επιπρÞσθετεσ ανάγκεσ 200 εκ. ευρώ.

κυρίωσ στον περιορισµÞ των δηµοσίων δαπανών και την αναδιάρθρωση του τραπεζικού τοµέα αναµένεται το κλιµάκιο τησ ΤρÞικα. Συγκεκριµένα στο δηµοσιονοµικÞ επίπεδο επιδιώκεται η µείωση του κρατικού µισθολογίου κάτι το οποίο θα γίνει είτε µε απολύσεισ και πάγωµα των προσλήψεων για µία πενταετία είτε µε σηµαντικέσ µειώσεισ στουσ µισθούσ. Η ΤρÞικα πιέζει πιέσεισ και προσ την κατεύθυνση αύξησησ των εσÞδων του κράτουσ. Την ίδια ώρα η κυβέρνηση θέτει στο διάλογο µε την ΤρÞικα τισ ακÞλουθεσ κÞκκινεσ γραµµέσ: - ∆ιαφωνεί µε τη σύσταση τησ ΚοµισιÞν για εναρµÞνιση τησ εποπτείασ των συνεργατικών πιστωτικών ιδρυµάτων σύµφωνα µε τα πρÞτυπα που ισχύουν για τισ εµπορικέσ τράπεζεσ.

- Σε κατάργηση τησ ΑΤΑ.

- Σε ψαλίδισµα του 13ου µισθού - Και σε αύξηση του εταιρικού φÞρου Σχετικά µε τον τραπεζικÞ τοµέα η ΤρÞικα θα υποδείξει Þπωσ γίνει αποδέσµευση επενδύσεων τραπεζών στο εξωτερικÞ, δηλαδή πώληση των περιουσιακών τουσ στοιχείων καθώσ και µειώσεισ µισθών. Την ίδια ώρα η κυβέρνηση βρίσκεται σε αναµονή για το ρωσικÞ δάνειο. ΣτÞχοσ είναι να πράξει το ίδιο Þπωσ και η Ιρλανδία που έλαβε δάνειο εκτÞσ απÞ το ΜηχανισµÞ και απÞ Σουηδία και Μεγάλη Βρετανία. Παράλληλα αποσυνδέει την αναβολή τησ καθÞδου τησ τρÞικασ στην Κύπρο µε την ενÞχληση τησ ΤρÞικα για το ρωσικÞ δάνειο σηµειώνοντασ Þτι αυτÞ το διαψεύδει και το ∆ΝΤ. Η κυβέρνηση διαψεύδει κατηγορηµατικά επίσησ Þτι θα υπάρξει στάση πληρωµών και Þτι υπάρχουν κÞκκινεσ γραµµέσ για τα µέτρα απÞ την ΤρÞικα.

ŒÚ¯ÂÙ·È Î·È ¿ÏÈ Ë ∆ÚfiÈη Το κλιµάκιο τησ τρÞικα θα έρθει σύντοµα στην Κύπρο, µέσα τισ επÞµενεσ µέρεσ, Þπωσ είπε χαρακτηριστικά χθεσ ο εκπρÞσωποσ του ΑντιπρÞεδρου τησ ΚοµισιÞν Ολι Ρεν, ο οποίοσ διευκρίνισε Þτι σ’ αυτÞ το στάδιο δεν µπορεί να δώσει συγκεκριµένη ηµεροµηνία τησ επίσκεψησ. Σύµφωνα µε τον Σάιµον Ο’ ΚÞνορ, οι εταίροι τησ τρÞικασ, δηλαδή η ΚοµισιÞν, η Ευρωπαϊκή Κεντρική Τράπεζα και το ∆ΝΤ, εργάζονται στισ έδρεσ τουσ µε βάση τα στοιχεία τησ διερευνητικήσ αποστολήσ τησ τρÞικασ στην Κύπρο. ΠρÞσθεσε Þτι γίνονται συζητήσεισ µε τισ κυπριακέσ αρχέσ µε τηλεδιασκέψεισ και µε ηλεκτρονική επικοινωνία διευκρινίζονται διάφορα θέµατα πριν απÞ την επίσκεψη του κλιµακίου τησ τρÞικασ. Να σηµειωθεί Þτι προ ηµερών ο ΚυβερνητικÞσ ΕκπρÞσωποσ Στέφανοσ

Στεφάνου, είπε πει πωσ η προγραµµατισµένη άφιξη τησ ΤρÞικασ στισ 16 Ιουλίου µετατίθεται για τισ 22 Ιουλίου, εφÞσον δεν έχει ακÞµη ετοιµάσει τισ αξιολογήσεισ τησ για την Κύπρο.

ƒÈ˙ÔÛ·ÛÙÈΤ˜ ÚÔÙ¿ÛÂȘ Πάντωσ µε προτάσεισ που στοχεύουν

™˘Á¯ÒÓ¢ÛË §·˚΋˜ Î·È ∆Ú. ∫‡ÚÔ˘ ÚÔÙ›ÓÂÈ Ô µÁÂÓfiÔ˘ÏÔ˜ Παρέµβαση στισ εξελίξεισ στο τραπεζικÞ σύστηµα τησ Κύπρου έκανε χθεσ ο Ανδρέασ ΒγενÞπουλοσ, τονίζοντασ Þτι το κυπριακÞ τραπεζικÞ σύστηµα µπορεί και πρέπει να αποφύγει την κρατικοποίηση προσελκύοντασ ιδιωτικά κεφάλαια. Παράλληλα προτείνει τη συγχώνευση τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου µε τη Λαϊκή. Την ίδια ώρα µίλησε για λασπολογία εναντίον του, ενώ ξεκαθάρισε Þτι δεν σκοπεύει να επανέλθει στη διοίκηση κάποιασ τράπεζασ. Ùπωσ αναφέρεται στην ανακοίνωση του Ανδρέα ΒγενÞπουλου. «Το κυπριακÞ τραπεζικÞ σύστηµα µπορεί

και πρέπει να αποφύγει την κρατικοποίηση προσελκύοντασ ιδιωτικά κεφάλαια απÞ στρατηγικούσ, θεσµικούσ και ιδιώτεσ επενδυτέσ. Σε αυτήν την περίπτωση η Τράπεζα Κύπρου και η ΛΑΪΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ θα εκπληρώσουν τισ υποχρεώσεισ τουσ προσ τουσ κατÞχουσ ΜΑΕΚ (µετατρέψιµων αξιογράφων ενισχυµένου κεφαλαίου), θα αποφευχθεί η καταστροφική συρρίκνωση των ισολογισµών, θα αφαιρεθεί το Þριο απÞ τισ απολαβέσ των στελεχών, θα επανέλθει η ασφάλεια στον τραπεζικÞ χώρο, θα συνεχισθεί η χρηµατοδÞτηση τησ ανάπτυξησ τησ κυπριακήσ οικονοµίασ και θα διατηρηθεί η ταυτÞτητα τησ Κύπρου ωσ διε-

θνούσ χρηµατοοικονοµικού κέντρου. Υπογράµµισε επίσησ πωσ προκαλεί η έλλειψη σοβαρού προβληµατισµού για τισ πραγµατικέσ αιτίεσ που οι µεγαλοµέτοχοι και των δύο Τραπεζών δεν συµµετείχαν στισ αυξήσεισ κεφαλαίου. Τέλοσ, το µÞνο που έχω τονίσει επανειληµµένα, αλλά ακÞµα δεν έχει επιβεβαιωθεί, Þµωσ θα επιβεβαιωθεί και αυτÞ σύντοµα, είναι Þτι η συγχώνευση τησ ΛΑΪΚΗΣ µε την Τράπεζα Κύπρου είναι κάτω απÞ τισ σηµερινέσ συνθήκεσ εντελώσ απαραίτητη αφού η νέα Τράπεζα, λÞγω των συνεργειών που θα προκύψουν, θα χρειασθεί περίπου 1,5 δισ.

ευρώ λιγÞτερα κεφάλαια και παράλληλα θα αποτελέσει για τουσ παλιούσ µετÞχουσ αλλά και τουσ νέουσ επενδυτέσ µια σαφώσ καλύτερη επενδυτική επιλογή.

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

18 ΙΟΥΛIOY, 2012

2/14 | ΕΙ∆ΗΣΕΙΣ

Àfi ›ÂÛË ·Ú·Ì¤ÓÔ˘Ó Â˘ÚÒ Î·È Â˘Úˆ˙ÒÓË ™Ù·ıÂÚÔÔÈËÙÈο ÎÈÓ‹ıËÎÂ Ë ÈÛÔÙÈÌ›· ∂˘ÚÒ – ¢ÔÏ·Ú›Ô˘ ÙËÓ Â‚‰ÔÌ¿‰· Ô˘ Ì·˜ ¤Ú·Û ÌÂÙ¿ ÙËÓ ¤ÓÙÔÓË ÙÒÛË ÙˆÓ ÚÔËÁÔ‡ÌÂÓˆÓ Â‚‰ÔÌ¿‰ˆÓ, ·Ú·Ì¤ÓÂÈ fï˜ Ôχ ÎÔÓÙ¿ ÛÙ· ÎÚ›ÛÈÌ· Â›‰· ÙÔ˘ 1.2000 ¡π∫√™ ªπÃ∞∏§π¢∏™ Foreign Exchange Analyst Email: michailidisn@aol.com

Συγκεκριµένα η ισοτιµία απÞ τα 1.2300 τησ περασµένησ εβδοµάδοσ αν και αρχικά υποχώρησε κάτω απÞ τα 1.2200 στην συνέχεια αντέδρασα σκαρφαλώνοντασ και πάλι κοντά στα 1.2300 Þπου και κινείται τισ τελευταίεσ ηµέρεσ. Μια φυσιολογική εξέλιξη θα λέγαµε µετά την βίαιη και απÞτοµη πτώση που προηγήθηκε. Η τάση βέβαια παραµένει έντονα πτωτική τÞσο τεχνικά αλλά ιδιαίτερα Þσο αφορά τα οικονοµικά δεδοµένα. Η Ευρωζώνη θα λέγαµε δείχνει να βρίσκεται σε απελπιστική κατάσταση µε τουσ Γερµανούσ να επιµένουν στην εγκληµατική λιτÞτητα και τουσ υπÞλοιπουσ Ευρωπαίουσ να ψάχνουν αγωνιωδώσ λύση στην κρίση χρέουσ που τουσ µαστίζει. Η θεραπεία βέβαια για τα ελλείµµατα είναι η ανάπτυξη. Και ο πιο γρήγοροσ τρÞποσ για την τÞνωση τησ ανάπτυξησ είναι η αναθέρµανση τησ οικονοµίασ µέσω τησ νοµισµατικήσ πολιτικήσ. Σαφέστατα ένα αδύναµο ευρώ σε σχέση µε το δολάριο µπορεί να αποκαταστήσει την ανταγωνιστικÞτητα τησ Ευρώπησ και να τερµατίσει την κρίση χρέουσ τησ. Μετά απÞ δύο χρÞνια περικοπών και µε ηµίµετρα αντιµετώπισησ τησ

έκτακτησ κατάστασησ, ο µÞνοσ τρÞποσ για να σωθεί το ευρώ, είναι να υποτιµηθεί. Υπάρχει µια αυξανÞµενη αίσθηση Þτι η υποτίµηση του ευρώ θα µπορούσε να αποδειχθεί η λιγÞτερο δαπανηρή λύση, ακÞµη και απÞ τη διάλυση του ενιαίου νοµίσµατοσ. Εάν αφεθεί η ευρωζώνη χωρίσ λύση, τÞτε Þλη η Ευρώπη θα βυθιστεί σε βαθιά ύφεση, ενώ οι κυβερνήσεισ θα αναγκαστούν να δανειστούν επιπλέον κεφάλαια για να καλύψουν τισ ανάγκεσ τουσ. Το αποτέλεσµα θα ήταν να αυξήσουν δραστικά τουσ φÞρουσ, κάτι το οποίο θα συνεπαγÞταν σηµαντική οικονοµική επιβάρυνση για τουσ πολίτεσ. Αλλά µÞνο η ΕΚΤ, έχει τη δυνατÞτητα να χειραγωγήσει το ευρώ, να τυπώσει χρήµα για να αγοράσει τίτλουσ τησ Ισπανίασ και τησ Ιταλίασ χωρίσ Þριο. Αλλά για να γίνει αυτÞ θα πρέπει να τησ το επιτρέψει η Γερµανία η οποία προσ το παρÞν συνεχίζει να το αρνείται κυνηγώντασ φαντάσµατα πληθωρισµού. Πλέον οι επιλογέσ τησ ευρωζώνησ περιορίζονται στο δίληµµα διάσπασησ ή αποδοχήσ ενÞσ υποτιµηµένου ευρώ. Μια πιθανή υποτίµηση του ευρώ κατά 20% έναντι του δολαρίου θα αναπλήρωνε τουλάχιστον το 50% τησ χαµένησ αξιοπιστίασ τησ Ιταλίασ σύµφωνα µε αναλύσεισ οικονοµολÞγων, ενώ θα έδινε αφορµή στη Γερµανία να στηρίξει τισ υπερχρεωµένεσ χώρεσ τησ ευρωζώνησ.

H σωτηρία τησ ευρωζώνησ µπορεί να συνδυαστεί µÞνο µε ένα πολύ αδύναµο ευρώ, το οποίο εξακολουθεί να παραµένει αρκετά υπερτιµηµένο έναντι του δολαρίου. Ένα υποτιµηµένο ευρώ θα αποµάκρυνε τισ αµφιβολίεσ ορισµένων χωρών περί

ºÔÚÔ‰È·Ê˘Á‹ Vs ¶ÚÔÛˆÈο ‰Â‰Ô̤ӷ Η κυβέρνηση δεν µπορεί να δώσει στη δηµοσιÞτητα τα ονÞµατα αυτών που οφείλουν στο κράτοσ εφÞσον πρÞκειται για φοροοφειλέτεσ και Þχι φοροφυγάδεσ ξεκαθάρισε ο Επίτροποσ Προστασίασ ∆εδοµένων Προσωπικού Χαρακτήρα Γιάννησ ∆ανιηλίδησ. Ο κύριοσ ∆ανιηλίδησ ξεκαθάρισε το πλαίσιο το οποίο µπορεί να κινηθεί η κυβέρνηση για να µην υπάρξει παραβίαση τησ νοµοθεσίασ περί προσωπικών δεδοµένων απÞ την πρÞθεση ο ΥπουργÞσ Οικονοµικών να δηµοσιοποιεί τα ονÞµατα Þλων Þσοι φοροδιαφεύγουν. «Άλλο οι φοροφυγάδεσ και άλλο οι φοροοφειλέτεσ. ΑυτÞ πρέπει να ξεκαθαρίσει στο µυαλÞ του κÞσµου. Ùταν ένασ οφείλει στο ΦÞρο Εισοδήµατοσ δεν είναι έγκληµα που πρέπει να υπάρχει µοµφή και λÞγοσ για διαπÞµπευση του. Ùταν λέµε φυσικά πρÞσωπα δεν εννοούµε για να το καταλάβει καλύτερα ο κÞσµοσ εταιρείεσ και νεκρούσ οι οποίοι οφείλουν στο κράτοσ», υπογράµµισε. Ο κύριοσ ∆ανιηλίδησ ξεκαθάρισε Þτι στισ περιπτώσεισ που τα άτοµα που οφείλουν µεγάλα ποσά αρνηθούν σε ένα εύλογο χρονικÞ διάστηµα να έλθουν σε διακανονισµÞ µε το κράτοσ τÞτε η κυβέρνηση θα δικαιούται να δηµοσιοποιήσει τα ονÞµατα τουσ. Σύµφωνα µε πληροφορίεσ η δηµοσιοποίηση των ονοµάτων αυτών που αρνούνται να καταβάλουν τισ οφειλέσ τουσ στο κράτοσ θα αφορά µÞνο Þλουσ Þσοι χρωστούν ποσά που ξεπερνούν τισ 150 χιλιάδεσ ευρώ. Την ίδια ώρα ο ∆ΗΣΥ µέσω του αναπληρωτή του Προέδρου Αβέρωφ Νεοφύτου χαρακτήρισε τραγελαφική την απÞφαση του Υπουργικού Συµβουλίου η οποία, Þπωσ

÷ڛϷԘ ™Ù·˘Ú¿Î˘: £· Í·Ó·Á›ÓÂÈ ÙÚ·Â˙›Ù˘; Στα σχέδια του πρώην Υπουργού Οικονοµικών Χαρίλαου Σταυράκη είναι η δηµιουργία µια νέασ τράπεζασ Þπωσ λέγετε ανάµεσα σε διάφορουσ οικονοµικούσ κύκλουσ. Ο κύριοσ Σταυράκησ απαντώντασ σε αυτή τη φηµολογία άφησε αυτÞ το ενδεχÞµενο ανοικτÞ τονίζοντασ πάντωσ πωσ είναι πρÞωρο να ειπωθεί Þτι έχουν παρθεί αποφάσεισ. Μιλώντασ ανέφερε Þτι υπάρχει αρκετÞ λίποσ στη δηµÞσια υπηρεσία κάτι το οποίο εγείρει αρκετά ερωτηµατικά Þσον αφορά στο γιατί δεν έλαβε διορθωτικά µέτρα Þταν για τρεισήµισι χρÞνια κατείχε τα ηνία τησ κυπριακήσ οικονοµίασ. Εξέφρασε ακÞµα την εκτίµηση Þτι µε την κάθοδο τησ ΤρÞικασ αναµένεται να µειωθεί σηµαντικά το βιοτικÞ επίπεδο των Κυπρίων.

υποστήριξε, «είναι ωσάν ο ΑρχηγÞσ τησ Αστυνοµίασ να δηλώνει Þτι θα βγαίνει στα µέσα ενηµέρωσησ και θα ανακοινώνει το Þνοµα ενÞσ ληστή, ενώ αφού τον γνωρίζει, θα έπρεπε να πάει να τον συλλάβει». Ùπωσ είπε ο κύριοσ Νεοφύτου απαιτείται απÞ την κυβέρνηση, αφού γνωρίζει τουσ φοροδιαφυγάδεσ, να προχωρήσει στη σύλληψη τουσ και ακολούθωσ να εισπράξει αυτά που χρωστούν. Αξίζει τέλοσ να σηµειωθεί Þτι η δηµοσιοποίηση των ονοµάτων που φοροδιαφεύγουν η οποία Þπωσ πληροφορούµαστε περιέχει ονÞµατα πολύ γνωστά στην Κύπρο απÞ το δικηγορικÞ, επιχειρηµατικÞ και ιατρικÞ κÞσµο θα πρέπει πρώτα να εγκριθεί απÞ τη Βουλή των Αντιπροσώπων. ¶∞À§√™ °∂øƒ°π∞¢∏™

∆Ú·Â˙ÈΤ˜ ȤÛÂȘ ÛÙÔ Ã∞∫ Απώλειεσ κατέγραψε χθεσ το κυπριακÞ χρηµατιστήριο, δεχÞµενο πιέσεισ, κυρίωσ, απÞ τισ τραπεζικέσ µετοχέσ. Ο ΓενικÞσ ∆είκτησ κατέγραψε ζηµιέσ τησ τάξησ του 2,18% και έκλεισε στισ 127,85 µονάδεσ. Ο ηµερήσιοσ Þγκοσ των συναλλαγών ανήλθε στα 354.089,04 ευρώ, µε τη µετοχή τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου να συγκεντρώνει το 48,8% του ηµερήσιου τζίρου. Ο ∆είκτησ FTSE/CySE 20 παρουσίασε απώλειεσ σε ποσοστÞ 1,73% και έκλεισε στισ 48,96 µονάδεσ. Το µεγαλύτερο επενδυτικÞ ενδιαφέρον προσέλκυσαν οι τίτλοι τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου µε 260.362 ευρώ (τιµή κλεισίµατοσ 0,251 ευρώ – πτώση 3,08%), τησ Λαϊκήσ Τράπεζασ µε 49.379 ευρώ (τιµή κλεισίµατοσ 0,08 ευρώ – πτώση 1,23%), τησ ∆ήµητρασ Επενδυτική µε 23.695 ευρώ (τιµή κλεισίµατοσ 0,24 ευρώ – άνοδοσ 1,67%), τησ Ελληνικήσ Τράπεζασ µε 6.780 ευρώ (τιµή κλεισίµατοσ 0,18 ευρώ – χωρίσ µεταβολή) και τησ Petrolina (Holdings) Public µε 4.184 ευρώ (τιµή κλεισίµατοσ

αποµάκρυνσήσ τουσ απÞ το ευρωπαϊκÞ οικοδÞµηµα και θα καθιστούσα τα φτωχά ευρωπαϊκά κράτη πολύ πιο ανταγωνιστικά. Με τα spreads των ευρωπαϊκών χωρών να διατηρούνται σε µη επιτρεπτά επίπεδα, την ισπανική οικονοµία να βρίσκεται σε κρίσιµο σταυροδρÞµι, την ιταλική οικονοµία να απειλείται Þλο και περισσÞτερο και την Ελλάδα µε την Πορτογαλία να αµφισβητείται η παραµονή τουσ στο Ευρώ είναι ξεκάθαρο πωσ η ΕΚΤ θα πρέπει να βγάλει προσ τα έξω Þλα τα Þπλα τησ. Ίσωσ ήρθε η στιγµή η ΕΚΤ να αντιγράψει την Fed η οποία υιοθετώντασ την πολιτική του φθηνού δολαρίου κατÞρθωσε να αποτρέψει τα χειρÞτερα. Βεβαίωσ οι αντιδράσεισ εντÞσ και εκτÞσ ΕΚΤ θα είναι έντονεσ αφού θα σκοντάψουν στο επιχείρηµα περί σταθερÞτητασ τιµών, απÞ την άλλη Þµωσ µπροστά σε τÞσο κρίσιµεσ στιγµέσ θα πρέπει οι δογµατισµοί να παραµεριστούν. Τεχνικά η πτωτική τάση τησ ισοτιµίασ διατηρείται µε το εβδοµαδιαίο σπάσιµο του 1.22 να απαιτείται για να ανοίξει ο δρÞµοσ για τα 1.20. ΑπÞ την άλλη Þµωσ Þσο πλησιάζει οι κρίσιµεσ συνεδρίεσ τησ ΕΚΤ και τησ Fed η µεταβλητÞτητα στην ισοτιµία θα είναι σαφώσ µεγαλύτερη και οι έντονεσ διακυµάνσεισ στην ισοτιµία πιθανÞν να εµφανιστούν και πάλι. Ùπωσ και νάνε Þµωσ Þπωσ αναφέραµε πολλέσ φορέσ στο παρελθÞν τα επίπεδα του 1.20 είναι απλώσ θέµα χρÞνου να δοκιµαστούν και µÞνο µια απÞφαση τησ Fed για QE3 δείχνει ικανή να ανατρέψει αυτήν την πορεία.

0,66 ευρώ – πτώση 0,45%). Την ίδια ώρα χωρίσ διαφοροποίηση σε σχέση µε το υποτονικÞ συναλλακτικÞ µοτίβο των προηγούµενων ηµερών, ο ΓενικÞσ ∆είκτησ του Χρηµατιστηρίου Αθηνών έκλεισε χθεσ στισ 612,38 µονάδεσ µε απώλειεσ 1,22% µε απώλειεσ και, για δεύτερη διαδοχική συνεδρίαση, πολύ κοντά στα χαµηλά ηµέρασ. Η αίσθηση µεταξύ των αναλυτών τησ αγοράσ είναι Þτι η εικÞνα στο ταµπλÞ του Χ.Α. δύσκολα θα διαφοροποιηθεί στο αµέσωσ επÞµενο χρονικÞ διάστηµα και Þτι το ρίσκο διατηρείται πτωτικÞ, καθώσ η αγορά αναµένει Þχι µÞνο την ανακοίνωση των νέων δηµοσιονοµικών µέτρων, αλλά και την αξιολÞγησή τουσ απÞ την ΤρÞικα, για την επιστροφή τησ οποίασ στην Αθήνα ο εκπρÞσωποσ του Olli Rehn δήλωσε σήµερα Þτι η ΚοµισιÞν δεν γνωρίζει ακριβή ηµεροµηνία. Στο ταµπλÞ, ο ΓενικÞσ ∆είκτησ έκλεισε, παρά τα κέρδη 0,90% στη διάρκεια των συναλλαγών και µε το χαµηλÞ ηµέρασ να έχει σηµειωθεί στισ 612,21 µονάδεσ (-1,25%).

°È¿ÓÓ˘ ∫˘Ú‹: ∫Ù›˙ÂÈ Û¯¤ÛÂȘ Ì ƒ˘ÌÔÏfi‚Ï‚ Î·È ∂∆À∫ Σε νέα βάση θέλει να κτίσει τισ σχέσεισ του µε το Ρώσο µεγαλÞµετοχο του Συγκροτήµατοσ τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου Ντιµίτρι ΡιµπολÞβλεβ ο νεÞσ διευθύνων σύµβουλοσ Γιάννησ Κυπρή. Ùπωσ πληροφορούµαστε ο κύριοσ Κυπρή στοχεύει πολύ σύντοµα να συναντηθεί µε το Ρώσο κροίσο µε στÞχο να τον «πείσει» Þτι έχει αξία η επένδυση του στην Τράπεζα Κύπρου στοχεύοντασ να αυξήσει τη συµµετοχή του που σήµερα ανέρχεται στο 5,2% σε σύγκριση µε 9,9% που ήταν προηγουµένωσ. Αξίζει επίσησ να σηµειωθεί Þτι σηµαντική µείωση σηµειώθηκε και στο ποσοστÞ των ξένων θεσµικών του Συγκροτήµατοσ το οποίο σήµερα βρίσκεται µÞλισ στο 8% σε σύγκριση µε 30% που ήταν το 2009. Ο κύριοσ Κυπρή θα έχει επίσησ συνάντηση τισ επÞµενεσ µέρεσ µε την ηγεσία τησ ΕΤΥΚ θέλοντασ να στείλει το µήνυµα Þτι θα κάνει Þτι είναι ανθρωπίνωσ δυνατÞ για να διατηρηθούν οι θέσεισ εργασίασ και για να µην υπάρξουν µειώσεισ µισθών.

18 ΙΟΥΛIOY, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

ΕΙ∆ΗΣΕΙΣ | 3/15

«√È ƒÒÛÔÈ ÛÙËÓ ∫‡ÚÔ: ŒÓ·˜ ¢Ô‡ÚÂÈÔ˜ ÿÔ˜ ÛÙËÓ ∂˘ÚÒË» Αφιέρωµα στην Κύπρο δηµοσίευσε η γαλλÞφωνη εφηµερίδα «L’ Echo» µε τίτλο: «Οι Ρώσοι στην Κύπρο: Ένασ ∆ούρειοσ Ίπποσ στην Ευρώπη». Μεταξύ άλλων, το αφιέρωµα επισηµαίνει Þτι η φιλία Ρωσίασ-Κύπρου ανησυχεί, την ώρα που η Λευκωσία αναλαµβάνει την προεδρία τησ ΕΕ για έξι µήνεσ. Κατά την πρώτη του συνέντευξη Τύπου, ο πρÞεδροσ ∆. ΧριστÞφιασ απέκρουσε τισ κατηγορίεσ µε κάποια ειρωνεία: «Πολλά παραµύθια κυκλοφορούν σχετικά µε την Κύπρο». «Παραµύθια ή Þχι, η µαγεία αρχίζει και πιάνει: Η Κύπροσ και η Ρωσία υπέγραψαν µία συµφωνία για τη διπλή φορολÞγηση εισοδηµάτων, η οποία θα ισχύει απÞ 1η Ιανουαρίου του 2013. Ένα µέτρο που θα σβήσει την Κύπρο απÞ τη µαύρη λίστα», συνεχίζει η «L’ Echo». Εξάλλου, η εφηµερίδα υπενθυµίζει Þτι τον περασµένο ∆εκέµβρη, η ΜÞσχα δάνεισε 2,5 δισ. ευρώ µε προνοµιακÞ τÞκο, για να επιτρέψει στην κυπριακή κυβέρνηση να καλύψει τισ δαπάνεσ τησ για το έτοσ 2012. «Η Λευκωσία ελπίζει σε νέα κίνηση, ζητώντασ επιταγή 5 δισ. ευρώ, τη στιγµή που η κυβέρνησή τησ ζητούσε επίσηµα την οικονοµική βοήθεια τησ ΕΕ», επισηµαίνει η εφηµερίδα. Ùσον αφορά τα τεράστια υποθαλάσσια κοιτάσµατα φυσικού αερίου που ανακάλυψε πρÞσφατα η Κυπριακή ∆ηµοκρατία, η εφηµερίδα τονίζει Þτι στην πρÞσκληση ενδιαφέροντοσ που έγινε, οι ρωσικοί πετρελαϊκοί γίγαντεσ Novatek και Gazprom ήταν υποψήφιοι, ενώ η Τουρκία εκφράστηκε αρνητικά και έθεσε το θέµα τησ κατανο-

«

µήσ των εσÞδων µε την τουρκική κοινÞτητα, ένα θέµα που πάντα εκκρεµεί. Η «L’ Echo» παραθέτει και σχετικέσ δηλώσεισ του Κύπριου προέδρου: «Αποφασίσαµε να µοιραστούµε τα έσοδα τησ εκµετάλλευσησ», παραδέχτηκε ο ∆. ΧριστÞφιασ, προσθέτοντασ Þµωσ Þτι «πρέπει πρώτα να επιλύσουµε το κυπριακÞ πρÞβληµα». Η εφηµερίδα επισηµαίνει Þτι η άφιξη των Ρώσων χρονολογείται απÞ το 1990, Þταν διαλύθηκε η Σοβιετική Ένωση. Επιχειρηγοηµατίεσ, τεύτηκαν απÞ τη γεωστρατηγική θέση του νησιού, ανάµεσα στην Ευρώπη, τη Μέση Ανατολή και την Αφρική και απÞ ένα ελκυστικÞ φÞρο για τισ επιχειρήσεισ, 10%, το χαµηλÞτερο στην Ευρώπη. Οι Ρώσοι έγιναν οι µεγαλύτεροι επενδυτέσ στο νησί. Το 2008, ενώ το νησί έµπαινε το ευρώ, η Ρωσία έβαλε την Κύπρο σε µαύρη λίστα, λÞγω ελλιπούσ ενηµέρωσησ για τισ τραπεζικέσ συναλλαγέσ. «Φοβούνται κυρίωσ το ενδεχÞµενο τησ εγκατάστασησ ρωσικών τραπεζών στην Κύπρο», µασ εµπιστεύεται ένα µέλοσ τησ κυπριακήσ κυβέρνησησ. Για την ώρα, µÞνο η Russian Commercial Bank, µία θυγατρική του κατά το ήµισυ κρατικού γίγαντα Vneshtorgbank, είναι η µÞνη ρωσική τράπεζα στην Κύπρο, µε δύο καταστήµατα και 120 υπαλλήλουσ. Επίσησ η βελγική εφηµερίδα τονίζει Þτι οι Ρώσοι έχουν στη ΛεµεσÞ δύο σχολεία, δύο εφηµερίδεσ και ένα ραδιοφωνικÞ σταθµÞ, πολλά καταστήµατα µε ρώσικα προϊÞντα, αλλά και καταστήµατα που εξυπηρετούν κυρίωσ τουσ Ρώσουσ µε χοντρÞ πορτοφÞλι.

√π ƒø™π∫√π ¶∂∆ƒ∂§∞´∫√π °π°∞¡∆∂™ NOVATEK ∫∞π GAZPROM ∫∞§√µ§∂¶√À¡ ∆√ ∫À¶ƒπ∞∫√ ºÀ™π∫√ ∞∂ƒπ√

»

√ Bill Clinton ÛÙËÓ ∫‡ÚÔ Στην Κύπρο θα έλθει ο πρώην πρÞεδροσ των ΗΠΑ Bill Clinton για να µιλήσει σε διάλεξη του Ευρωπαϊκού Πανεπιστηµίου Λευκωσίασ στισ 21 Ιουλίου. «Είναι µε µεγάλη τιµή που ανακοινώνουµε την επίσκεψη του Προέδρου Bill Clinton, 42ου Προέδρου των Ηνωµένων Πολιτειών και Επίτιµου Chancellor του Laureate International Universities, στο ΕυρωπαϊκÞ Πανεπιστήµιο Κύπρου το Σάββατο 21 Ιουλίου στο ΠολιτιστικÞ Κέντρο στισ 4:00 µµ,», αναφέρει σχετική ανακοίνωση. Ο πρώην πρÞεδροσ των ΗΠΑ Bill Clinton συµβουλεύει τη Laureate σε τοµείσ Þπωσ είναι η κοινωνική ευθύνη, η ηγετική ικανÞτητα των νέων και η αύξηση του ποσοστού πρÞσβασησ στην πανεπιστηµιακή εκπαίδευση. Ο Bill Clinton, προστίθεται, θα µοιραστεί µαζί µε τουσ φοιτητέσ και απÞφοιτουσ, το προσωπικÞ και τη κοινÞτητα γενικÞτερα τισ ιδέεσ του Þσον αφορά, «Την ΠαγκÞσµια Οικονοµική Κρίση».

To Coffee Beanery ¿ÂÈ... ÛÙËÓ ™Ù·˘ÚÔ‡ Την πρώτη τησ επιχειρηµατική κίνηση µετά την αλλαγή ιδιοκτησιακού καθεστώτοσ ετοιµάζει η αλυσίδα καφέ Coffee Beanery.

To franchise ετοιµάζεται να λειτουργήσει σε ένα δρÞµο που τουσ τελευταίουσ µήνεσ έγινε must για τισ αλυσίδεσ καφέ, στην λεωφÞρου Σταυρού στην Λευκωσία. ΠρÞκειται για την πρώτη κίνηση του νέου ιδιοκτησιακού σχήµατοσ το οποίο περιλαµβάνει τουσ Κυριάκο Ζιβανάρη, Μάρκο Κυριακίδη, ∆ιονύση Χιώτη και Χρίστο ΚÞντη.

Το πλάνο ανάπτυξησ, Þπωσ είχε ανακοινωθεί Þταν οι επιχειρηµατίεσ αγÞραζαν το franchise απÞ τον Λάµπρο Χριστοφή, περιλαµβάνει δηµιουργία 7 καφεστιατορίων για τα επÞµενα 5 χρÞνια. Ήδη, στο κτίριο γίνονται οι απαραίτητεσ διαρρυθµίσεισ και αναµένεται να λειτουργήσει σύντοµα. Να σηµειωθεί Þτι τα τελευταία δύο χρÞνια έχουν ανοίξει στην οδÞ Σταυρού αρκετά ηχηρά ονÞµατα του καφέ Þπωσ , Gloria Jeans, Presse Café και Coffee Island.

18 ΙΟΥΛΙΟΥ, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

4/16 | ΕΙ∆ΗΣΕΙΣ

ª¤ÓÔ˘Ì ∫‡ÚÔ ¶ÔÈÔÙÈÎfi˜ ÙÔ˘ÚÈÛÌfi˜ ‹ ÔÈÔÙÈ΋ ÎÏ„ȿ; ∞¡∆ø¡∏™ §√π∑√À ∞ÓÙÒÓ˘ §Ô›˙Ô˘ F.R.I.C.S. & ™˘ÓÂÚÁ¿Ù˜ §Ù‰, ∂ÎÙÈÌËÙ¤˜ ∞ÎÈÓ‹ÙˆÓ & ¢È·¯ÂÈÚÈÛÙ¤˜ ŒÚÁˆÓ ∞Ó¿Ù˘Í˘

Υπάρχει ένα εξαιρετικÞ εβδοµαδιαίο πρÞγραµµα στην Ελληνική τηλεÞραση µε την ονοµασία Μένουµε Ελλάδα. Η σειρά αυτή επί εβδοµαδιαίασ βάσησ επισκέπτεται διάφορουσ τουριστικούσ προορισµούσ µε εξαιρετική φωτογράφηση και µε συνεντεύξεισ ντÞπιων Þσο και τουριστών, Ελλήνων και ξένων (για τα Ελληνικά υπάρχουν και υπÞτιτλοι στα Αγγλικά). Οµολογουµένωσ, για εκείνουσ που δεν γνωρίζουν πολύ καλά την Ελλάδα, ο τηλεθεατήσ «επισκέπτεται» ορισµένουσ προορισµούσ που σε προκαλεί για επίσκεψη.Το πρÞγραµµα επιχορηγείται απÞ τον Ε.Ο.Τ., διατίθεται τÞσο σε CD Þσο και στο διαδίκτυο για οποιοδήποτε επισκέπτη να το δει. ∆ιερωτώµεθα λοιπÞν µήπωσ ένα παρÞµοιο πρÞγραµµα επί εβδοµαδιαίασ βάσησ «Μένουµε Κύπρο» να είναι µια καλή ιδέα και για την Κύπρο, βοηθώντασ στην προσέλκυση ντÞπιων τουριστών και ξένων και την προώθηση πωλήσεων ακινήτων. Κάθε εβδοµάδα να εξετάζονται οι διάφοροι τουριστικοί προορισµοί τησ Κύπρου και ακÞµη συγκεκριµένα έργα τουριστικά και µη ανά περιοχή. ΑντιλαµβανÞµαστε Þτι η ετοιµασία αυτού τησ µισήσ ώρασ προγράµµατοσ απÞ πλευράσ παραγωγήσ κοστίζει στον Ε.Ο.Τ. 100.000 ευρώ το πρÞγραµµα. ποσÞ αρκετά ψηλÞ για να το καλύψει ο Κ.Ο.Τ., γι’ αυτÞ και µια και που ο στÞχοσ είναι να µάθουµε εµείσ οι Κύπριοι τον τÞπο µασ και κατ’ επέκταση µε τισ ανάλογεσ µεταφράσεισ σε άλλεσ γλώσσεσ και νοουµένου Þτι οι ξενοδÞχοι τησ Κύπρου συµφωνούν, να επιβληθεί ένα µικρÞ τέλοσ, έστω 7 σεντ/διανυκτέρευση/άτοµο, ή κάτι παρÞµοιο που να κατατίθεται σε αυτÞ το ειδικÞ ταµείο προβολήσ. Υπάρχει µεν ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον πρÞγραµµα για την Κύπρο για διάφορα χωριά απÞ το ΡΙΚ, αλλά δεν είναι το ίδιο και ούτε ο στÞχοσ είναι ο ίδιοσ. Εάν υποθέσουµε Þτι το Þλο πρÞγραµµα θα κοστίσει 1 εκ. ευρώ τον χρÞνο και µε 13.8 εκ. διανυκτερεύσεισ παγκύπρια, τÞτε το ποσÞ που εισηγηθήκαµε είναι πολύ εφικτÞ (7 σεντ ανά διανυκτέρευ-

ση). Στο πρÞγραµµα αυτÞ θα µπορούν να συµµετέχουν και έργα παραπλήσια/άµεσα σχετιζÞµενα µε τον τουρισµÞ, π.χ. τα διάφογήπεδα γκολφ, οι µαρίνεσ, ρα εστιατÞρια/ταβέρνεσ/ µπαράκια κλπ (ίδε παρÞµοιο πρÞγραµµα ΡΙΚ Κυπριακή Κουζίνα) µε ανάλογη χρέωση π.χ. 2.000 ευρώ /έργο. Ùσο και να µασ προβληµατίζει η πρÞσθετη χρέωση/αύξηση κÞστουσ στα τουριστικά καταλύµατα, εντούτοισ είναι πρÞδηλο Þτι ούτε και εµείσ οι Κύπριοι γνωρίζουµε τι προσφέρουµε. “Ξαφνικά” µάθαµε για ένα καταπληκτικÞ spa-center ευρισκÞµενο σε ένα απÞµερο χωριÞ τησ Πάφου, το οποίο και «πιάστηκε» ωσ µοναδικÞ απÞ Λευκωσιάτεσ και άλλουσ. Ξενοδοχεία µε εκκλησάκια είναι ένασ νέοσ προορισµÞσ για γάµουσ ιδιαίτερα Κυπρίων (µε καλÞ ποσοστÞ και απÞ ξένουσ). Το Pissouri Resort είναι ένα παράδειγµα Þπωσ και το Intercontinental και το Anassa στην Πάφο. Μάλιστα η ζήτηση είναι τέτοια που θα πρέπει ο γάµοσ να καθοριστεί ανάλογα µε την ύπαρξη κενού χρÞνου του ξενοδοχείου!! Ο Κύπριοσ τουρίστασ είναι ο πιο καλÞσ υπÞ την έννοια τησ πιο ψηλήσ κατανάλωσησ (spending power) Þσο και τισ επισκέψεισ του σε χειµερινούσ µήνεσ. ΑπÞ την άλλη γνωρίζοντασ την αδυναµία του Κύπριου, τα οργανωµένα ξενοδοχεία, εκµεταλλεύονται την Þλη κατάσταση. Έτσι για κράτηση σε ξενοδοχείο 3 αστέρων στον Πρωταρά, ζητούν για ένα σαββατοκύριακο για 2 άτοµα Β/Β 600 ευρώ!! (που Þντασ ήταν σαββατοκύριακο τον Ιούλιο). Παροµοίωσ, ξένοσ (Ρώσοσ) ζήτησε δωµάτιο σε ξενοδοχείο στην Πάφο για τον γάµο του εγγονού του, του ζητήθηκε για µια κράτηση σαββατοκύριακου (τον Σεπτέµβριο) 400 ευρώ/δωµάτιο των δύο, µε 200 καλεσµένουσ δηλαδή 100 δωµάτια!! Άρα λοιπÞν υπάρχει και εκµετάλλευση, αλλά και παράδειγµα προσ αποφυγή και καταστροφή για γάµουσ, συνέδρια κλπ, απωθώντασ και τουσ ξένουσ. Η τελευταία επίσκεψη του Σάκη Ρουβά που κατά τα κοσµικά περιοδικά, έµεινε σε ξενοδοχείο τησ Λάρνακασ-Μενεού “διÞτι έχει ένα πολύ καλÞ spa” είναι και αυτÞ µια ένδειξη στÞχου και προορισµού. ΠοιοτικÞσ τουρισµÞσ είναι µεν ο στÞχοσ, αλλά µε το µυαλÞ που µασ κυβερνά δεν µασ βοηθά και πολύ. ∆ιαβάστε αγαπητοί µασ αναγνώστεσ τισ δύο πιο κάτω δικέσ µασ εµπειρίεσ.

- Επισκεφθήκαµε εστιατÞριο στο Πισσούρι πάνω στην παραλία στον ΚÞλπο.

Ùλα “µια χαρά”, εκτÞσ τησ µουσικήσ, που ήταν µεταξύ still disco και οτιδήποτε άλλο. Κέντρο επί τησ παραλίασ µε µέσησ ηλικίασ πελάτεσ περί των 50 χρονών. ∆ιαµαρτυρηθήκαµε στην ξενÞγλωσση διευθύντρια η οποία µασ πληροφÞρησε Þτι “αρκετοί ξένοι διαµαρτύρονται γιατί δεν υπάρχει Ελληνική µουσική, µπουζούκι κλπ, αλλά ο Κ.Ο.Τ. µασ επιβάλλει να έχουµε αυτού του είδουσ την µουσική”. Αν και αποστείλαµε επιστολή στον Κ.Ο.Τ. ασφαλώσ και δεν την πιστέψαµε. Κανένα γκαρσÞνι παρεµπιπτÞντωσ δεν ήταν Κύπριοσ. Αναµένουµε απÞ τον Κ.Ο.Τ. τι έκανε επί του θέµατοσ αφού δώσαµε Þλα τα στοιχεία του κέντρου.

- Παρευρεθήκαµε σε ένα ψηλού κÞστουσ γάµο στη ΛεµεσÞ. Ζητήσαµε απÞ τον ΑγγλÞφωνο σερβιτÞρο µήπωσ έχει περισσέψει ένα πιάτο απÞ το τάδε φαγητÞ. Η απάντηση ήταν “να πάµε στο µπουφέ να δούµε εµείσ”. Καλώσ, µιασ και ήταν δική µασ ιδιοτροπία. ΑπÞ την άλλη εάν είµεθα στην Ελλάδα ο «καλαµαράσ» σερβιτÞροσ θα έλεγε «κύριε µου θα σασ φροντίσω αµέσωσ και θα πάω στην κουζίνα να σασ βρω, αφήστε το πάνω µου και µην ανησυχείτε»!! ΠοιÞτητα εξυπηρέτησησ λοιπÞν και ασφαλώσ µε το ανάλογο φιλοδώρηµα.

- Μασ συνέβηκε και αυτÞ σε ξενοδοχείο παραθαλάσσιο παραγγείλαµε ένα µπουκάλι κρασί Άγιοσ ΑνδρÞνικοσ κÞστουσ υπεραγοράσ 7 ευρώ, µασ χρέωσε 56 ευρώ. ΠοιοτικÞσ τουρισµÞσ ή ποιοτική κλεψιά; Ασφαλώσ και δεν πρÞκειται να ξανα-επισκεφθούµε το ξενοδοχείο αυτÞ αλλά εν τω µεταξύ πÞσεσ άλλεσ εκατοντάδεσ καηµένουσ ξένουσ θα κλέψουν; - Τα Κυπριακά ταξί είναι ένα δυσφηµιστήσ τησ Κύπρου µε υπερχρεώσεισ ιδιαίτερα αυτοί

που έχουν τα µονοπώλια των αεροδροµίων. Σασ αναφέρουµε δική µασ εµπειρία µε συµφωνηθείσα τιµή µε τον εκεί γραµµατέα 25 ευρώ απÞ την Λάρνακα στον Πρωταρά, µασ χρέωσε 32 ευρώ. Η τελευταία δυσφήµηση απÞ ταξιτζήδεσ στην Αγία Νάπα που χτύπησαν τουσ επιβάτεσ, διÞτι τÞλµησαν να ζητήσουν να τεθεί σε λειτουργία το ταξίµετρο είναι ένα πρÞσθετο στοιχείο που έκανε τον γύρο του κÞσµου στο διαδίκτυο, Þπωσ είναι και το “κÞψιµο” του δρÞµου πρÞσβασησ στα αεροδρÞµια Þταν οι εκεί µονοπωλιακοί ταξιτζήδεσ ζητούν κάτι (συνήθωσ και άλλεσ χρεώσεισ).

- Και πολλά άλλα! Άρα ναι µεν βοήθεια προσ ξενοδÞχουσ µε κÞστοσ στο Κράτοσ και µε κάποια δική τουσ συνεισφορά, αλλά και κάποιου είδουσ ελάχιστησ «τσίππασ» απÞ ξενοδÞχουσ και άλλουσ, έστω για ολίγουσ µεν αλλά είναι αρκετοί για να καταστρέψουν και τουσ υπÞλοιπουσ. Αν και η στήλη αυτή ασχολείται µε τα ακίνητα, το επίπεδο του τουρισµού και η ποιÞτητα τησ εξυπηρέτησησ έχει άµεση σχέση µε τισ αγορέσ ακινήτων απÞ ξένουσ. Στο παράδειγµα που θέσαµε του Ρώσου µε τα 100 δωµάτια είναι πελάτησ µασ ο οποίοσ κατέληξε να αγοράσει τÞσο για εκείνο Þσο και για τον εγγονÞ του 2 κατοικίεσ αξίασ 5 εκ. ευρώ στην Λάρνακα!!

Υ.Γ. Θα πρέπει να σασ διηγηθούµε και την εµπειρία µασ στο Ηράκλειο Κρήτησ. ΜÞλισ καθίσαµε στην ταβέρνα παρουσιάστηκε ένασ σερβιτÞροσ (ΚρητικÞσ εκ των υστέρων) και µασ ρώτησε στα Ελληνικά τι θα πάρουµε. ΑυθÞρµητα του είπαµε “µα µιλάσ Ελληνικά; “ο άνθρωποσ διερωτήθηκε µήπωσ έχουµε “κάτι”.

ºÔÚÔÏÔÁÈ΋ ÛÈÁÔ˘ÚÈ¿ ÂÎ¤ÌÂÈ Ë ∫‡ÚÔ˜ ∏ ∫‡ÚÔ˜ ÂÎ¤ÌÂÈ ÛÈÁÔ˘ÚÈ¿ ÁÈ· ÙÔ ÊÔÚÔÏÔÁÈÎfi Ù˘ Û‡ÛÙËÌ· Î·È ÔÈ ÂÙ·ÈÚ›˜ Ô˘ ‰Ú·ÛÙËÚÈÔÔÈÔ‡ÓÙ·È ÂȯÂÈÚËÌ·ÙÈο ÛÙËÓ ∫‡ÚÔ ¤¯Ô˘Ó ηϤ˜ Û¯¤ÛÂȘ Ì ÙȘ ÙÔÈΤ˜ ÊÔÚÔÏÔÁÈΤ˜ ·Ú¯¤˜ Û‡Ìʈӷ Ì ¤Ú¢ӷ Ù˘ Deloitte ΑυτÞ είναι ένα απÞ τα κύρια συµπεράσµατα στο οποίο κατέληξε µεγάλη έρευνα τησ Deloitte µε θέµα “Φορολογική ΒεβαιÞτητα – Σχέσεισ Εταιρειών και Φορολογικών Αρχών” η οποία κάλυψε 24 χώρεσ στη γεωγραφική περιοχή τησ Ευρώπησ, Ασίασ και Αφρικήσ. Σύµφωνα µε τα πορίσµατα τησ έρευνασ, η “φορολογική βεβαιÞτητα” διαφέρει αισθητά απÞ χώρα σε χώρα και αυτÞ οφείλεται σε διάφορουσ παράγοντεσ, µε κυριÞτερο τη σταθερÞτητα στη φορολογική νοµοθεσία. Συγκεκριµένα για την Κύπρο αναφέρεται Þτι οι εταιρείεσ που δραστηριοποιούνται επιχειρηµατικά στην Κύπρο έχουν καλέσ σχέσεισ µε τισ τοπικέσ φορολογικέσ αρχέσ, κάτι που ισχύει και για τισ πλείστεσ των άλλων χωρών. Στην Κύπρο, η σχέση µεταξύ των εται-

ρειών και τησ τοπικήσ φορολογικήσ αρχήσ είναι στα ίδια επίπεδα µε τη γνώµη που επικρατεί στισ πλείστεσ χώρεσ (73% καλή, 27% πολύ καλή). Εντούτοισ, στην Αυστρία, Ιταλία, Νιγηρία, Πολωνία, Ρουµανία και Ρωσία άνω του 15% των ερωτηθέντων θεωρούν τη σχέση τουσ µε τισ τοπικέσ φορολογικέσ αρχέσ ωσ κακή ή πολύ κακή. Στην ίδια έρευνα διαπιστώνεται Þτι η φορολογική σταθερÞτητα διαφέρει αισθητά απÞ χώρα σε χώρα. Ωσ κύριοσ λÞγοσ τησ φορολογικήσ αβεβαιÞτητασ, θεωρούνται οι συχνέσ τροποποιήσεισ στη φορολογική νοµοθεσία. Το 41% των ερωτηθέντων στην Κύπρο θεωρεί Þτι η φορολογική αβεβαιÞτητα στη χώρα επηρεάζει ή και ζηµιώνει τισ επιχειρηµατικέσ τουσ δραστηριÞτητεσ. Σχολιάζοντασ τα πορίσµατα τησ έρευνασ

για την Κύπρο, ο Επικεφαλήσ των Φορολογικών Υπηρεσιών τησ Deloitte κ. Πιερήσ Μάρκου δήλωσε Þτι “τα πορίσµατα τησ έρευνασ µασ είναι πολύ ενθαρρυντικά για τον τοµέα των διεθνών επιχειρήσεων στην Κύπρο καθώσ φανερώνουν Þτι η πλειονÞτητα των εταιρειών µε επιχειρηµατική δράση στην Κύπρο διατηρεί άριστεσ σχέσεισ µε τισ τοπικέσ φορολογικέσ αρχέσ. Οι ερωτηθέντεσ, σύµφωνα µε τον κ. Μάρκου, εξέφρασαν θετική άποψη σχετικά µε τη φορολογική βεβαιÞτητα στην Κύπρο και αυτÞ δεν αποτελεί σύµπτωση. Οι ερωτηθέντεσ απÞ την Κύπρο, πρÞσθεσε, πιστεύουν Þτι η γενικÞτερη φορολογική βεβαιÞτητα στην Κύπρο είναι µεγαλύτερη απÞ τισ άλλεσ χώρεσ που έλαβαν µέροσ στην έρευνα και Þτι το σύστηµα εν γένει δεν χρειάζεται καµία άλλη βελτίωση.

Και κατέληξε ο κ. Μάρκου λέγοντασ Þτι «Είναι προφανέσ Þτι το αξιÞπιστο φορολογικÞ σύστηµα τησ χώρασ διαδραµατίζει σηµαντικÞ ρÞλο στην καθιέρωση εξαιρετικών και ειλικρινών επιχειρηµατικών σχέσεων, οι οποίεσ έχουν θετικέσ συνέπειεσ και ενισχύουν τισ επιχειρηµατικέσ δραστηριÞτητεσ, προετοιµάζοντασ το δρÞµο για την επιτυχία και την ευηµερία τουσ». Στη διαδικτυακή έρευνα έλαβαν µέροσ συνολικά 1.328 άτοµα απÞ τισ 24 χώρεσ στισ οποίεσ πραγµατοποιήθηκε η άκρωσ ενδιαφέρουσα αυτή έρευνα τησ Deloitte (Αυστρία, Βέλγιο, Γαλλία, Γερµανία, ∆ανία, Ελβετία, Ελλάδα, Ιρλανδία, Ιταλία, Ισλανδία, Κάτω Χώρεσ, Κένυα, Κύπροσ, Λουξεµβούργο, Νιγηρία, Νορβηγία, Ουγγαρία, Πολωνία, Πορτογαλία, Ρουµανία, Ρωσία, Σλοβακία, Σουηδία και Τσεχία).

18 ΙΟΥΛΙΟΥ, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

ΕΙ∆ΗΣΕΙΣ | 5/17 ™ÙÔ Ã∞∫ Ë C.O. Cyprus Opportunity Energy Στη ΝεοαναπτυσσÞµενων Εταιρειών Αγορά (Ν.Ε.Α.) του Χρηµατιστηρίου Αξιών Κύπρου, θα διαπραγµατεύονται οι µετοχέσ και τα warrants τησ εταιρείασ «C.O. Cyprus Opportunity Energy Public Company Ltd, µετά απÞ απÞφαση του ΧΑΚ. Οι µετοχέσ τησ εταιρείασ ανέρχονται σε 8.390.000 ονοµαστικήσ αξίασ 0,01 ευρώ, µε τιµή εισαγωγήσ 0,035 ευρώ ενώ υπάρχουν και 320.000 ∆ικαιώµατα Αγοράσ Μετοχών. Η περίοδοσ εξάσκησησ των ∆ικαιωµάτων Αγοράσ Μετοχών άρχισε στισ 28 Μαΐου 2012 και θα λήξει στισ 31 ∆εκεµβρίου 2013. Η νεοσύστατη εταιρεία προτίθεται να δραστηριοποιηθεί στην έρευνα και εκµετάλλευση υδρογονανθράκων εφÞσον τησ παραχωρηθεί η σχετική άδεια απÞ την Κυπριακή ∆ηµοκρατία.

™˘Á¯ÒÓ¢ÛË ÂÚÁ·ÛÈÒÓ Laiko-Cosmos Οι εταιρείεσ Omilos Laikou Distributos Ltd και Cosmos Trading Ltd ανακοίνωσαν την ίδρυση τησ εταιρείασ LaikoCosmos Trading Ltd (µε ποσοστÞ συµµετοχήσ 50% εκάστη) µε συγχώνευση Þλων των εργασιών τουσ, εκτÞσ των καπνικών προϊÞντων στουσ τοµείσ πωλήσεων και διανοµήσ σε Þλη την κυπριακή αγορά. Η νέα εταιρεία θα εξυπηρετεί τουσ πελάτεσ απÞ ένα κοινÞ δίκτυο πωλήσεων και διανοµήσ χρησιµοποιώντασ τα δύο κέντρα διανοµήσ τησ Cosmos Trading Ltd και του Omilos Laikou Distributos Ltd. ΣτÞχοσ τησ συνένωσησ των δραστηριοτήτων των δύο εταιρειών είναι η δηµιουργία µιασ εταιρείασ η οποία θα πρωταγωνιστεί στο χώρο τησ διανοµήσ προϊÞντων ευρείασ κατανάλωσησ και να είναι σε θέση να αντιµετωπίσει τισ σηµερινέσ και αυριανέσ προκλήσεισ τησ αγοράσ Η Laiko- Cosmos Trading στοχεύει να λειτουργήσει την πρώτη εβδοµάδα του Σεπτεµβρίου του 2012.

∂ȯÂÈÚËÌ·ÙÈÎfiÙËÙ· Î·È ¤Ú¢ӷ ÛÙÔ AÙ˘Ô Û˘Ì‚Ô‡ÏÈÔ ·ÓÙ·ÁˆÓÈÛÙÈÎfiÙËÙ·˜ Οι τοµείσ τησ επιχειρηµατικÞτητασ και τησ έρευνασ θα βρεθούν στο επίκεντρο Ατυπησ ΣυνÞδου του Συµβουλίου ΑνταγωνιστικÞτητασ τησ ΕΕ που θα πραγµατοποιηθεί στη Λευκωσία αύριο Πέµπτη και την Παρασκευή. Σύµφωνα µε την επίσηµη ιστοσελίδα τησ κυπριακήσ Προεδρίασ, την Πέµπτη, τησ Ατυπησ ΣυνÞδου θα προεδρεύσει ο ΥπουργÞσ Εµπορίου, Βιοµηχανίασ και Τουρισµού Νεοκλήσ Συλικιώτησ ενώ το παρών του θα δώσει και ο ΑντιπρÞεδροσ τησ Ευρωπαϊκήσ Επιτροπήσ και Επίτροποσ για τη Βιοµηχανία και την ΑνταγωνιστικÞτητα ΑντÞνιο Ταγιάνι. Την Παρασκευή, η συνάντηση θα επικεντρωθεί σε θέµατα ευρω-µεσογειακήσ συνεργασίασ στουσ τοµείσ τησ Ερευνασ και Καινοτοµίασ. Την Πέµπτη οι Υπουργοί «θα συζητήσουν τον ρÞλο τησ επιχειρηµατικÞτητασ ωσ µοχλού για την οικονοµική ανάπτυξη, µε ιδιαίτερη αναφορά στισ Μικροµεσαίεσ Επιχειρήσεισ». Θα παρουσιαστούν εισηγητικέσ δηλώσεισ τεσσάρων επαγγελµατιών για την ενίσχυση τησ επιχειρηµατικÞτητασ µέσα απÞ την εκπαίδευση ωσ λύση για την ανεργία των νέων, για την προώθηση τησ επιχειρηµατικÞτητασ σε οµάδεσ στÞχουσ, Þπωσ οι γυναίκεσ, για την καινοτοµία ωσ µοχλού ανάπτυξησ τησ επιχειρηµατικÞτητασ και την παροχή δεύτερησ ευκαιρίασ σε έντιµουσ επιχειρηµατίεσ που είχαν την ατυχία να βιώσουν πτώχευση. Στη συνέχεια θα ακολουθήσει συζήτηση τησ Ολοµέλειασ τύπου ‘ΝταβÞσ’, Þπου οι Υπουργοί θα εξετάσουν τισ εισηγητικέσ δηλώσεισ. Κατά την απογευµατινή συζήτηση, θα λειτουργήσουν τέσσερισ παράλληλεσ οµάδεσ εργασίασ, Þπου οι παραπάνω εισηγητικέσ δηλώσεισ θα εξετασθούν λεπτοµερώσ. Η Ατυπη Σύνοδοσ θα ολοκληρωθεί µε την κατάρτιση των

συνολικών συµπερασµάτων στο πλαίσιο τησ τελικήσ συνάντησησ τησ Ολοµέλειασ. Εξάλλου, την Παρασκευή στη Συνάντηση για την Ερευνα, θα συµµετέχουν οι Υπουργοί Ερευνασ ΕΕ και των χωρών τησ Ευρωπαϊκήσ Ζώνησ Ελευθέρων Συναλλαγών, καθώσ και η Επίτροποσ για την Ερευνα, την Καινοτοµία και την Επιστήµη ΜÞιρα Γκένκεν – Κουίν. Κατά την πρωινή συνεδρίαση, οι Υπουργοί θα ανταλλάξουν απÞψεισ σχετικά µε την προώθηση τησ Ευρω-Μεσογειακήσ Συνεργασίασ στον τοµέα τησ έρευνασ και τησ καινοτοµίασ, στα πλαίσια µιασ ανανεωµένησ εταιρικήσ σχέσησ, βασισµένη στισ αρχέσ τησ συνιδιοκτησίασ και τησ κοινήσ ωφέλειασ. Τρεισ οµιλητέσ, ο πρώην ΠρÞεδροσ τησ Γαλλικήσ Ακαδηµίασ Επιστηµών Καθηγητήσ Εντουαρντ Βρεζάν, ο ∆ιευθυντήσ τησ Βιβλιοθήκησ τησ Αλεξάνδρειασ Ισµαΐλ Σεραγκελντίν και ο Αναπληρωτήσ ΓενικÞσ Γραµµατέασ τησ Ενωσησ για τη ΜεσÞγειο Ιλαν Τσετ θα παρουσιάσουν τισ απÞψεισ τουσ για τα θέµατα. Παράλληλα, κατά τη διάρκεια γεύµατοσ δύο Κύπριοι υπÞτροφοι του Ευρωπαϊκού Συµβουλίου Έρευνασ (ΕΣΕ) θα παρουσιάσουν στουσ Υπουργούσ τα έργα τουσ, και θα συζητήσουν το ρÞλο του ΕΣΕ στην ενθάρρυνση υψηλήσ ποιÞτητασ ερευνητικών ιδεών απÞ τουσ επιστήµονεσ και µελετητέσ. Τέλοσ, στην απογευµατινή συνεδρίαση, οι Υπουργοί θα συζητήσουν και θα ανταλλάξουν απÞψεισ για το θέµα τησ απλούστευσησ των µοντέλων χρηµατοδÞτησησ, στη βάση σχετικού εγγράφου προσ συζήτηση που ετοίµασε η κυπριακή Προεδρία. ΣτÞχοσ τησ συζήτησησ, είναι να διευκολυνθεί η διαδικασία για τη δηµιουργία των κατάλληλων συνθηκών, που θα επιτρέπουν τη µείωση του διοικητικού φÞρτου και του χρÞνου µέχρι τη χορηγία, διατηρώντασ παράλληλα την ισορροπία µεταξύ εµπιστοσύνησ και ελέγχου.

18 ΙΟΥΛΙΟΥ, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

6/18 | ΕΙ∆ΗΣΕΙΣ

8 ÂηÙÔÌ̇ÚÈ· πÙ·ÏÔ› ÛÙÔ fiÚÈÔ Ù˘ ÊÙÒ¯ÂÈ·˜ Κάτω απÞ το Þριο τησ φτώχειασ ζει το 11,1% των ιταλικών οικογενειών, σύµφωνα µε στοιχεία που δηµοσιεύει το ΙταλικÞ ΣτατιστικÞ Ινστιτούτο Istat. «ΠρÞκειται για περισσÞτερα απÞ οκτώ εκατοµµύρια άτοµα, που, σε ποσοστÞ 75%, ζουν στην Κάτω Ιταλία». Το Þριο τησ φτώχειασ, για έναν οικογενειακÞ πυρήνα µε δυο µέλη, έχει ορισθεί, στην Ιταλία, σε µηνιαίο εισÞδηµα 1.011 ευρώ. Ουσιαστική αύξηση των οικονοµικών δυσκολιών παρατηρείται στουσ ηλικιωµένουσ που ζουν µÞνοι, σε ζευγάρια ηλικιωµένων, αλλά και σε νεαρά ζευγάρια µε ένα τουλάχιστον παιδί. Το Istat παράλληλα υπογραµµίζει Þτι ένα επιπλέον 7,5% των Ιταλών βρίσκεται λίγο πιο πάνω απÞ το Þριο τησ ένδειασ: φτάνει, Þµωσ, ένα απρÞοπτο γεγονÞσ- Þπωσ κάποιο έξοδο συνδεδεµένο µε προβλήµατα υγείασ- για να

συµπεριληφθούν επισήµωσ και οι πολίτεσ αυτοί στη λίστα των φτωχών. Στο µεταξύ, οι ενώσεισ βενζινοπωλών τησ Ιταλίασ, αποφάσισαν κήρυξη απεργίασ, απÞ τισ 3 µέχρι τισ 5 Αυγούστου, «για να καταγγείλουν την πολιτική των πετρελαϊκών εταιριών, που ωθεί προσ την χρεοκοπία τουσ ιδιοκτήτεσ πρατηρίων και στην ανεργία 120.000 άτοµα». Αιτίεσ τησ κινητοποίησησ είναι «η µη ανανέωση των συλλογικών συµφωνιών, η µείωση του περιθώριου κέρδουσ για τουσ βενζινοπώλεσ µέχρι και το 70% και η σταδιακή απÞλυση Þσων εργάζονται στην διάθεση των καυσίµων». «Η κυβέρνηση ΜÞντι παρακολουθεί την Þλη κατάσταση αµέτοχη, έστω και αν τισ απευθύναµε 14 εκκλήσεισ, τονίζοντασ Þτι παραβιάζονται κατάφορα οι νÞµοι», υποστηρίζουν οι Ιταλοί ιδιοκτήτεσ πρατηρίων βενζί-

νησ. Εν τω µεταξύ χθεσ ο οίκοσ Moody’s προχώρησε στην υποβάθµιση είκοσι τριών εταιριών του ιταλικού δηµοσίου, δήµων και περιφερειών τησ Ιταλίασ, µετά την γενικÞτε-

ρη υποβάθµιση τησ πιστοληπτικήσ ικανÞτητασ τησ Ιταλίασ την περασµένη εβδοµάδα. «Οι προοπτικέσ, για την τοπική αυτοδιοίκηση, παραµένουν αρνητικέσ, Þπωσ και εκείνεσ ολÞκληρησ τησ Ιταλίασ», υπογραµµίζει ο αµερικανικÞσ οίκοσ αξιολÞγησησ. Στουσ δήµουσ που υποβαθµίστηκαν, συµπεριλαµβάνονται οι πÞλεισ του Μιλάνου και τησ Νάπολησ, Þπωσ και οι περιφέρειεσ τησ Λοµβαρδίασ (ευρύτερη περιοχή του Μιλάνου) και του Μπολτσάνο (κοντά στα σύνορα µε την Αυστρία). Σε Þτι αφορά τισ εταιρίεσ µε κρατική συµµετοχή στο πακέτο µετοχών, η υποβάθµιση του Moody’s πλήττει την εταιρία υδρογονανθράκων Eni και τα Ιταλικά Ταχυδροµεία, Poste Italiane, λÞγω του Þτι «είναι µια επιχείρηση που εκτίθεται στισ συνέπειεσ τησ δύσκολησ οικονοµικήσ κατάστασησ τησ χώρασ».

∂∂: «∫Ú¿ÙÔ˜ ÂÓ ÎÚ¿ÙÂÈ» Ë Ì·Ê›· ÛÙË µÔ˘ÏÁ·Ú›· Την αποτυχία των βουλγαρικών αρχών να καταπολεµήσουν το οργανωµένο έγκληµα καταδεικνύει η νέα έκθεση προÞδου για την κατάσταση που επικρατεί στη ΣÞφια τουσ τελευταίουσ δώδεκα µήνεσ και που δηµοσιεύεται στην εφηµερίδα «Τρουντ». Αφορµή για το δηµοσίευµα είναι και η επικείµενη δηµοσιοποίηση τησ έκθεσησ προÞδου στον τοµέα τησ έννοµησ τάξησ και τησ ασφάλειασ, µε βάση τα στοιχεία του µηχανισµού επιτήρησησ που έχουν επιβάλει οι Βρυξέλλεσ στη ΣÞφια απÞ το 2007, Þταν προσχώρησε στην ΕΕ. «Το οργανωµένο έγκληµα παραµένει

κύρια πρÞκληση για τη Βουλγαρία». ΑυτÞ είναι το βασικÞ συµπέρασµα των Βρυξελλών για τισ εξελίξεισ στη Βουλγαρία τρία χρÞνια µετά την ανάληψη τησ εξουσίασ απÞ την κυβέρνηση του πρωθυπουργού ΜπÞικο Μπορίσοφ, η αναρρίχηση του οποίου στην κορυφή του δηµÞσιου βίου άρχισε, µάλιστα, απÞ τη θέση του «ισχυρού άνδρα» των υπηρεσιών ασφάλειασ, Þπωσ επισηµαίνει η ηµερήσια εφηµερίδα τησ ΣÞφιασ σε εκτενέσ δηµοσίευµα υπÞ τον πρωτοσέλιδο τίτλο «Η µαφία σασ επηρεάζει την εξουσία». Η Βουλγαρία παραµένει λοιπÞν, αν Þχι «πρωταθλήτρια», τουλάχιστον µια απÞ τισ

κύριεσ δυνάµεισ τησ Ευρώπησ στην παράνοµη διακίνηση ανθρώπων, στισ καταχρήσεισ και στισ απάτεσ µε τραπεζικέσ κάρτεσ, σύµφωνα µε τισ εκτιµήσεισ τησ Europol, τισ οποίεσ επικαλείται η Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή. Η Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή επισηµαίνει, πάντωσ, την ενίσχυση τησ συνεργασίασ τησ βουλγαρικήσ αστυνοµίασ µε τισ αντίστοιχεσ υπηρεσίεσ τησ ΕΕ, αλλά τα αποτελέσµατα χαρακτηρίζονται «περιορισµένα µε δεδοµένο το µέγεθοσ του προβλήµατοσ» στο τεχνικÞ σκέλοσ τησ έκθεσησ, σύµφωνα µε την «Τρουντ».

¢¡∆: ¶ÈÔ Î¿Ùˆ ÔÈ ÚԂϤ„ÂȘ ÁÈ· ÔÈÎÔÓÔÌ›· Το ∆ιεθνέσ ΝοµισµατικÞ Ταµείο υποβάθµισε τισ προβλέψεισ του για τον παγκÞσµιο ρυθµÞ ανάπτυξησ, ενώ προειδοποίησε για επιδείνωση των προοπτικών εάν δεν ληφθούν άµεσα µέτρα για την αντιµετώπιση τησ κρίσησ. Συγκεκριµένα, µείωσε την πρÞβλεψή του

για τον ρυθµÞ ανάπτυξησ στο 3,9% το 2013 απÞ 4,1% που προέβλεψε τον Απρίλιο. ∆ιατήρησε, ωστÞσο σταθερή την πρÞβλεψη για ρυθµÞ ανάπτυξησ 3,5% στο 2012. “Οι κίνδυνοι για υποβάθµιση των προοπτικών τησ παγκÞσµιασ ανάπτυξησ συνεχίζουν να παραµένουν σηµαντικοί”, ανέφερε

το ∆ΝΤ στην εξαµηνιαία έκθεσή του. “Ο πιο άµεσοσ κίνδυνοσ είναι Þτι µια ανεπαρκήσ πολιτική ή τυχÞν καθυστέρηση λήψησ µέτρων µπορεί να κλιµακώσουν περαιτέρω την κρίση στην ευρωζώνη”. Ùσον αφορά τισ προηγµένεσ οικονοµίεσ, το ∆ΝΤ προέβλεψε ανάτπυξη 1,4% φέτοσ και

AÓ·Ù·Ú¿ÍÂȘ ÛÙȘ ·ÁÔÚ¤˜ ÂÓ ·Ó·ÌÔÓ‹ ÂÙ·ÈÚÈÎÒÓ ·ÔÙÂÏÂÛÌ¿ÙˆÓ ÛÙȘ ∏¶∞ ∫Àƒπ∞∫√™ √ƒ∂π¡√™ ¢È‡ı˘ÓÛË ¢È·¯ÂÈÚ›Ûˆ˜ ¢È·ıÂۛ̈Ó, Alpha Bank Cyprus Ltd

Άνοδο παρουσιάζει την τελευταία εβδοµάδα το ευρωπαϊκÞ νÞµισµα έναντι του δολαρίου ΗΠΑ καθώσ το µεσηµέρι τησ Τρίτησ τυγχάνει διαπραγµάτευσησ περί τα 1,2300 σε σχέση µε 1,2205 που είχε καταγράψει την περασµένη Πέµπτη και αποτέλεσε το χαµηλÞτερο επίπεδο των δυο τελευταίων ετών. Η ενίσχυση τησ διάθεσησ για ανάληψη κινδύνου και η εκτίµηση Þτι ο ΠρÞεδροσ τησ Fed στην εξαµηνιαία του κατάθεση ενδεχοµένωσ να σηµατοδοτήσει πρÞσθετα µέτρα επεκτατικήσ νοµισµατικήσ πολιτικήσ ευνοούν την ισοτιµία ευρώ/δολάριο. ΕπιπρÞσθετα, η απροσδÞκητη υποχώρηση των λιανικών πωλήσεων στισ ΗΠΑ και οι προειδοποιήσεισ του ∆ιεθνούσ Νοµισµατικού Ταµείου για τισ αντοχέσ τησ παγκÞσµιασ ανάκαµψησ επηρέασαν αρνητικά το δολάριο και έπληξαν το επενδυτικÞ κλίµα. Συγκεκριµένα, το αρνητικÞ

κλίµα διαµÞρφωσαν τα στοιχεία που έδειξαν Þτι οι λιανικέσ πωλήσεισ υποχώρησαν για τρίτο διαδοχικÞ µήνα τον Ιούνιο, διαψεύδοντασ τισ εκτιµήσεισ των οικονοµολÞγων για µικρή άνοδο. Την ίδια στιγµή το ∆ΝΤ αναθεώρησε καθοδικά τισ εκτιµήσεισ του για την παγκÞσµια ανάπτυξη προειδοποιώντασ ταυτÞχρονα Þτι η παγκÞσµια ανάκαµψη δείχνει νέα σηµάδια αδυναµίασ. Σε άλλεσ εξελίξεισ, η ΕΚΤ ανακοίνωσε Þτι ο καθαρÞσ δανεισµÞσ των ισπανικών τραπεζών απÞ την ΕΚΤ ανήλθε τον Ιούνιο στο ιστορικά υψηλÞτερο επίπεδο των 337 δισ ευρώ. Στην Ευρωζώνη, ο πληθωρισµÞσ διατηρήθηκε τον Ιούνιο στο 2,4%, Þπωσ αναµενÞταν ενώ το εµπορικÞ πλεÞνασµα διαµορφώθηκε το Μάιο στα 6,3 δισ ευρώ. (Απρίλιοσ 4,5 δισ ευρώ). Οι αποδÞσεισ στα ισπανικά και τα ιταλικά δεκαετή οµÞλογα, συνεχίζουν την ανοδική τουσ πορεία µε τα ισπανικά στο 6,73% και τα ιταλικά στο 6,08%. Τέλοσ, στισ ΗΠΑ ο δείκτησ καταναλωτικήσ εµπιστοσύνησ του Παν/µίου Michigan διαµορφώθηκε τον Ιούλιο στισ 72 µονάδεσ, καταγράφοντασ το χαµηλÞτερο επίπεδο απÞ το ∆εκέµβριο του 2011.

1,9% το 2013. Για τισ αναδυÞµενεσ οικονοµίεσ, προέβλεψε ανάπτυξη 5,9% το 2013 και 5,6% το 2012. Το ∆ΝΤ µείωσε την πρÞβλεψή του για τισ χώρεσ τησ ευρωζώνησ που έχουν πληγεί απÞ την κρίση σε 0,7% το 2013, ενώ διατήρησε την πρÞβλεψη για ύφεση 0,3% φέτοσ.

ŒÚ¢ӷ ÂȘ ‚¿ÚÔ˜ Ù˘ Microsoft ·fi ∫ÔÌÈÛÈfiÓ Έρευνα εισ βάροσ τησ Microsoft άνοιξε η Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή για «µη σεβασµÞ των δεσµεύσεων εκ µέρουσ τησ εταιρείασ» Þσον αφορά την επιλογή των εργαλείων πλοήγησησ στο Ίντερνετ που προσφέρει στουσ χρήστεσ, ανακοίνωσε σε συνέντευξη Τύπου ο Ευρωπαίοσ Επίτροποσ αρµÞδιοσ για τον ΑνταγωνισµÞ Χοακίν Αλµούνια. «Ουδέποτε στο παρελθÞν είχε συµβεί» να µη σεβαστεί µια επιχείρηση τισ δεσµεύσεισ που έχει αναλάβει έναντι τησ Ευρωπαϊκήσ Επιτροπήσ, υπογράµµισε ο Αλµούνια διευκρινίζοντασ πωσ η Microsoft είναι εκτεθειµένη σε οικονοµικέσ κυρώσεισ.

™À°¡øª∏ ΑπÞ την άλλη «Συγνώµη» ζητά η Microsoft για το γεγονÞσ Þτι δεν εκπλήρωσε τισ δεσµεύσεισ που είχε αναλάβει έναντι τησ Ευρωπαϊκήσ Επιτροπήσ Þσον αφορά την επιλογή εργαλείων πλοήγησησ στο Ίντερνετ για ορισµένουσ χρήστεσ των Windows, εξηγώντασ πωσ επρÞκειτο για ένα “τεχνικÞ σφάλµα” απÞ την πλευρά τησ. «∆εν εκπληρώσαµε τισ υποχρεώσεισ µασ» παραδέχτηκε η αµερικανική εταιρεία σε ανακοίνωσή τησ. “Αν και πήραµε αµέσωσ µέτρα για να διορθώσουµε αυτÞ το πρÞβληµα, εκφράζουµε βαθιά λύπη γι’ αυτÞ το σφάλµα και ζητούµε συγγνώµη».

18 ΙΟΥΛIOY, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

ΕΛΛΑ∆Α | 7/19

°È· ÂÈÎfiÓ· ·Ú¿Ï˘Û˘ Ù˘ ∂ÏÏ¿‰·˜ ÌÈÏ¿ Ô Í¤ÓÔ˜ ∆‡Ô˜ ∂ÈÎfiÓ· ·Ú¿Ï˘Û˘ ·ÚÔ˘ÛÈ¿˙ÂÈ Ë ∂ÏÏ¿‰·, fiˆ˜ ÙÔ˘Ï¿¯ÈÛÙÔÓ ÂÈÛËÌ·›ÓÂÈ Ô Í¤ÓÔ˜ ∆‡Ô˜, ÂÛÙÈ¿˙ÔÓÙ·˜ ÛÙȘ ηı˘ÛÙÂÚ‹ÛÂȘ ÛÙËÓ ÂÊ·ÚÌÔÁ‹ ÙˆÓ ·ÔÎÚ·ÙÈÎÔÔÈ‹ÛÂˆÓ Î·È ÛÙË Ï‹„Ë Ì¤ÙÚˆÓ Η ελβετική εφηµερίδα Neue Zürcher Zeitung κάνει λÞγο για στασιµÞτητα στο πεδίο των ιδιωτικοποιήσεων στην Ελλάδα και εκτιµά χαρακτηριστικά Þτι οι πολιτικοί τησ χώρασ «παραλύουν τη ίδια τουσ την υπηρεσία ιδιωτικοποιήσεων». Η NZZ σηµειώνει: «Η προθυµία να ιδιωτικοποιηθούν κάποιεσ κρατικέσ επιχειρήσεισ στην Ελλάδα είναι, παρά την καταστροφική εξέλιξη στο πεδίο του χρέουσ, περιορισµένη. Ο υπουργÞσ Οικονοµικών βρίσκεται υπÞ πίεση». Η εφηµερίδα επισηµαίνει Þτι η παρατεταµένη προεκλογική περίοδοσ συνετέλεσε ουσιαστικά στο «πάγωµα» κάθε διαδικασίασ ιδιωτικοποίησησ και υπενθυµίζει την παραίτηση του επικεφαλήσ του ΤΑΙΠΕ∆ Ιωάννη Κουκιάδη το βράδυ των εκλογών στην Ελλάδα, η οποία κατέστησε ουσιαστικά την υπηρεσία µη λειτουργική. Και το δηµοσίευµα καταλήγει αναφέροντασ Þτι «η θέση µένει µέχρι σήµερα κενή γιατί η Ν∆ δεν κατέφερε να συµφωνήσει στο πρÞσωπο ενÞσ υποψηφίου. Κωλυσιεργία τέτοιου είδουσ τροµάζει πιθανούσ επενδυτέσ. ΕνδιαφερÞµενοι είχαν προσλάβει δικηγÞρουσ και ειδικούσ απÞ το χώρο τησ οικονοµίασ για κάποια έργα που είχαν προκηρυχθεί, ωστÞσο Þλα αυτά δεν έφεραν µέχρι σήµερα παρά µÞνο έξοδα». Η εφηµερίδα εκτιµά Þτι «η εκτεταµένη φοροδιαφυγή στην Ελλάδα είναι µία απÞ τισ κύριεσ αιτίεσ για τη δραµατική οικονοµική κατάσταση. Ειδικοί εκτιµούν Þτι η χώρα χάνει έτσι ετησίωσ πάνω απÞ 10 δισ. δολάρια». Ο επίτροποσ για τα Ανθρώπινα ∆ικαιώµατα Νιλσ Μούζνιεκσ ανακοίνωσε Þτι θα µεταβεί στην Αθήνα συνοδεία αντιπροσωπείασ» διαβάζουµε στη γερµανική έκδοση των Financial Times, η οποία υπογραµµίζει: «Η βαθιά οικονοµική ύφεση στην Ελλάδα έχει

αυξήσει την επιρροή των ακραίων κοµµάτων, Οι φασίστεσ τησ Χρυσήσ Αυγήσ κατάφεραν στισ εκλογέσ του Μαΐου και του Ιουνίου να εκπροσωπηθούν στο κοινοβούλιο. Την ίδια ώρα πληθαίνουν οι αναφορέσ για επιθέσεισ εναντίον µεταναστών. Επικριτέσ κατηγορούν τουσ πολιτικούσ Þτι παρακολουθούν άπραγοι. (…) Με εξαίρεση τα αριστερά κÞµµατα, Þπωσ ο ΣΥΡΙΖΑ που εκπροσωπεί συνειδητά φιλικέσ προσ τουσ µετανάστεσ πολιτικέσ θέσεισ, οι πολιτικοί δεν αντιδρούν σχεδÞν καθÞλου απέναντι στην έξαρση τησ βίασ. Ο πρωθυπουργÞσ Αντώνησ Σαµαράσ αντιθέτωσ επανέλαβε στο κοινοβούλιο την προεκλογική του δέσµευση να ασκήσει σκληρή πολιτική έναντι των παράνοµων µεταναστών». Τέλοσ, το θέµα τησ κύρωσησ του ESM και του ∆ηµοσιονοµικού Συµφώνου, που εκκρεµεί στη Γερµανία θίγει η Frankfurter Rundschau αναφερÞµενη στουσ σχετικούσ χειρισµούσ του Συνταγµατικού ∆ικαστηρίου τησ Καρλσρούησ: «Η καγκελάριοσ Μέρκελ θα ήθελε πιο γρήγορο ρυθµÞ. Πιέζει Þλουσ τουσ άλλουσ στην Ευρώπη να εφαρµÞσουν ταχύτατα τισ συµφωνίεσ, τισ µεταρρυθµίσεισ και τα µέτρα λιτÞτητασ. ΩστÞσο η Γερµανία µένει πίσω στην πιο σηµαντική πράξη διάσωσησ, την δηµιουργία του ESM. ΑυτÞ είναι ντροπιαστικÞ για την ίδια» εκτιµά η εφηµερίδα και προσθέτει: «Η τακτική των δικαστών έχει Þµωσ και δύο πλεονεκτήµατα: πρώτον, ο καθένασ ξέρει πÞτε θα διασαφηνιστεί η κατάτο ΣυνταγµατικÞ σταση. ∆εύτερον, ∆ικαστήριο χρησιµοποιεί την προδιαδικασία, ώστε να αποφανθεί ήδη και για την κύρια διαδικασία. Στισ 12 Σεπτεµβρίου θα µάθει η Ευρώπη και ο κÞσµοσ αν αυτή η ευρω-διάσωση είναι συνταγµατική και µπορεί να προχωρήσει».

ÕÁÓˆÛÙÔ fiÙ ı· ÂÈÛÙÚ¤„ÂÈ ÛÙËÓ ∞ı‹Ó· Ë ÙÚfiÈη «∏ ∂˘Úˆ·˚΋ ∂ÈÙÚÔ‹ ‰ÂÓ Â›Ó·È Û ı¤ÛË Ó· ÁÓˆÚ›˙ÂÈ fiÙ ı· ÂÈÛÙÚ¤„ÂÈ Ë ÙÚfiÈη ÛÙËÓ ∞ı‹Ó·», ‰‹ÏˆÛ ·fi ÙȘ µÚ˘Í¤ÏϘ, Ô ™¿ÈÌÔÓ √ ∫fiÓÔÚ, ÂÎÚfiÛˆÔ˜ ÙÔ˘ ÂÈÙÚfiÔ˘ ÔÈÎÔÓÔÌ›·˜, ŸÏÈ ƒÂÓ Παράλληλα, ο εκπρÞσωποσ τησ Επιτροπήσ δήλωσε Þτι δεν είναι σε θέση να γνωρίζει ούτε πÞσο διάστηµα θα διαρκέσει η δεύτερη επίσκεψη τησ τρÞικασ στην Αθήνα, αλλά ούτε και πÞτε θα ολοκληρώσει την έκθεσή τησ για την αξιολÞγηση τησ εφαρµογήσ του δεύτερου προγράµµατοσ προσαρµογήσ τησ Ελλάδασ. Σύµφωνα µε τον Σάιµον Ο ΚÞνορ, «η δεύτερη αποστολή θα µεταβεί στην Αθήνα τισ προσεχείσ ηµέρεσ», προκειµένου να «εµβαθύνει», µε περισσÞτερεσ λεπτοµέρειεσ, πάνω στην ανάλυση που εκπÞνησε το τεχνικÞ κλιµάκιο, το οποίο είχε επισκεφθεί την πρωτεύουσα στισ αρχέσ Ιουλίου. Εξάλλου, σε Þ,τι αφορά την Κύπρο, ο ίδιοσ ανέφερε πωσ το κλιµάκιο τησ τρÞικασ θα µεταβεί σύντοµα στη Λευκωσία, χωρίσ ωστÞσο να προσδιορίσει συγκεκριµένη ηµεροµηνία. Τέλοσ, επιβεβαίωσε Þτι στισ 20 Ιουλίου θα πραγµατοποιηθεί Eurogroup µέσω τηλεδιάσκεψησ, µε θέµα την Ισπανία.

18 IΟΥΛΙΟΥ, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

8/20 | ΑΓΟΡΑ

√È Ê˘ÛÈÎÔ› ¯˘ÌÔ› Life Û Ӥ· ‰È¿Ê·ÓË Û˘Û΢·Û›· ΑυτÞ το καλοκαίρι είναι πιο δροσερÞ παρέα µε τουσ ανανεωµένουσ φρέσκουσ χυµούσ Life. Με νέα µοντέρνα διάφανη συσκευασία και χωρίσ καθÞλου συντηρητικά, νερÞ ή ζάχαρη οι χυµοί Life καινοτοµούν µε το φυσικÞ περιεχÞµενÞ τουσ, αφού πρÞκειται για 100% φρεσκοστυµµένουσ χυµούσ φρούτων και τίποτε άλλο! Οι φρέσκοι χυµοί απÞ φρούτα έχουν πρωταγωνιστικÞ ρÞλο στη σηµερινή µασ διατροφή λÞγω του Þτι είναι πλήρεισ σε βιταµίνεσ. Χάρη στην πολύτιµη διατροφική τουσ αξία, οι χυµοί Life αποτελούν φυσικÞ σύµµαχο υγείασ, µία απολαυστική καθηµερινή συνήθεια και µπορούν να αποτελέσουν την ιδανική επιλογή για µοναδικέσ στιγµέσ ανανέωσησ και φρεσκάδασ. Οι φρέσκοι χυµοί Life προσφέρονται σε πέντε συνολικά γεύσεισ: «Πορτοκάλι», «Μήλο, Πορτοκάλι, ΚαρÞτο», «Πορτοκάλι Γκρέιπφρουτ, Σαγκουίνι», «Πορτοκάλι, Μήλο», «Σταφύλι, Πορτοκάλι, ΡÞδι». Τουσ χυµούσ Life µπορείτε να τουσ απολαύσετε σε συσκευασίεσ του εντÞσ λίτρου και των 300ml. Τουσ φρέσκουσ χυµούσ Life φέρνει στην Κύπρο η εταιρεία ΧΑΡΑΛΑΜΠΙ∆ΗΣ – ΚΡΙΣΤΗΣ ΛΤ∆.

∏ ¶·Á΢Úȷ΋ ∞ÛÊ·ÏÈÛÙÈ΋ ¯¿ÚÈÛ i-pad Η Παγκυπριακή Ασφαλιστική (Μέλοσ του Οµίλου τησ Ελληνικήσ Τράπεζασ) έχοντασ µεταξύ άλλων ωσ κύριο µέληµά τησ, τη συνεχή τεχνολογική αναβάθµιση τησ µε τη χρήση προηγµένων συστηµάτων πληροφορικήσ, στοχεύει στη βελτίωση τησ επικοινωνίασ µε τουσ ασφαλισµένουσ. Επενδύει λοιπÞν στον τοµέα αυτÞ διÞτι πιστεύει Þτι η αποτελεσµατική, ανθρώπινη και σύγχρονη επικοινωνία µαζί µε τουσ πελάτεσ αποτελεί τη βάση για µια µακρÞχρονη και αµοιβαία σχέση εµπιστοσύνησ αλλά και ποιοτική εξυπηρέτηση. Στα πλαίσια αυτά, η Παγκυπριακή Ασαφαλιστική έχει ανανεώσει το αρχείο των πελατών τησ, ώστε να µπορεί να επικοινωνήσει µαζί τουσ και ηλεκτρονικά για θέµατα που τουσ αφορούν Þπωσ ειδοποιήσεισ για επικείµενεσ ανανεώσεισ των συµβολαίων τουσ ή αποστολή ανανεωµένων συµβολαίων ή καταστάσεων λογαριασµών. Για τη συλλογή των προσωπικών στοιχείων είχε σταλεί επιστολή σε Þλο το πελατολÞγιο και Þσοι απάντησαν, έλαβαν µέροσ σε κλήρωση για ένα i-pad 2. Στην επισυναπτÞµενη φωτογραφία ο κοσ. Πέτροσ Αρσαλίδησ, Αναπληρωτήσ ΓενικÞσ ∆ιευθυντήσ τησ Παγκυπριακήσ Ασφαλιστικήσ παραδίδει το δώρο στον τυχερÞ τησ κλήρωσησ κο. Μαρίνοσ Ανδρέου, απÞ τη Λευκωσία.

Century Travel: ∂Ó·ÏÏ·ÎÙÈ΋ ȉ¤· ÛÙȘ ÔÏ˘ÙÂÏ›˜ ÎÚÔ˘·˙ȤÚ˜ Η Century Travel, η µÞνη εξειδικευµένη εταιρεία διεθνών πολυτελών κρουαζιερών στην Κύπρο, φέρνει µια εναλλακτική ιδέα στισ πολυτελείσ κρουαζιέρεσ στην Κύπρο, µε την αποκλειστική αντιπροσώπευση τησ Variety Cruises. Η συνεργασία αυτή εµπλουτίζει το εντυπωσιακÞ πορτφÞλιο τησ εταιρείασ Þσον αφορά τισ πολυτελείσ κρουαζιέρεσ, µε την αποκλειστική αντιπροσωπεία των περισσÞτερων πεντάστερων και εξάστερων γραµµών κρουαζιερών στην Κύπρο συµπεριλαµβανοµένων των: Crystal Cruises, Seabourn, Holland America, Oceania Cruises, Windstar, Regent Seven Seas, P&O Cruises, και Thomson Cruises. Για να σηµατοδοτήσει την έναρξη τησ συνεργασίασ, η Century Travel προσφέρει τισ ιδανικέσ καλοκαιρινέσ διακοπέσ εν πλω µε τα κρουαζιερÞπλοια Harmony V, Panorama και Variety Voyager, µε µοναδικέσ εκπτωτικέσ προσφορέσ που φθάνουν µέχρι και 70%, σε δύο συναρπαστικά ταξίδια ανακαλύψεων, ξετυλίγοντασ τα θαύµατα τησ Κλασικήσ Ελλάδασ και των ροµαντικών Γαλλικήσ και Ιταλικήσ Ριβιέρασ µε τιµέσ απÞ 550 ευρώ µÞνο. Για περισσÞτερεσ πληροφορίεσ σχετικά µε τα προϊÞντα και τισ υπηρεσίεσ τησ Century Travel, µπορείτε να καλείτε το 70 000 970 ή να επισκεφθείτε την ιστοσελίδα www.centurycyprus.com

Cafepro: Aη‰ËÌ›· ηʤ ÛÙËÓ ∫‡ÚÔ Η Cafepro Ltd, µε µια νέα δυναµική και αποτελεσµατική οµάδα στελεχών, αποτελεί το ποιοτικÞτερο και πολυτιµÞτερο εργαλείο κάθε επαγγελµατία που διαλέγει τη καλύτερη πρώτη ύλη και επιλέγει να την προσφέρει σωστά! Κτίζει πάνω στη πολύχρονη εκπροσώπηση του πιÞ φηµισµένου, παγκοσµίωσ, καφέ illy, και προσφέρει ένα εξαιρετικά ολοκληρωµένο φάσµα προϊÞντων και υπηρεσιών, κατακτώντασ επάξια του ρÞλο του ‘One-stop Turnkey Solution’, για κάθε χώρο που σερβίρει ποιοτικÞ καφέ. Ùµωσ ακÞµα και η καλύτερη πρώτη ύλη και ο καλύτεροσ εξοπλισµÞσ θα πήγαιναν στράφι χωρίσ το κατάλληλο χειρισµÞ και εκπαίδευση! Έτσι η λειτουργία τησ Cafepro Coffee Academy, τησ πρώτησ και καλύτερα στελεχωµένησ ακαδηµίασ καφέ στη Κύπρο, ήλθε να στηρίξει και να ολοκληρώσει την µοναδική αυτή διαδικασία: Το νερÞ, φιλτραρισµένο απÞ τα προηγµένησ τεχνολογίασ φίλτρα νερού BRITA, συναντά τον καλύτερο καφέ illy, αλεσµένο απÞ τουσ παγκοσµίου φήµησ µύλουσ MAZZER, µέσα στισ πιο διακεκριµένεσ µηχανέσ espresso NUOVA SIMONELLI, και µε τη µαγική δεξιοτεχνία του ορθά εκπαιδευµένου barista, κορυφώνεται και συνιστά το ‘τέλειο φλιτζάνι’!

Cytavision: 27 ·ıÏËÙÈο ηӿÏÈ· Η Cytavision, για τη νέα αγωνιστική περίοδο, 2012-2013, εξασφάλισε για τουσ συνδροµητέσ τησ το πλουσιÞτερο πακέτο αθλητικών καναλιών και ζωντανών µεταδÞσεων απÞ το κυπριακÞ ποδÞσφαιρο, καθώσ και απÞ άλλεσ ευρωπαϊκέσ και διεθνείσ διοργανώσεισ ποδοσφαίρου και άλλων αθληµάτων. Tο πρÞγραµµα περιλαµβάνει: ΚυπριακÞ ΠοδÞσφαιρο- Πρωτάθληµα και Κύπελλο, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Ευρωπαϊκοί αγώνεσ κυπριακών και ελληνικών ποδοσφαιρικών οµάδων, ∆ιεθνή και ευρωπαϊκά ποδοσφαιρικά πρωταθλήµατα και κύπελλα, Αγώνεσ εθνικών οµάδων ποδοσφαίρου, ΚαλαθÞσφαιρα: ΚυπριακÞ Πρωτάθληµα και Κύπελλο, Euroleague**, NBA*, Ευρωπαϊκοί αγώνεσ πετÞσφαιρασ κυπριακών οµάδων, MOTO GP **, Ice Hokey, Tennis και Τρεισ ζωντανέσ εκποµπέσ κάθε αγωνιστική βδοµάδα για το κυπριακÞ ποδÞσφαιρο, το UEFA Champions League και το Europa League (pre & post αγώνων). *Μεταδίδονται µέσω των καναλιών LTV HD χωρίσ επιπλέον χρέωση (για πελάτεσ Full Pack) **Μεταδίδονται µέσω των καναλιών NOVA Sports και Cyprus Sports χωρίσ επιπλέον χρέωση (για πελάτεσ Full Pack). ΠερισσÞτερεσ πληροφορίεσ για τισ υπηρεσίεσ που προσφέρει η Cytavision, αλλά και τισ διοργανώσεισ και τισ µεταδÞσεισ, βρίσκονται στισ ιστοσελίδεσ: www.cytavision.com.cy και www.uefa.com. Τέλεφαξ: +357

¢ÔÎÈÌ¿ÛÙÂ ÙÔ Aperol Spritz Το Aperol Spritz, µασ δείχνει Þτι είναι το τέλιο συνοδευτικÞ του ανθρώπου τισ ώρεσ που µοιράζεται στιγµέσ µε τουσ φίλουσ του. Η δροσιστική αφρώδη γεύση, η χαµηλή περιεκτικÞτητα σε αλκοÞλη και το έντονο πορτοκαλί χρώµα του Aperol Spritz, το κάνει το τέλιο ποτÞ πριν το φαγητÞ ή µε ένα ελαφρύ γεύµα. Για να απολαύσετε το δικÞ σασ Aperol Spritz πάρτε ένα µεγάλο ποτήρι και ακολουθήσετε τισ παρακάτω οδηγίεσ, και θα είναι έτοιµο στο πι και φι: 3 µέρη του Prosecco, 2 µέρη του Aperol, PERRIER, Πάγο και µία φέτα πορτοκάλι Προσθέστε πάγο και µια φέτα πορτοκάλι, Prosecco, Aperol και λίγο Perrier. Μετά ξαπλώστε στην πολυθρÞνα σασ, χαλαρώστε και απολαύστε αυτÞ το υπέροχο ποτÞ µε τουσ φίλουσ σασ. Το Aperol εισάγεται και διανέµεται απÞ την COSMOS TRD.

∫·Ï‡ÙÂÚË ÂÚÈÊÂÚÂȷ΋ Â˘Úˆ·˚΋ ÂÙ·ÈÚ›· Ë Aegean Η Aegean πέτυχε µία ακÞµη εντυπωσιακή διάκριση στα World Airline Awards (ΠαγκÞσµια Αεροπορικά Βραβεία) για το 2012, καθώσ το επιβατικÞ κοινÞ τησ χάρισε για τρίτη φορά τον τίτλο τησ Καλύτερησ Περιφερειακήσ Αεροπορικήσ Εταιρίασ στην Ευρώπη. Στην έρευνα που πραγµατοποιήθηκε απÞ την παγκÞσµια εταιρία ερευνών SKYTRAX συµµετείχαν πάνω απÞ 18 εκατοµµύρια επιβάτεσ που ταξιδεύουν τÞσο για επαγγελµατικούσ λÞγουσ Þσο και για αναψυχή απÞ 100 χώρεσ. Η απονοµή των βραβείων Επιλογήσ Επιβατών (Passengers Choice awards) έγινε στο πλαίσιο του Farnborough Airshow στο Ηνωµένο Βασίλειο στισ 12 Ιουλίου 2012. Στην έρευνα που διήρκησε 10 µήνεσ και διεξήχθη τηλεφωνικά µέσω ερωτηµατολογίων και online, οι επιβάτεσ που έλαβαν µέροσ αξιολÞγησαν τισ εµπειρίεσ τουσ απÞ τισ αεροπορικέσ εταιρίεσ τÞσο στον χώρο του αεροδροµίου Þσο και εντÞσ του αεροσκάφουσ.

18 ΙΟΥΛIOY, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

ΡΕΠΟΡΤΑΖ | 9/21

¶ÙˆÙÈΤ˜ ÔÈ ÙÈ̤˜ ÙˆÓ ÍÂÓԉԯ›ˆÓ Û 45 Â˘Úˆ·˚Τ˜ fiÏÂȘ µÚÈÛÎfiÌ·ÛÙ ÛÙË Ì¤ÛË Û¯Â‰fiÓ ÙÔ˘ ηÏÔηÈÚÈÔ‡ Î·È ·Ú¿ ÙÔ ÁÂÁÔÓfi˜ fiÙÈ ‰È·Ó‡Ô˘Ì ÙËÓ ÈÔ ÙÔ˘ÚÈÛÙÈ΋ ÂÚ›Ô‰Ô ÔÈ ÙÈ̤˜ ۯ‰fiÓ Û fiÏË ÙËÓ ∂˘ÚÒË ·ÎÔÏÔ˘ıÔ‡Ó ÙˆÙÈ΋ ÔÚ›· ÛÙȘ ΢ڛˆ˜ ∂˘Úˆ·˚Τ˜ ÚˆÙ‡ԢÛ˜. ∫·È ÂÓÒ fiÛÔÈ ı· ÂÈÛÎÂÊÙÔ‡Ó ÙÔ §ÔÓ‰›ÓÔ ı· ÎÏËıÔ‡Ó Ó· ‚¿ÏÔ˘Ó ‚·ıÈ¿ ÙÔ ¯¤ÚÈ ÛÙËÓ ÙÛ¤Ë ÂÍ·ÈÙ›·˜ ÙˆÓ √Ï˘ÌÈ·ÎÒÓ ∞ÁÒÓˆÓ, fiÔ˘ Ë ·‡ÍËÛË Ô˘ ÛËÌÂÈÒıËΠ·ÁÁ›˙ÂÈ ÙÔ 16% Û ۯ¤ÛË Ì ÙÔÓ ÚÔËÁÔ‡ÌÂÓÔ Ì‹Ó·, ÛÙËÓ ˘fiÏÔÈË ∂˘ÚÒË ÔÈ ÙÈ̤˜ ·ÎÔÏÔ˘ıÔ‡Ó Î·ıÔ‰È΋ ÔÚ›·. Οι χαµηλÞτερεσ τιµέσ συναντώνται στη Βαρσοβία (67 ευρώ, µείωση 62% σε σχέση µε τον προηγούµενο µήνα), στη Σεβίλλη (70 ευρώ, µείωση 21%) και Γρανάδα (71 ευρώ, µείωση 16%). Οι τιµέσ στην Ελληνική πρωτεύουσα κινούνται κατά µέσο Þρο στα 84 ευρώ και σηµειώνουν µείωση 7%. Αυτά είναι τα αποτελέσµατα του ΚαταλÞγου Ξενοδοχειακών τιµών τησ www.trivago.gr (trivago Hotel Preis Index (tHPI) για το µήνα Ιούλιο.

XαρακτηριστικÞ είναι το γεγονÞσ Þτι σε 45 απÞ τισ 50 ευρωπαϊκέσ πÞλεισ του καταλÞγου Ξενοδοχειακών τιµών (tHPI) τησ trivago, οι τιµέσ παρουσιάζουν µείωση ή έµειναν σταθερέσ σε σχέση µε τον προηγούµενο µήνα σε αντίθεση µε τισ τιµέσ πÞλεων Þπωσ το Λονδίνο Þπου εξαιτίασ των Ολυµπιακών Αγώνων οι ταξιδιώτεσ θα πληρώσουν 261 ευρώ ανά διανυκτέρευση κατά µέσο Þρο για ένα δίκλινο δωµάτιο, (αύξηση 16%) και οι Κάννεσ (197 ευρώ κατά µέσο Þρο, αύξηση 17%). Η µεγαλύτερη πτώση παρατηρείται στη Βαρσοβία αφού µετά το τέλοσ του Ευρωπαϊκού πρωταθλήµατοσ ποδοσφαίρου οι τιµέσ κινούνται µε ιλιγγιώδη ταχύτητα καθοδικά. Οι ταξιδιώτεσ που θα επιλέξουν τη Βαρσοβία θα κληθούν να πληρώσουν κατά µέσο Þρο 67 ευρώ (πτώση 62% σε σχέση µε τον προηγούµενο µήνα). Στη λίστα µε τισ πÞλεισ µε τη µεγαλύτερη πτώση συµπεριλαµβάνονται και η Βαλένθια µε µείωση των τιµών κατά 24% (74 ευρώ ανά διανυκτέρευση), η ΣαραγÞσα (54 ευρώ, µείωση 14%) και η Πράγα µε µέση τιµή διανυκτέρευσησ τα 96 ευρώ και πτώση τησ τάξεωσ του 18%. Στην Αθήνα οι τιµέσ κινούνται επίσησ καθοδικά µε τιµή διανυκτέρευσησ κατά µέσο Þρο τα 84 ευρώ (µείωση εφτά%). Στο Παρίσι η µέση τιµή ανά διανυκτέρευση κινείται επίσησ καθοδικά (179 ευρώ, µείωση 14%), στη Βαρκελώνη οι ταξιδιώτεσ θα πληρώσουν κατά µέσο Þρο 133 ευρώ (µείωση οχτώ%) και στη Ρώµη οι επισκέπτεσ θα πληρώσουν για ένα δίκλινο δωµάτιο ανά διανυκτέρευση 127 ευρώ (µείωση 21% σε σχέση µε τον προηγούµενο µήνα).

∞‡ÍËÛË ÙÈÌÒÓ 31% ÛÙËÓ ª‡ÎÔÓÔ Μια απÞ τισ µεγαλύτερεσ αυξήσεισ τησ τάξεωσ του 95% παρατηρείται στη ΡÞδα τησ Κέρκυρασ (142 ευρώ) και στο Χανιώτη τησ Χαλκιδικήσ µε µέση τιµή διανυκτέρευσησ τα 161 ευρώ (αύξηση 89%). Το ίδιο µοτίβο σχεδÞν σε Þλουσ τουσ δηµοφιλείσ ελληνικούσ προορισµούσ µε τισ τιµέσ να κινούνται ανοδικά. Στη Μύκονο, οι τιµέσ των ξενοδοχείων παρουσιάζουν αύξηση 31% (180 ευρώ) σε σχέση µε τον προηγούµενο µήνα, ενώ στη Σαντορίνη και πιο συγκεκριµένα στο Ηµεροβίγλι, η αύξηση είναι σχετικά µικρή, τρία% εν συγκρίσει µε τον Ιούνιο και η τιµή για ένα απλÞ δίκλινο δωµάτιο σκαρφαλώνει στα 256 ευρώ. Στην Ίο η αύξηση των τιµών αγγίζει το 69% και η µέση τιµή ανά διανυκτέρευση κυµαίνεται στα 71 ευρώ, ενώ στα Μάλια τησ Κρήτησ παρατηρείται αύξηση 56% (106 ευρώ) εν συγκρίσει µε τον προη-

γούµενο µήνα. Στη ΧερσÞνησο τησ Κρήτησ η αύξηση αγγίζει το 34% ανά διανυκτέρευση και η µέση τιµή κυµαίνεται στα 102 ευρώ για ένα απλÞ δίκλινο δωµάτιο, ενώ στην Ελούντα η τιµή σκαρφαλώνει στα 291 ευρώ (αύξηση 17%). Στη Μήλο παρατηρείται αύξηση 41% και η µέση τιµή για το µήνα Ιούλιο είναι 65 ευρώ. Στον Πλατύ ΓυαλÞ τησ Σίφνου η αύξηση αγγίζει το 40% (195 ευρώ ανά διανυκτέρευση), ενώ στη Σκιάθο και στη ΣκÞπελο η αύξηση αγγίζει το 39% και το 25% αντίστοιχα (61 ευρώ και 64 ευρώ αντιστοίχωσ).

€172 ·Ó¿ ‰È·Ó˘ÎÙ¤Ú¢ÛË ÛÙËÓ ∞Á›· ¡¿· Το ίδιο σκηνικÞ και στην Κύπρο, Þπου οι ταξιδιώτεσ που θα επιλέξουν την Αγία Νάπα για τισ διακοπέσ τουσ θα κληθούν να πληρώσουν 172 ευρώ ανά διανυκτέρευση (αύξηση 25% σε σχέση µε τον προηγούµενο µήνα), στη Λευκωσία οι τιµέσ αγγίζουν τα 139 ευρώ κατά µέσο Þρο, µε αύξηση 23% σε σχέση µε τον προηγούµενο µήνα και στην Πάφο οι ταξιδιώτεσ θα κληθούν να πληρώσουν 143 ευρώ ανά διανυκτέρευση µε ποσοστÞ αύξησησ σε σχέση µε τον προηγούµενο µήνα έξι%. Μπορεί οι τιµέσ στουσ ελληνικούσ προορισµούσ να αυξάνονται αλλά εν συγκρίσει µε τον Ιούλιο του προηγούµενου έτουσ οι τιµέσ παρουσιάζουν µείωση. Πιο αναλυτικά στο Φαληράκι τησ ΡÞδου, ένασ απÞ τουσ δηµοφιλέστερουσ προορισµούσ, παρουσιάζεται µείωση του 23% σε σχέση µε πέρισυ

(€)

(71 ευρώ), ενώ στο Ηµεροβίγλι η µείωση σε σχέση µε το 2011 είναι τοισ τάξεωσ του 10% (256 ευρώ ανά διανυκτέρευση). Στη Νάξο η µείωση των τιµών σε σχέση µε πέρισι αγγίζει το 38% (59 ευρώ µέση τιµή για δίκλινο δωµάτιο) και στην Παλαιοκατρίτσα τησ Κέρκυρασ η µείωση αγγίζει το 16% εν συγκρίσει µε το 2011. Το ποσοστÞ µείωσησ τιµών στην ΣκÞπελο φτάνει το 26% µε µέση τιµή διανυκτέρευσησ τα 64 ευρώ και στη

Θάσο η µέση τιµή κυµαίνεται στα 61 ευρώ µε ποσοστÞ µείωσησ 16%. Το ίδιο σκηνικÞ και στην Κύπρο µε την Αγία Νάπα να ηγείται στο ποσοστÞ µείωσησ µε 12% (172 ευρώ) σε σχέση µε το 2011 και τη Λάρνακα να ακολουθεί µε ποσοστÞ µείωσησ εννιά% και µέση τιµή ανά διανυκτέρευση τα 89 ευρώ.

Trivago O Κατάλογοσ Ξενοδοχειακών Τιµών τησ www.trivago.gr (tHPI) δείχνει το µέσο Þρο τιµών διανυκτέρευσησ στισ πιο δηµοφιλείσ Eυρωπαϊκέσ πÞλεισ τησ trivago. Ο µέσοσ Þροσ τιµών για ένα δίκλινο δωµάτιο βασίζεται στισ ένα εκατοµµύριο καθηµερινέσ αναζητήσεισ τιµών για µια διανυκτέρευση που γίνονται µέσω του συστήµατοσ σύγκρισησ ξενοδοχειακών τιµών τησ trivago απÞ 15 εκατοµµύρια µοναδικούσ επισκέπτεσ. Η trivago αποθηκεύει τισ αναζητήσεισ κάθε µήνα και παρουσιάζει µια γενική εικÞνα ξενοδοχειακών τιµών για τον επÞµενο µήνα. Το tHPI αντανακλά τισ ξενοδοχειακέσ τιµέσ τησ online ξενοδοχειακήσ αγοράσ τησ Ευρώπησ: οι τιµέσ διανυκτέρευσησ απÞ 100 online sites κρατήσεων και αλυσίδεσ ξενοδοχείων διαµορφώνουν το µέσο Þρο ξενοδοχειακών τιµών για πÞλεισ, περιοχέσ και χώρεσ τησ Ευρώπησ. Οι ταξιδιώτεσ βρίσκουν στην trivago ιδανικά ξενοδοχεία στισ καλύτερεσ τιµέσ. Η online υπηρεσία τησ είναι να συγκρίνει τιµέσ ξενοδοχείων απÞ περισσÞτερα απÞ 100 διαφορετικά sites κρατήσεων για 500.000 ξενοδοχεία ανά τον κÞσµο. Επιπλέον η trivago προσφέρει 28 εκατοµµύρια αναφορέσ για ξενοδοχεία και δείχνει τη γενική βαθµολογία για κάθε ένα απÞ αυτά. Η trivago δε συγκρίνει µÞνο τισ τιµέσ απÞ τα online sites για κρατήσεισ ξενοδοχείων, αλλά και τισ βαθµολογίεσ τουσ.

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

24 | MARKETS

Gold inches up Gold edged higher on Tuesday ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s two-day Congressional testimony, which is expected to provide clues on whether the U.S. central bank will launch further monetary stimulus.

Bernanke’s appearance follows lacklustre data in the previous session that showed retail sales fell in June for a third consecutive month, adding to a string of recent soft data suggesting that U.S. economic growth might be faltering.

Bullion has been trading sideways in a $100 range above $1,530 for about two months, with investors lacking conviction on price direction while the Fed remained non-committal on more stimulus.

Spot gold inched up 0.2% to $1,593.21 an ounce. Asia’s bullion buyers have moved back to the sidelines of the market after prices rebounded from last week’s low near $1,550 per ounce, dealers said.

The IMF on Monday cut its forecast for global economic growth and warned that the outlook could dim further if policymakers in the euro zone did not act with enough force and speed to quell their region’s debt crisis.

Brent crude edges up above $103 Brent crude rose on Tuesday, staying above $103 per barrel on hopes of more policy steps by central banks to stimulate global economic growth ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony.

His peers at central banks in China, the euro zone and Britain have already eased monetary policy to prop up their economies.

Brent crude rose 10 cents to $103.47 a barrel. The contract rose to as much as $103.74, the highest since late May. U.S. crude was almost unchanged, after settling $1.33 a barrel higher at $88.43. “The market focus is on further monetary easing measures,” said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity sales manager at Newedge Japan. “If the global economy is slowing, we can expect oil demand growth to slow down as well.”

Despite the backdrop of a weakening economic outlook, oil prices have risen in the past sessions partly due to worries over a supply disruption from the Middle East.

Brent has slipped 20% from the highs for the year touched in March due to worries about demand growth, but found a floor because of simmering tensions over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

A U.S. Navy vessel off the UAE fired on a fishing boat that failed to heed warnings, killing one and injuring three. That pushed oil higher on Monday, serving as yet another reminder of how quickly a confrontation can turn deadly in the Gulf. World powers and Iran have had several rounds of talks to resolve the standoff, but have so far failed to secure a breakthrough.

Disruptions in output from Norway, the world’s eighth largest oil producer, are also helping push up Brent prices.

Sentiment improves Asian shares surged and the euro recovered on Tuesday as investors covered short positions and hunted for bargains while awaiting Fed Chairman Bernanke’s view on the U.S. economy. Some traders cited the Reserve Bank of Australia’s minutes as spurring further buying in riskier assets, as they suggested the central bank may be spared for now from having to cut rates further to support growth.

Australia’s central bank saw “no need” to cut interest rates at its July meeting because a material easing had already been delivered and data showed the domestic economy had more momentum than first thought. Traders also said short covering in the euro — when players buy back the currency to realize gains on an earlier bet it would fall — gained further momentum after the minutes.

The dollar found support against the yen after Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said he was prepared to take firm measures on currencies when needed, a hint that Tokyo could intervene in the market, as a firm yen would hurt Japan’s economy.

The nominal effective exchange rate for the dollar/yen now is around the same as late October when Japan intervened to prop up the dollar, said Hideki Amikura, forex manager at Nomura Trust Bank. Uncertainty over the future of the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund deepened on Monday when Germany’s Constitutional Court said it would not rule until September 12 on whether the European Stability Mechanism, and planned changes to the region’s budget rules, are compatible with German law.

FOREX COMMENTARY TECHNICAL ANALYSIS The euro rose versus the dollar on Tuesday as purchases from hedge funds triggered a flurry of stop-loss buying, pulling the greenback to a seven-week low against a basket of currencies, exacerbating its losses after poor U.S. retail sales figures. The rise against the Japanese currency helped the euro muscle in on the greenback. The common currency climbed to a one week high at $1.2314, having triggered stop-losses at 1.2300.

It then settled around 1.2285.

Traders are focusing their attention on the world’s largest economy ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Chairman Ben Bernanke before testimony Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The sell-off in the U.S. dollar and U.S. equities tell us that investors are positioning for slightly more dovish comments from Bernanke,” Kathy Lien, Managing Director of FX Strategy for BK Asset Management told Reuters.

The dollar stood at 78.92 yen, barely changed from late New York levels. Its support now rests at a June 15 low of 78.61 yen, while resistance looms at its 200-day moving average at 79.05. Traders reported a large bid supporting the pair at 78.50.

The Fed last month expanded efforts to keep long-term interest rates low by announcing it would buy an additional $267 billion in long-term bonds while selling short-term securities in a measure known as Operation Twist. The central bank, however, held off from launching a third round of outright bond purchases that would expand its balance sheet, a form of stimulus known as quantitative easing.

Analysts said that despite a nudge higher on Tuesday, the euro has become the funding currency of choice after both German and Dutch twoyear bond yields turned negative recently. The strength of Germany’s economy has made its highly-liquid bonds a major safe haven from the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis and Dutch bonds have also enjoyed similar demand. With the dollar on the defensive, the common currency reversed some of its losses sustained versus the dollar after weak U.S. retail sales, but Lien cautioned it was not the start of a strong uptrend.

Even though the euro managed to eke out modest gains against the dollar on the back of its rise versus the yen, it was still close to a two-year low of 1.2162 hit last week.

Germany’s Constitutional Court said on Monday it would not rule until September 12 on whether the euro zone’s bailout fund — the European Stability Mechanism — and planned changes to the region’s budget rules are compatible with German law. A report suggesting a change in the European Central Bank’s stance on how some bondholders could be treated under Spain’s bank bailout has put pressure on the single currency.

The Aussie dollar was supported by after minutes showed that Australia’s central bank saw “no need” to cut interest rates at its July meeting because a material easing had already been delivered and data showed the domestic economy had more momentum than first thought.

Disclaimer: The commentary appearing on this page is for indication purposes only and Eurivex does not take any responsibility for investment action taken. Nothing in this report should be considered to constitute investment advice. It is not intended, and should not be considered, as an offer, invitation, solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any of the financial instruments described herein. Trading on leverage is very risky and may lead to losses.

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

MARKETS | 25

France, Tax Increases and Economic Recovery mln employees, disproportionately hitting workers in the construction and hospitality sectors. A hike in the inheritance tax will bring in some €140 mln.

Looking closely, we see that nearly a third of the €3 bln tax hike on corporations will ultimately fall on households (via taxes on stock options, employees’ savings schemes, etc). In other words, for cosmetic reasons the government is trying to pretend the “average Jacques” will not have to carry this burden, but in reality, he will. Companies were hardly let off lightly, though. At a time when the banks are already barely standing up, they will have to pay higher taxes on financial transactions, and a one-off surcharge of €550 mln. The oil industry also has the honor of being singled out for a €550 mln special surcharge. Needless to say, these tax increases should work wonders in pushing banks to expand their domestic loan books, and in getting entrepreneurs to take on more risk and invest more actively in our beautiful country! And if this latest tax plan doesn’t do the trick, then we need only look ahead to the multi-year plan. Some estimate that Francois Hollande’s economic program (not yet implemented so it may be watered down!) will cost French corporations €46 bln in tax increases and additional social contributions over the next few years.

All this brings us to last week’s most surprising headline— that the French Treasury was able to issue debt at negative interest rates, for the first time ever (about €8 mln worth of very short-term paper). On the one hand, one might assume that Hollande’s dismal economic program justifies Japanese-level interest rates across the French yield curve. But on the other hand, France is not Japan: a) its debt is not issued in a currency that France can print at will, b) the large majority of French debt is not owned by its citizens, and, c) France has a tax-toGDP ratio of over 50%, much higher than Japan’s. This latter point obviously limits the scope to raise future taxes (in fact, we would be surprised if the Tresor ends up collecting even half of

MARCUARD’S MARKET update by GaveKal Research In “Uranus,” a French movie about life in a village at the end of WWII, the actor Gerard Depardieu says: “Je suis cafetier, socialiste et franc-macon. C’est pour vous dire si j’en ai entendu des conneries!” (“I own a bar, am socialist and a free mason—so I can tell you that I’ve heard my fill of BS over the years”). This remark came to us when we read about France’s additional €6.4 bln in tax increases for this year, which the new Socialist government is imposing to: a) move France back towards a budget surplus and b) generate stronger growth (Francois Hollande’s main campaign promise). Increasing taxes as France slips back towards recession will neither, a) help France close the constant budget deficits it has been running since 1974, nor, b) help stimulate growth. In fact, quite the contrary: as some will argue, everything seems lined up for France to sink into a “secondary depression”.

But first, the concrete measures announced by the government. The bulk of the burden will fall on households, especially on the shoulders of the wealthiest. A one-off extra wealth-tax will on average cost €7,300 per household for the roughly 300,000 households with income of more than €1.3 mln, raising more than €2 bln. The other key tax increase impacting individuals, including the working middle-class, is the €980mn that will be raised from the re-introduction of taxes on overtime pay which Nicolas Sarkozy had previously suspended (under his “work more-earn more” promise). This measure will impact roughly 9

UK to help building societies lend to business

the additional €6.4 bln in taxes for 2012).

So, with France very much on the wrong side of the Laffer curve, how can we explain the record low French yields which, frankly, we did not expect? We find two possible explanations: - Markets are making the bet that France is not Spain (just, like before it, Portugal was not Greece, and Spain was not Portugal, and Italy was not Spain). As a “core” member of Europe, the ECB will never allow the OAT market to deteriorate to the degree seen on the periphery markets. In other words, although de jure France does not get to issue debt in its own currency, de facto it does.

- French OATS are being distorted by massive central bank buying, whether from Switzerland or even perhaps Denmark. As European savings continue to flock into these countries, both of which are (effectively) pegged to the euro, they are forced to intervene ever more aggressively into their neighbours’ currency and bond markets. With short-term yields on German bunds in negative territory, central banks are expanding into the next big liquid EMU market, namely France.

This will only last as long as France is perceived as safe. And the depression that is about to hit France on the back of Hollande’s tax increases, and the fear of folly to come, may well shatter this status.

www.marcuardheritage.com Disclaimer: This information may not be construed as advice and in particular not as investment, legal or tax advice. Depending on your particular circumstances you must obtain advice from your respective professional advisors. Investment involves risk.

The value of investments may go down as well as up. Past performance is no guarantee for future performance. Investments in foreign currencies are subject to exchange rate fluctuations.

Marcuard Cyprus Ltd is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySec) under License no. 131/11.

WORLD CURRENCIES PER US DOLLAR CURRENCY

of retail financial services.

“We want to continue this vital role, expanding carefully over time into new areas such as SME (small business) banking,” he said.

Financial Secretary Mark Hoban said the government wanted to increase choice and diversity in the sector.

“We believe that building societies can play a vital role in this. The proposals we are setting out today provide a real opportunity for societies to expand their services and attract a new generation of consumers,” he said.

The proposals also state that rules governing building societies be amended to insure that they undergo the same ringfencing proposed for banks and have equivalent capital buffers.

Banks are being asked to split off their retail banking from their riskier investment arms and to build up loss-absorbing capital to protect them in times of financial stress.

The number of building societies in Britain has diminished rapidly because many, such as Abbey National, Halifax and Alliance & Leicester, converted into public companies and were subsequently taken over by banks.

Britain is prepared to relax lending and funding requirements to make it easier for building societies to lend to small businesses and to stimulate competition in the financial services industry.

Current rules state that 50% of a building society’s funding should be in the form of retail deposits and 75% of lending must be secured on residential property.

The government said it supported those limits as they differentiated building societies from banks and acted as safeguards. However, it would be flexible if mutually-owned building societies decide to offer more services to businesses.

“If this was part of the sector’s strategy, then the government would be supportive of this development, and would be open to removing any constraints posed by legislation,” it said.

Britain is desperate to boost lending to small companies which have suffered from a credit famine as mainstream high street banks focus on shrinking their balance sheets and building up capital reserves to meet new regulations.

Graham Beale, chief executive of Nationwide, said the government proposals would enable Britain’s biggest building society to mount a challenge to the banks across a full range

The Financial Markets LIBOR rates

CCY USD GBP EUR JPY CHF

0-0,25% 0.50% 0.75% 0-0,1% 0-0,25%

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CCY/Period

1mth

2mth

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CCY/Period

USD GBP EUR JPY CHF

0.25 0.58 0.14 0.14 0.03

0.34 0.66 0.22 0.16 0.05

0.46 0.83 0.36 0.20 0.07

0.73 1.10 0.67 0.33 0.18

1.07 1.60 1.01 0.55 0.38

USD GBP EUR JPY CHF

2yr

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0.46 0.90 0.67 0.26 -0.01

0.53 0.90 0.74 0.27 0.04

0.66 0.96 0.87 0.29 0.12

0.83 1.07 1.04 0.32 0.24

1.19 1.39 1.38 0.46 0.52

1.61 1.86 1.75 0.74 0.88

Exchange Rates Major Cross Rates CCY1\CCY2 USD EUR GBP CHF JPY

Opening Rates

100 1 USD 1 EUR 1 GBP 1 CHF JPY 1.2296 0.8133

1.5656

1.0239

1.2673

1.2733

0.8327

1.0306

0.6540

0.8094

0.6387

0.7854

0.9767

1.2010

1.5291

78.91

97.03

123.54

1.2377 80.79

RATE

EUROPEAN Belarussian Ruble British Pound * Bulgarian Lev Czech Koruna Danish Krone Estonian Kroon Euro * Georgian Lari Hungarian Forint Latvian Lats Lithuanian Litas Maltese Pound * Moldavan Leu Norwegian Krone Polish Zloty Romanian Leu Russian Rouble Swedish Krona Swiss Franc Ukrainian Hryvnia

BYR GBP BGN CZK DKK EEK EUR GEL HUF LVL LTL MTL MDL NOK PLN RON RUB SEK CHF UAH

8390 1.5656 1.5906 20.631 6.0513 12.7237 1.2296 1.638 234.24 0.5653 2.8078 0.3491 12.3500 6.0857 3.4031 3.7139 32.4693 7.0225 0.9767 8.0758

AUD CAD HKD INR JPY KRW NZD SGD

1.0298 1.0143 7.7560 55.1000 78.91 1143.45 1.2510 1.2616

BHD EGP IRR ILS JOD KWD LBP OMR QAR SAR ZAR AED

0.3770 6.0597 11992.9023 3.9670 0.7085 0.2814 1501 0.3839 3.6402 3.75 8.1799 3.6728

AZN KZT TRL

0.7846 149.84 1808250

AMERICAS & PACIFIC Australian Dollar * Canadian Dollar Hong Kong Dollar Indian Rupee Japanese Yen Korean Won New Zeland Dollar * Singapore Dollar MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Interest Rates Base Rates

CODE

Bahrain Dinar Egyptian Pound Iranian Rial Israeli Shekel Jordanian Dinar Kuwait Dinar Lebanese Pound Omani Rial Qatar Rial Saudi Arabian Riyal South African Rand U.A.E. Dirham

Weekly movement of USD

ASIA CCY\Date

19.06

25.06

03.07

10.07

17.07

CCY

Today

USD GBP JPY CHF

1.2577

1.2466

1.2558

1.2250

1.2259

0.8016

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0.8001

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0.7828

GBP EUR JPY CHF

1.5656 1.2296 78.91 0.9767

99.26

99.03

99.99

97.28

96.65

1.1962

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1.1964

1.1962

1.1963

Last Week %Change 1.5505 1.2290 79.49 0.9771

-0.97 -0.05 -0.73 -0.04

Azerbaijanian Manat Kazakhstan Tenge Turkish Lira Note:

* USD per National Currency

July 18 - 24, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

26 | WORLD MARKETS

Qatari royals buy Valentino

Earnings, Bernanke promise active week Investors are looking at an onslaught this week.

If it’s not corporate earnings, it’s Ben Bernanke talking about economic issues before Congress.

WALL ST WEEKAHEAD Recent warnings from a number of companies, including chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, helped drag the S&P 500 lower for six straight days before a Friday rebound.

The S&P 500 and Dow erased losses for the week, barely finishing higher by 0.2% and less than 0.1%, respectively. The Nasdaq composite fell 1% for the week.

With a slew of companies set to report results this week, the hope among investors is that the bad news has been factored in, but the broader picture remains lackluster. That may limit the market’s gains even if companies clear a low bar.

“Expectations have been beaten down a lot,” said Robbert Van Batenburg, head of equity research at Louis Capital in New York. “The problem is we’re dealing with a global slowdown, and I’m sure that’s going to be reflected in some of the comments you’re going to be hearing.”

Data showing slower growth in Europe, China and the United States has weighed on the stock market, while U.S. companies have warned about overseas weakness and a stronger dollar hurting profits on exports.

The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting suggested it is not ready to inject more monetary stimulus into the economy, but traders will be hanging on Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke’s every word for mention of such a possibility and how he views the slowing economy.

This week, dozens of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies are set to report. From top technology names including Intel and Microsoft, to General Electric and Coca-Cola Co. Earnings estimates have already fallen sharply. S&P 500 earnings for the second quarter now are expected to rise just 5% from a year ago, down from an estimate of 9.2% at the beginning of April, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Nearly all sectors have seen estimates fall due in part to weak demand in Europe. Energy and utilities are expected to be the weakest performers this quarter after big declines in energy prices in the second quarter.

The fall in estimates could be enough so that the majority of companies end up beating expectations, as they typically do, inspiring a relief rally. That could bolster the S&P, where trading has narrowed to a range between 1,310 and 1,370 for most of a month.

Investors could see some downside surprises in high-end consumer companies, industrials and financials, said Paul Mangus, head of equity research and strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina.

For example, Bank of America Inc is expected to report earnings of 15 cents a share on Wednesday, but Thomson Reuters StarMine’s SmartEstimates put expectations at 13.5 cents per share, or a miss of about 9%.

The technology sector could be a mixed bag, Mangus said.

“On one hand, there are very good trends on the software side. (But) there may be some disappointments among some of the hardware manufacturers. In certain cases, we’re seeing some weak PC sales,” he said.

Besides Advanced Micro Devices, a weak forecast was issued by fellow chipmaker Applied Materials last week, while engine maker Cummins Inc warned on sales. AMD reports results on Thursday.

Negative to positive earnings guidance for the second quarter is 3.3 to 1, the worst since 2008, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Among other S&P companies scheduled to report are Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Johnson & Johnson.

The final details of a Spanish bank bailout are expected this week among developments in the 2 1/2-year old euro zone debt crisis.

BERNANKE SPEAKS Bernanke is due to deliver his semiannual monetary policy report to Senate and House of Representatives committees on Tuesday and Wednesday, although analysts said he is not likely to divulge plans of further economic stimulus.

Stocks lost ground last week as minutes from the Fed’s June meeting showed policymakers are open to the idea of more economic stimulus, but that conditions might need to worsen first. Investors were hoping the Fed’s June minutes would suggest the central bank was getting closer to another round of stimulus.

“I don’t think he’s going to allude to any quantitative easing, so I don’t think you’ll get any solace from that,” Van Batenburg said.

Bernanke is more apt to urge Congress to act on fiscal policy and tackle the huge budget deficits and the impact on the economy of approaching sharp cuts in government spending known as the “fiscal cliff.” “I would expect him to try to bring the message home to policymakers to address the fiscal cliff. Fiscal tightening flies in the face of any effort to dodge deflation.”

Italian fashion house Valentino has been snapped up by the Qatari royal family for 700 mln euros, the latest purchase of a top European luxury brand by an emerging market investor.

The luxury label loved by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Audrey Hepburn said that Mayhoola for Investments S.P.C, an investment vehicle backed by a leading Qatari, had bought it from UK-based private equity fund Permira and minority investors the Marzotto textile entrepreneurs. Two sources close to the deal told Reuters the royals of the tiny Gulf state of Qatar, among the world’s most active investors, had acquired Valentino for 700 mln euros, or 31.5 times its 2011 EBITDA. That’s well above LVMH’s purchase of jewellery maker Bulgari last year at 28.2 times its EBITDA and is a huge premium against current average valuations for European luxury brands which stand at 10-11 times 2012 forecast EBITDA. Analysts said the Qatari royal family, which also owns London’s Harrods department store, appeared to be building a home grown luxury brand with this latest purchase.

Founded in 1960 by designer Valentino Garavani, the Italian brand was hit hard by the recent financial crisis and had to restructure its debts in December 2009, struggling to keep up with competition from glamorous new brands like Dolce e Gabbana.

However, a recent surge of interest in the high-end luxury sector from super-rich clients who are not feeling the economic pinch has helped its fortunes. Valentino’s EBITDA grew 300% in 2011 and is expected to grow significantly in 2012.

Analysts expect the luxury sector to continue to attract investors with deep pockets even in the tough climate, particularly as there are few new listings to tempt them.

The Qataris also own assets ranging from stakes in German sports car maker Porsche to shares in British bank Barclays. Analysts say their latest luxury purchases were spearheaded by the chic wife of the Qatari Emir, Sheikha Mozah, who is known for loving Valentino dresses. She owns the Qatar Luxury Group, which has a stake in French leather goods maker Le Tanneur & Cie.

Xstrata sets September date for Glencore vote Xstrata said shareholders will vote on September 7 on the miner’s planned $26 bln takeover by Glencore, effectively giving the commodities trader and rival investor Qatar Holding six weeks to hammer out an agreement on the terms of the offer.

A vote initially scheduled for July was postponed after shareholder protests forced Xstrata last month to overhaul retention packages to tie in its top managers. Shareholders had objected to the mostly cash deals that were not linked to performance, and threatened to scupper the deal. But a vote in September, later than strictly required, will also give Glencore, Xstrata’s largest investor, more time to strike a deal with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, which is demanding better terms - easing speculation that the current deadlock between the two could put the tie-up on ice.

While the September date is still moveable, sources said it marked a deadline of sorts and a goal for the talks between Glencore and Qatar, which owns 11% of the miner.

Qatar, which has built the second-largest stake in the miner, said it was firm in its demand for Glencore to improve its offer to 3.25 new Glencore shares for every Xstrata share held, up from the 2.8 on offer. Glencore, for its part, has indicated it could walk away.

Under takeover rules, Glencore has until two weeks before the vote date, roughly August 24, to alter the terms of its offer - a later move is possible, but would push the date back again.

Glencore’s own shareholders will also vote on September 7.

The combination of Glencore and Xstrata is expected to be an acquisition powerhouse, as both have a track record of growing through deals.

Libor scandal forces Barclays from UAE rate panel Barclays plans to pull out of the rate-setting panel for interbank lending in the UAE because of its involvement in the Libor scandal in Britain.

Barclays belongs to a panel of 12 banks that quote indicative interbank lending rates in UAE dirhams. The quotes are averaged to arrive at a daily range of Emirates Interbank Offered Rates (Eibor), which are used to price financial instruments in the Gulf’s top financial centre.

The bank’s departure from the panel could damage its reputation in an important emerging market, though it may suffer little or no direct business impact because it will remain able to lend and borrow. Late last month, Barclays agreed with U.S. and British regulators to pay 290 mln pounds ($453 mln) in fines for attempting to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate through its submissions to the Libor panel. In addition to Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC and Standard Chartered sit on the Eibor rate-setting panel, along with eight local banks.

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

WORLD MARKETS | 27

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

28 | WORLD MARKETS

GM a step away from giving up on Opel l Abrupt

management reshuffle latest GM U-turn as zig-zagging policies cost confidence of consumers

Just hours after General Motors abruptly fired Karl-Friedrich Stracke as chief executive of Opel last week, industry observers were already beginning to ask whether it was time to start writing the troubled European unit’s epitaph.

Since GM emerged from bankruptcy three years ago, Opel has racked up $3.5 bln in underlying losses thanks to an ever shrinking European car market, a bloated fixed cost base and an image that GM has helped bring low.

In the past four weeks, however, management and labour had made promising signs of progress, approving a mid-term business plan and agreeing to end production at a German factory in 2017 as the basis for restructuring negotiations. Morgan Stanley analysts even began shifting their attention from GM’s Opel problems to those of Ford in Europe.

All for nothing as everything appears to be up in the air again, including killing off the brand, even if company sources argue one person’s departure changes little. GM and Opel have not commented publicly on the reasons for Stracke’s removal, other than to say he would “take on special assignments” at GM. One industry observer believed GM CEO Dan Akerson was following the advice of ex-GE boss and management guru Jack Welch, who once said that if a company didn’t measure up, the only options were to “fix it, sell it, or close it”.

“This will be the last such attempt under Akerson and since GM couldn’t sell Opel last time, they will just wind it down if they can’t fix it,” said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, a professor at the Centre Automotive Research (CAR) in Duisburg, Germany.

Armin Schild, a regional boss of the IG Metall union, which negotiates on behalf of Opel’s blue-collar workers, and one of Opel’s own supervisory board members, has already warned that far more is at stake in upcoming negotiations than simply swapping job guarantees for wage concessions.

NO AGREEMENT If talks fail, “the overarching message then is there is no agreement with IG Metall and that is possibly the beginning of the end of the company,” Schild had said in June.

While Stracke’s sacking may please investors on Wall Street demanding quick results, observers in Germany have criticised the timing as myopic and characteristic of GM executives who lack commitment and strategic vision.

GM has a history of abrupt U-turns that have damaged its credibility. In September 2009, GM’s board agreed to hand control of Opel over to a consortium led by parts maker Magna in

a deal brokered by Chancellor Angela Merkel, only to change its mind weeks later.

Then GM spent months pressing for financial aid from four German states where its manufacturing plants are located before withdrawing the application.

And now GM Vice Chairman and Opel board chief Stephen Girsky has removed Stracke less than a month after the business plan was approved and a key logistics deal was struck with France’s Peugeot.

“The worst is that GM frequently changes course. Until yesterday the strategy was to guarantee jobs through 2016, today it is making cuts and closing plants as quickly as possible,” Dudenhoeffer said.

“Why else did they get rid of Stracke? GM was not satisfied with the business plan and the second quarter results were blood red, so Girsky shot from the hip to save his own skin.”

Ahead of tense restructuring negotiations that could last to October, IG Metall’s Schild put on a brave face in public, calling the move on Friday “a chance that GM and Opel must use to secure the future.”

Sources at the company say nothing has changed apart from Stracke’s departure, but no reassurances were offered in the statement on Thursday that Girsky would honour past agreements and officials were slow to confirm he would.

A spokesman for Opel said on Saturday that neither the business plan nor the goal of reaching an agreement with

unions before November over wage concessions in Germany were at risk.

DROWNING While IG Metall said it welcomed the decision to install Girsky as interim CEO, given his pull in the Detroit headquarters, one person close to the talks admitted “we have no certainty” whether GM might take a far harder position going into the forthcoming negotiations.

The choices for Opel are now becoming less and less appealing as GM compounds the problems of a slumping European car market and overcapacity with a leadership debate.

Wolfgang Meinig, head of the FAW automotive research department at the University of Bamberg, says radical cuts are needed now more than ever to nurse the company back to health. “The most senseless thing a loss-making company can do is maintain existing overcapacity and guarantee jobs under pressure from unions and politicians - it’s deadly, like a millstone around the neck of someone drowning. There is only one way to guarantee jobs and that’s by earning a profit,” he said.

Experts wonder whether Opel can survive such strong medicine after all the upheaval and strategic zig-zags, or whether the damage done to consumer confidence in the brand is irreversible. “After all the wrong decisions taken, I really am concerned whether it will still be around in 10 years time,” Meinig said.

Man United IPO seen as a tough sell in U.S. Manchester United may be one of the most supported sports teams in the world but that doesn’t mean the soccer club is going to find many investors with an appetite for its planned initial public offering in the United States.

Fund managers who have looked at its preliminary prospectus have been either negative or lukewarm on the prospect of buying shares in the club, which is controlled by the Florida-based Glazer family.

They say Man United faces significant financial risks given its 423 mln pounds of debt ($658 mln), and the very structure of the business puts its customers, the fans, at odds with shareholders.

Some are concerned that the U.S. stock market hasn’t had many sports team listings, let alone any European soccer clubs, so there isn’t much to compare against Like many sports franchises, the team’s success on the pitch is largely contingent on its ability to spend cash on players - through both transfer fees and high wages.

While there have been some signs in the past year that transfer spending by top English clubs is being reined in, the pressure on a leading club like Manchester United to spend heavily in an attempt to stay a top team remains. That spending can eat up profits rapidly and lead to volatile financial results.

Manchester United had a weak season by its own standards in 2011-12, failing to win any silverware, though it

missed out on the English title by a hair’s breadth.

“The deal is a strong vanity play in terms of being part of a winning franchise but whether or not that mystique around the team translates to money for shareholders I doubt it,” said Jeff Sica, president and chief investment officer of Sica Wealth Management in New Jersey, which manages over $1 bln in assets. “The chances of shareholders making money on this is very little.”

To be sure, many investors will not make a final decision until they know how many shares the company will sell and at what price. The timing of the IPO is also unclear.

Shares were thinly traded and held primarily by individual investors, not institutions.

The Cleveland Indians went public in 1998 at $15 before seeing shares tank to $5.38 within four months.

Both teams have since been taken private.

And unlike these teams, Manchester United doesn’t play in the United States - other than for occasional exhibition games in the summer months. It may have a sizable armchair fan base in the United States who watch English games on TV but that isn’t comparable to the almost religious nature of the support in the U.K.

COMPARISONS DIFFICULT But doing a valuation analysis will not be easy even when the price is known because of the lack of comparable public companies in the U.S. The media, sports and entertainment group Madison Square Garden Co owns the New York Knicks basketball team and Rangers ice hockey team, Liberty Media owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team and cable giant Comcast owns the Philadelphia Flyers ice hockey team, but none are pure sports plays as they own many other assets.

Teams that have listed in the U.S. in the past also haven’t performed well for investors. The Boston Celtics, which were publicly traded for 16 years beginning in 1986, posted three straight years of losses before swinging to a profit in 2002.

RED FLAGS One particular problem is that some of the legendary English club’s millions of fans around the world have shown a rabid dislike for the Glazers, who acquired the 134-year-old team in 2005 through a leveraged buyout and loading the club up with large amounts of debt.

Another red flag is that medium-sized investment bank Jefferies Group Inc got picked to be lead underwriter on the offering only after Morgan Stanley bowed out due to concerns over the team’s proposed valuation. Morgan Stanley had been set to participate in the underwriting earlier this year, when the Glazer family sought to list the team in Singapore, raising $1 bln. That plan was initially slated for 2011 but got pushed back due to market conditions.

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

GREECE | 29

Greece too far behind to copy Irish bailout model ANALYSIS Ireland has become the poster boy of international lenders, held up as a model of European austerity to problem child Greece.

But when the two countries sought financial help from the EU and IMF within six months of each other in 2010, they were starting from different points.

Ireland had an efficient public administration, a modern open economy and not much culture of protest in contrast to Greece, making it very difficult to catch up.

“I think our situation was always more manageable than the Greeks’, there’s no doubt about that,” Ireland’s energy minister Pat Rabbitte told Reuters.

“That is not to say the cliff off which we fell wasn’t very steep but we always had the bureaucracy and the experience to make the adjustments if the political will was there.”

Rabbitte and his colleagues are set for another glowing report from their so-called troika of EU, ECB and IMF lenders, just as the same group visits Athens for the first time since tumultuous elections.

Dublin has so far easily passed every quarterly review of its programme while Greece has stumbled through, frequently missing targets that resulted in delayed aid payments.

But Ireland’s success has as much to do with an austerity programme that predates its bailout by over two years and other advantages taken for granted such as an efficient tax system.

While not quick enough to ultimately avoid the humiliation of having to ask for help, Ireland began to reverse a decade of reckless policy decisions in mid 2008 and had already dished out three austerity budgets by the time the troika came to town.

In fact, the memorandum of understanding Ireland signed in November 2010 was in large part an extension of the fouryear austerity plan the then government published just days earlier.

For Greece, in contrast, austerity came as a nasty surprise.

In October 2009, just eight months before its first international rescue, the opposition Socialists swept to power on promises of boosting social spending and public sector wages.

Greece’s memorandum - which like Ireland’s calls for fiscal and structural reforms - was also more challenging in a country that nationalised, rather than liberalised, large swathes of its economy upon joining the European Community in 1981.

Bankrolled by EU subsidies, it never shed its consumption and import-led economic model while Ireland used a decadelong recession in the 1980s to implement much needed structural reforms and to open up a number of sectors in economy.

A property boom fuelled Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” economy but when prices crashed in the last five years, the foundations of the 1980s and early 90s meant it could fall back on a strong

export sector when the financial crisis and resulting austerity crippled domestic demand.

BAD REPUTATION Alongside a low corporate tax rate that has attracted big employers such as Google and IBM, this explains why Ireland’s economy is forecast to grow modestly for a second year in a row while Greece’s may fall by 7%.

“When companies invest money here, they’re pretty sure they are going to get product out the other end,” said Paul Duff, Vice President at Pfizer which employs around 4,000 people in Ireland.

“Everybody’s got to do their own bit. For us (Ireland), it’s making sure that we have a proposition that works. Then you put yourself in the best possible place to either shield yourself from the downside or try and benefit from any of the upside.”

That differs from the experience of Dimitrios Lakasas, an exporter who ships electronic security systems to 72 countries and has long lamented Greece’s political turmoil.

“Greece has acquired a bad name abroad and that is one more thing making life difficult for exporters,” said Lakasas, who is also chairman of the Northern Greek Exporters’ Association.

“When potential business partners come to visit us, the first thing on their menu is to ask about the country’s political situation: I have to make macroeconomic presentations before I get to talk about business.”

AGGRIEVED One of many multinationals that successfully backed May’s referendum on Europe’s new fiscal treaty, Pfizer was joined on the campaign trail by Ireland’s largest parties - both those in government and leading the opposition - in a demonstration of the cross-party political backing austerity enjoys in Ireland.

Compare that to Greece where anti-bailout parties got half the vote in June 17 elections. The main Syriza opposition party, which rejects privatisations, wants Athens to renege on part of its debt and came within a whisker of power.

It counts much of its support among a vibrant, left-leaning protest culture, a heritage of the country’s 1967-1974 military junta that is a far cry from the stoic Irish, who keep quiet partly because of a promise not to cut public sector wages and an understanding that their pain is Ireland’s gain.

“I’m proud of our record because I feel I’ve been a part of it,” said Anton Mazer, a 70-year-old pensioner from Dublin.

The noisier Greeks may also feel more aggrieved at having suffered an adjustment far deeper than any other country in reducing its budget deficit from 15.8% of GDP in 2009 to 9.3% in 2011.

More pessimistic as a result, with over 80% believing their lot will deteriorate in the years ahead, it’s little surprise Greece has been unable to keep pace with an Irish programme showered with praise throughout Europe.

Thomas Cook Germany says bookings pick up More Germans are booking holidays to Greece now that the debt-stricken country has not been in the headlines so much recently. Tour operators and airlines in Germany had reported a slump of around a third in bookings to Greece this summer as Germans avoided the country, fearing they would not be welcomed after Chancellor Angela Merkel took a hard stance on the country’s debt woes.

Since Greece’s pro-bailout parties secured an election majority last month, bookings have picked up over the last few weeks, leading tour operator Thomas Cook Germany said.

“The booking trend runs parallel to what’s in the papers. If the headlines are bad, bookings fall, if it’s quiet, then they rise again,” Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser said.

Tourism generates about a fifth of Greece’s gross domestic product, and Germany is its biggest source of tourists. In the first quarter, the country’s income from tourism dropped 15%. Fankhauser said that even though hoteliers and airlines had been offering discounts, booking numbers were still well below those of the previous year.

Rival German tour operator Rewe said last week bookings to Greece were down by 28%.

Instead of Greece, German tourists are choosing to go to Spain, Turkey, or Tunisia. Bookings to Tunisia are back at 2010 levels, Fankhauser said, recovering strongly after the 2011 uprisings across the region.

New taxes soon The government is reportedly considering to apply a uniform corporate tax rate of 20% on all Greek entities that will be gradually reduced to 15%, as well as the reduction of the tax rate on dividends from 25% at present to 20% or even 15%.

The decrease in the corporate tax rate should be expected only if fiscal conditions allow it.

This follows earlier plans to introduce a new tax bill which will also include: a) the reduction of VAT on hotels and restaurants from 23% to 13% and the standard VAT from 23% to 19%; b) the reduction of tax exemptions relating to medical care expenses, rents, tuition fees etc.; c) the introduction of a uniform property tax rate; d) the gradual decrease of the highest individual income tax rate from 45% to 40%; e) the abolition of various quasi-fiscal charges; f) the introduction of new tax brackets regarding personal income with a higher tax-free threshold (from the present EUR 5,000); and, g) the increase of the special tax rate on heating oil.

Piraeus interested in ATEbank Piraeus Bank said it was interested in cash-strapped rival ATEbank, as the country’s battered banking sector moves to consolidate to weather a debilitating debt crisis.

Greece’s fourth-largest lender is the first bank to confirm it is a potential suitor for state-controlled ATEbank, which is also expected to garner interest from other major lenders including National Bank and Eurobank.

ATEbank’s future has been up in the air for months and speculation has grown that its best bits could be sold off or the bank wound down altogether.

Greece’s lenders have demanded the government, which has a 70% stake in ATEbank, restructure the ailing bank so that the near-bankrupt state avoids pumping more money into it.

The bank, which is estimated to require a capital injection of 4-5 bln euros to continue operating, failed a European stress test last year and has not published its 2011 results pending a final decision on its future.

EU sources in June said the European Commission had been

pushing Greece to wind down certain banks, possibly including ATEbank, an agricultural lender founded in 1929. The Greek finance ministry denied that report.

More recently, Greek media have speculated the bank could be split into two, with its impaired loan portfolio put into a “bad bank” and its healthy assets sold off to a major Greek lender.

Suitors were lining up for those assets, reports said.

“The [Piraeus] group wants to strengthen its position and size in the Greek market,” said Nikos Koskoletos, an analyst at Eurobank EFG Securities. “Still, we have wait to see the terms of the transaction and whether this will move ahead.”

It also remained unclear whether Piraeus would seek to buy all of ATEbank or just its healthy assets, said Takis Zamanis, head of trading at Beta Securities.

“This will of course lead to higher capital needs for the absorbing institution and thus in our view any such move will need to be justified from high synergies,” said Konstantinos Manolopoulos, analyst at the Investment Bank of Greece, part of

the Laiki Group. Greek banks are under pressure to consolidate in a bid to create bigger entities that are better able to resist the country’s debt crisis.

A fifth year of recession, deposit outflows and fears that Greece could crash out of the euro have hammered the country’s banking system, which relies on the European Central Bank and the Greek central bank for their liquidity needs.

The four biggest banks have received 18 bln euros in capital under its EU/IMF bailout after they suffered heavy losses from a landmark sovereign debt swap.

Athens and its central bank have urged the country’s banks to explore alliances in a bid to cope better with the debt crisis, but their call has met little success so far.

The daily Imerisia suggested that other M&A moves will follow which will include Hellenic Postbank and most of the foreign-owned banks operating in Greece including Emporiki Bank, Geniki Bank, Millennium, Citibank, HSBC and the smaller Greek banks Attica Bank, FBB and Probank.

July 18 - 24, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

30 | CSE PRICES CSE CODE OASIS Index performance CSE General Index FTSE/CySE 20 FTSE/XA & XAK Banking MAIN MARKET MAIN MARKET INDEX BANK OF CYPRUS CYPRUS POPULAR BANK HELLENIC BANK LOGICOM LOUIS LTD A. TSOKKOS HOTELS ORPHANIDES SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO PARALLEL MARKET PARALLEL MARKET INDEX WOOLWORTH (CYPRUS) PROP VASSILIKO CEMENT ERMES DEPARTMENT STORES A&P (ANDREOU&PARASKEV.) LAIKI CAPITAL PUBLIC CO K. ATHIENITIS CONTR. - DEV. G.A.P VASSILOPOULOS KANIKA HOTELS MITSIDES LIBERTY LIFE INSURANCE PHIL. ANDREOU LORDOS HOTELS HOLDINGS LORDOS UNITED PLASTIC SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO ALTERNATIVE MARKET ALTERNATIVE INDEX A. PANAYIDES CONTRACTING AD SHOPPING GALLERIES ALKIS HADJ. (FROU-FROU) A.L. PROCHOICE FIN. SERV. AMATHUS PUBLIC LTD ASTARTI DEVELOPMENT ATLANTIC INSURANCE AVACOM PUBLIC CO. LTD. BLUE ISLAND FISH FARMING CCC TOURIST ENT. CHARILAOS APOSTOLIDES CHRIS JOANNOU LTD CLARIDGE INVESTMENTS CLR INVESTMENT FUND CONSTANTINOU BROS. CPI ENTER. DEVELOPMENT C.T.O. PUBLIC CO CYPRINT LTD. CYPRUS CEMENT CYPRUS FOREST IND. CYPRUS TRADING CORP. CYVENTURE CAPITAL DIMCO PLC DISPLAY ART LTD ELLINAS FINANCE ELMA HOLDINGS EMPIRE CAPITAL INV. EUROPROFIT CAPITAL EXELIXIS INVESTMENT FILOKTIMATIKI K & G COMPLEX KARAOLIS GROUP KARKOTIS MANUFACTURING KEO LTD KOSMOS INSURANCE KRONOS PRESS DIST. JUPITER PORTFOLIO INV. L.P. TRANSBETON LEPTOS CALYPSO HOTELS MALLOUPAS & PAPACOSTAS MINERVA INSURANCE MODESTOU SOUND & VISION NEMESIS CONSTRUCTIONS O.C. OPTIONS CHOICE PANDORA INVESTMENTS PIPIS FARM PETROLINA HOLDINGS PIERIDES HOLDINGS PRIMETEL PLC PROODOS AGROS RENOS HADJIOANNOU FARMS ROYAL HIGHGATE LTD SALAMIS TOURS SFS GROUP PUBLIC CO. STADEMOS HOTELS STARIO INVESTMENTS TOP KINISIS TRAVEL TOXOTIS INVESTMENTS UNIFAST FIN. & INV. VISION INTL PEOPLE GROUP SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO

ΟΑΣΗΣ

Kωδ.

Number

Nominal

Market

Book Value

Shares ('000) Aριθµός µετοχών

Value euro Aξία EUR

Cap. ('000) Kεφαλ.

EUR

Per Share euro Λογιστική αξία

Price to

BOCY CPB HB LOG LUI TSH ORF

ΤΡΚΥ ΛΑΙΚ ΕΛΗΤ ΛΟΤΖ ΛΟΥΗ ΤΣΟΚ ΟΡΦΑ

1 795 141 1 611 111 308 020 74 080 460 547 246 214 80 966

1.00 0.10 0.43 0.35 0.17 0.35 0.35

450 580 128 889 56 676 20 372 10 132 18 466 5 587 690 702

1.54 0.38 1.45 0.78 0.25 0.53 1.72 0.95

0.16 0.21 0.13 0.35 0.09 0.14 0.04 0.16

FWW VCW ERME APE LI ACD GAP KAN MIT LIB PHIL LHH LPL

ΓΟΥΛ ΤΣΙΒ ΕΡΜΕ ΑΝΠΑ ΛΕΠΕ ΑΘΗΕ ΒΑΣΙ ΚΑΝΙ ΜΙΤΣ ΛΙΠΕ ΦΙΛΑ ΛΟΞΕ ΛΟΡ∆

114 252 71 936 175 000 182 725 285 713 13 416 38 750 60 250 8 200 90 804 45 000 35 000 48 006

0.34 0.43 0.34 0.17 0.27 0.35 0.17 0.35 1.03 0.10 0.17 0.35 0.35

114 320 27 336 22 400 31 429 14 571 4 186 5 231 7 893 4 920 3 541 4 275 3 360 2 496 245 958

1.75 3.04 0.45 0.26 0.27 4.39 0.33 0.68 3.50 0.09 0.12 1.69 0.56 1.32

0.16 0.13 0.28 0.67 0.19 0.07 0.41 0.19 0.17 0.44 0.78 0.06 0.09 0.28

6 217 11 604 15 818 3 173 8 578 4 996 21 119 9 433 3 088 7 085 3 000 201 5 408 2 881 11 250 7 314 6 261 1 234 20 642 5 751 35 911 2 096 7 290 810 5 280 6 967 39 239 627 4 760 1 874 11 000 447 956 18 587 2 158 12 036 4 371 1 971 7 118 7 778 1 568 149 15 875 464 29 710 773 57 750 1 547 18 012 5 816 2 729 1 980 2 557 3 991 6 825 386 3 175 414 200 75 000 555 249

0.90 0.06 0.51 0.04 0.52 0.02 0.73 0.29 0.77 0.51 0.25 0.46 0.44 0.09 0.75 0.65 0.12 0.36 1.66 7.84 1.82 0.49 0.23 0.35 0.76 0.06 0.05 0.20 0.79 2.47 0.62 0.07 0.12 3.71 0.48 0.74 0.3920 0.41 0.94 0.62 0.14 0.02 0.57 0.22 0.24 0.36 1.29 0.42 0.04 3.43 0.04 0.16 0.52 1.89 2.34 0.05 0.41 0.04 0.12 0.15 0.75

0.19 1.50 0.31 0.57 0.15 2.27 0.74 0.44 0.26 0.10 0.24 0.04 0.11 0.11 0.09 0.46 0.26 0.68 0.09 0.24 0.21 0.29 0.39 0.17 0.43 0.33 16.40 0.10 0.18 0.16 0.18 0.27 1.04 0.16 0.25 0.80 0.56 0.07 0.29 0.14 0.43 0.45 0.04 0.29 0.22 0.51 0.17 1.67 0.47 0.25 0.38 0.13 0.03 0.09 0.64 0.50 0.17 6.61 0.74

APC AD FBI PROP ANC AST ATL ACS BLUE CCCT CHAP CJ CLA CLL CBH CPIH CTO CYP CCC CFI CTC EXE DES DISP ELF ELMA EMP ERP EXIN PES KG KARA KARK KEO COS KRO ARI TRB LCH MPT MINE MSV NEM OPT PND PIPF PHL PGE PTL AGRO FRH ROY SAL SFS SHL STAR TOP COV UFI VIP

ΑΠΑΝ ΑΘΩΣ ΦΡΟΥ ΠΡΟΠ ΑΜΑΘ ΑΣΤΑ ΑΤΑΣ ΑΒΑΚ ΜΠΛΕ ΣΙΤΟ ΧΑΡΙ ΙΟΑΝ ΚΛΑΡ ΣΛΕΠ ΚΩΝΣ ΚΕΑΕ ΣΤΟ ΣΑΙΠ ΚΕΤΣ ∆ΒΚ∆ ΣΤΣ∆ ΒΕΝΤ ΝΤΙΜ ΝΤΙΑ ΕΛΛΗ ΕΛΕΠ ΕΜ ΓΙΟΥ ΕΞΕΠ ΦΙΛΟ ΚΚΟΜ ΚΑΡΚ ΚΕΟ ΚΟΣΑ ΚΡΟΝ ΤΖΕΠ ΤΡΑΝ ΛΕΠΤ ΜΑΠΑ ΜΙΝΕ ΜΟ∆Ε ΝΕΜΕ ΟΚΑΣ ΠΑΝ∆ ΠΙΠΗ ΛΙΝΑ ΠΙΕΡ ΠΤΕΛ ΑΓΡΟ ΡΕΝΟ ΡΟΧΑ ΣΑΛΑ ΕΣΕΦ ΣΤΑ∆ ΣΤΕΠ ΤΟΚΙ ΤΟΕΠ ΦΑΣΤ ΒΙΖΝ

36 572 128 936 98 861 158 660 107 226 99 925 39 109 72 562 15 438 141 692 50 000 10 070 108 163 288 141 160 714 24 379 208 700 5 140 137 611 3 059 92 079 14 973 80 999 13 506 16 000 348 333 47 853 31 344 34 000 4 805 100 000 22 343 7 967 30 978 17 985 20 400 62 446 8 571 101 683 43 211 78 415 14 900 61 056 46 355 424 435 9 660 87 500 22 100 300 194 3 590 272 915 33 000 36 529 66 520 32 500 38 581 12 212 20 700 9 988 75 000

0.35 0.17 0.26 0.09 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.17 0.43 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.08 0.35 0.17 0.87 0.43 0.43 1.73 0.85 0.43 0.09 0.35 0.62 0.09 0.87 0.09 0.29 0.87 0.17 0.34 0.35 0.43 0.31 0.43 0.20 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.17 0.14 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.17 1.73 0.03 0.17 0.43 1.00 0.69 0.17 0.34 0.03 0.05 $ 0.10

Profit/(Loss)

Book Value 2010 Times EUR ('000) Tιµή προς Κέρδη µετά λογιστ. αξ. φορολ.

6M 2011 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2011

6M 2012 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2012

Profit/(Loss)

2011 EUR ('000) Κέρδη µετά φορολ.

2010

3M '11

3M '12

2011

306 000 87 100 8 889 3 274 -10 243 -17 397 3 328 380 951

74 000 71 017 916 2 194 -17 892 1 039 346 131 620

295 000 54 819 8 063 2 400 -20 414 -3 103 -1 504 335 261

-1 371 000 -3 650 380 -100 658 3 585 -82 674 -6 894 -8 648 -5 216 669

2010

6M '11

6M '12

2011

8 848 1 310 6 309 4 108 -47 25 987 -1 903 -703 2 574 -8 419 -1 453 456 71 37 138

0

0

6 674 -1 174 245 4 122 -1 734 2 133 -1 600 -77 -947 -2 667 -1 333 759 -1 302 3 099

2010

6M '11

6M '12

2011

1 767 -3 960 4 363 -5 724 -1 339 -11 422 4 108 -2 203 257 -6 512 1 542 -622 -3 641 -7 007 440 -157 1 211 -1 031 -6 432 568 13 270 1 157 2 183 -380 575 -5 602 -504 -980 1 048 614 -1 668 -844 -738 -3 358 -760 969 -2 094 -501 -3 469 -1 746 -4 952 -594 5 981 -9 573 -9 238 313 8 617 11 -5 231 362 14 344 131 -9 983 1 165 -1 062 -181 -25 -43 -330 -62 896

-5 391

-16 719

-16

-133

-5 407

-16 852

373 -12 265 2 334 -2 594 -2 121 -6 400 2 306 -2 754 570 -3 519 -7 900 -375 -3 942 -7 654 -4 006 -65 -3 921 -513 -4 630 -4 127 5 693 1 104 1 604 -526 -257 -551 -212 -15 562 1 608 5 130 -2 198 -110 -3 948 -804 100 -1 392 -438 -6 299 1 345 -3 185 -281 2 076 -2 192 -16 880 -1 314 10 753 -868 -6 352 73 151 546 964 -19 100 1 577 -1 737 -689 11 -37 2 753 -110 647

P/E ratio 2011

Earnings Per

Dividend Per

Dividend Yield

Share

Share 2011 Cents

%

Results Cents

n/a n/a n/a 5.68 n/a n/a n/a 0.17

4.71 n/a 91.43 7.62 n/a 1.96 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 4.43 n/a 10.17

2012 Low High EUR EUR Aνώτατο Kατώτατο

Last Close EUR Kλείσιµο

Price 31/12/2011 EUR Tιµή 31/12/2011

31/12/2011 Ποσ. Μετ.

31/12/2011

% Change

since

385.85 134.85 365.45

119.93 45.57 116.68

127.85 48.96 155.94

295.94 104.60 196.84

-56.80 -53.19 -20.78

377.70 0.76 0.39 0.36 0.34 0.04 0.08 0.12

109.22 0.23 0.08 0.17 0.26 0.02 0.05 0.07

118.56 0.25 0.08 0.18 0.28 0.02 0.08 0.07

286.83 0.61 0.30 0.36 0.27 0.04 0.05 0.12

-58.67 -58.85 -73.06 -49.03 2.23 -40.54 47.06 -42.98

Cents -76.37 -226.58 -32.68 4.84 -17.95 -2.80 -10.68

Cents

%

2.50

9.09

Cents 5.84 -1.63 0.14 2.26 -0.61 15.90 -4.13 -0.13 -11.55 -2.94 -2.96 2.17 -2.71

Cents 5.80

% 21.09

704.24 0.34 0.57 0.17 0.20 0.07 1.10 0.18 0.14 0.65 0.05 0.10 0.12 0.07

573.74 0.27 0.35 0.13 0.16 0.05 0.31 0.13 0.10 0.58 0.03 0.09 0.08 0.05

573.74 0.28 0.38 0.13 0.17 0.05 0.31 0.14 0.13 0.60 0.04 0.10 0.10 0.05

656.6 0.32 0.35 0.167 0.18 0.06 1.00 0.18 0.11 0.63 0.05 0.10 0.08 0.06

-12.62 -13.79 10.14 -23.35 -3.91 -19.05 -68.80 -25.00 19.09 -4.76 -17.02 -3.06 15.66 -13.33

Cents 1.02 -9.51 2.36 -1.63 -1.98 -6.40 5.90 -3.80 3.69 -2.48 -15.80 -3.72 -3.64 -2.66 -2.49 -0.27 -1.88 -9.98 -3.36 -134.91 6.18 7.37 1.98 -3.89 -1.61 -1.15 -0.68 -45.77 33.47 5.13 -9.84 -1.38 -12.74 -4.47 0.49 -2.23 -5.11 -6.19 3.11 -4.06 -1.89 3.40 -4.73 -3.98 -13.60 12.29 -3.93 -2.12 2.03 0.06 1.65 2.64 -28.71 4.85 -4.50 -5.64 0.05 -0.37 3.67

Cents

%

740.44

665.96

0.91

5.69

7.00

12.96

1.20

6.00

8.50

12.88

2.00

9.52

669.57 0.17 0.09 0.16 0.02 0.08 0.05 0.54 0.13 0.20 0.05 0.06 0.02 0.05 0.01 0.07 0.30 0.03 0.24 0.15 1.88 0.39 0.14 0.09 0.06 0.33 0.02 0.82 0.02 0.14 0.39 0.11 0.02 0.12 0.60 0.12 0.59 0.07 0.23 0.07 0.18 0.02 0.01 0.26 0.01 0.07 0.08 0.66 0.07 0.06 1.62 0.01 0.06 0.07 0.06 0.21 0.01 0.26 0.02 0.02 1.00

738.87 0.17 0.11 0.16 0.02 0.10 0.05 0.83 0.16 0.21 0.07 0.06 0.02 0.05 0.01 0.09 0.31 0.05 0.32 0.18 3.20 0.32 0.17 0.09 0.06 0.38 0.02 0.62 0.03 0.15 0.48 0.12 0.03 0.14 0.70 0.09 0.65 0.09 0.23 0.08 0.19 0.04 0.01 0.21 0.01 0.11 0.08 0.52 0.06 0.06 1.62 0.01 0.08 0.09 0.10 0.23 0.01 0.26 0.02 0.02 1.00

-9.38 0.00 -18.18 0.00 0.00 -20.00 0.00 -34.94 -18.75 -4.76 -28.57 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -22.22 -3.23 -40.00 -25.00 -16.67 -41.25 21.88 -17.65 0.00 0.00 -13.16 0.00 32.26 -33.33 -6.67 -18.75 -8.33 -33.33 -14.29 -14.29 33.33 -9.23 -22.22 0.00 -12.50 -5.26 -50.00 0.00 23.81 0.00 -36.36 0.00 26.92 16.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 -25.00 -22.22 -40.00 -8.70 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

CSE PRICES | 31 CSE CODE OASIS

ΟΑΣΗΣ

Kωδ.

APPROVED INVESTMENTS / EΠEN∆YTIKOI OPΓAN. INVESTMENT INDEX ACTIBOND GROWTH FUND ACT ΑΚΕΠ APOLLO INVESTMENT FUND APOL ΑΠΕΠ CONF ΚΟΕΠ FINIKAS AMMOCHOSTOU CYTR ΣΑΕΠ CYTRUSTEES INV. PUBLIC CO DEMETRA INV. PUBLIC CO. DEM ∆ΗΕΠ DODONI PORTFOLIO DOD ∆ΩΕΠ HARVEST CAPITAL HCM ΧΑΕΠ INTERFUND INVESTMENTS INF ΙΝΕΠ ISCHIS INVESTMENT ISXI ΙΣΕΠ REGALLIA HOLD. & INV. REG ΡΕΕΠ TINC ΤΕΕΠ TRIENA INV. INCOME TCAP ΤΚΕΠ TRIENA INV. CAPITAL TINT Τ∆ΕΠ TRIENA INTERNATIONAL UNIGROWTH INVESTMENTS UNI ΓΙΕΠ SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO SHIPPING COMPANIES SECTOR SPECIAL CATEGORY / AIANTAS INVESTMENTS A. ZORBAS & SONS CEILFLOOR CYPRUS AIRWAYS D.H. CYPROTELS D&M TELEMARKETING DOME INVESTMENTS EFREMICO HOLDINGS KARYES INVESTMENTS KNOSSOS INV. K. KYTHREOTIS HOLDINGS LASER INVESTMENT GROUP LIBRA GROUP OCEAN TANKERS ROLANDOS ENTERPRISES SAFS HOLDINGS SEA STAR CAPITAL SUPHIRE HOLDINGS USB BANK WOODLAND DESIGNS PLC SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO

Number

Nominal

Market

Book Value

Shares ('000) Aριθµός µετοχών

Value euro Aξία EUR

Cap. ('000) Kεφαλ.

EUR

Per Share euro Λογιστική αξία

Price to

Profit/(Loss)

2010 Book Value Times EUR ('000) Tιµή προς Κέρδη µετά λογιστ. αξ. φορολ.

NAV

Disc/Prem

0.0379 0.2721 0.0048 0.2741 0.7502 0.0174 0.0674 0.1633 0.0734 0.0320 1.0430 2.1427 0.6125 0.2500

-47.23 -63.25 316.67 -63.52 -70.67 -42.53 33.53 -63.26 -45.50 -37.50 -23.30 -6.66 -2.04 16.00

2010 58 430 56 582 49 385 44 494 200 000 282 483 14 000 56 545 11 000 20 247 2 729 2 729 1 364 13 468

0.17 0.34 0.10 0.30 0.87 0.02 0.17 0.51 0.51 0.09 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.17

1 169 5 658 988 4 449 44 000 2 825 1 260 3 393 440 405 2 183 5 458 818 3 906 76 952

6M 2011 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2011

6M 2012 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2012

2011 EUR ('000) Κέρδη µετά φορολ.

6M '11

6M '12

2011

0

0

-737 -4 301 -1 465 -10 771 -14 687 -6 357 -255 -9 493 -165 -150 331 -136 -36 -303 -48 525

6M '11

6M '12

-760 -3 213 -2 533 -10 875 -15 581 -5 227 -6 -12 850 -112 -195 389 -446 -7 -127 -51 543

2010 AIAS ZRP CFL CAIR DHH TLM DOME EFR KAR KNO KYTH LAS LHG OCT ROL SAFS SEAS SUP USB WOOD

ΑΙΕΠ ΖΟΡΠ ΣΙΦΛ ΚΑΕΡ ∆ΡΟΥ ΤΕΛΕ ΝΤΟ∆ ΕΦΡΕ ΚΑΕΠ ΚΝΕΠ ΚΥΘΡ ΛΕΕΠ ΛΙΠΡ ΤΑΝΚ ΡΟΛΑ ΣΑΦΣ ΣΕΑΣ ΣΑΠΦ ΤΡΑΓ ΓΟΥΤ

81 202 15 296 5 055 391 155 157 138 7 700 25 000 11 385 2 000 21 827 42 450 61 739 189 377 296 665 54 166 70 220 629 785 124 009 60 674 13 000

0.21 0.34 0.03 0.086 0.17 0.12 0.43 0.43 0.43 0.17 0.17 0.06 0.01 $0.20 0.17 0.17 0.04 0.09 0.57 0.17

812 9 178 202 23 469 1 571 385 16 250 228 540 218 5 519 8 643 1 894 5 933 5 417 702 6 298 1 240 36 404 83 330 208 234

0.1769 2.40 -0.61 -0.06 -0.20 -0.01 1.35 0.086 0.2224 0.11 0.45 0.06 -0.38 -0.27 0.29 0.000 -0.04 -0.1180 0.53 0.13

-94.35 0.25 -0.07 -1.05 -0.05 -5.00 0.48 0.23 1.21 0.09 0.29 2.47 -0.03 -0.07 0.35 33.33 -0.26 -0.08 1.14 50.55

1 777 095

MARKET TOTAL / OΛIKO AΓOPAΣ

P/E ratio 2011

Earnings Per

Dividend Per

Dividend Yield

Share

Share 2011 Cents

%

Cents

%

11.00

13.75

Results Cents

Cents -1.26 -7.60 -2.97 -24.21 -7.34 -2.25 -1.82 -16.79 -1.50 -0.74 12.13 -4.98 -2.64 -2.25

2012 High Low EUR EUR Aνώτατο Kατώτατο

529.63

441.63

0.80

0.46

0.06

0.03

Last Close EUR Kλείσιµο

Price 31/12/2011 EUR Tιµή 31/12/2011

31/12/2011 Ποσ. Μετ.

31/12/2011

536.00 0.02 0.10 0.02 0.10 0.22 0.01 0.09 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.80 2.00 0.60 0.29

454.51 0.02 0.09 0.03 0.14 0.19 0.01 0.10 0.10 0.04 0.02 0.80 2.00 0.60 0.25

17.93 0.00 11.11 -33.33 -28.57 15.79 0.00 -10.00 -40.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 16.00

0.01 0.60 0.04 0.06 0.01 0.05 0.65 0.02 0.27 0.01 0.13 0.14 0.01 0.02 0.10 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.60 6.41

0.01 0.65 0.04 0.06 0.01 0.05 0.65 0.02 0.27 0.01 0.13 0.14 0.01 0.02 0.10 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.60 6.41

-7.41 0.00 -

% Change

since

0.00

2011

-214 1 846 -1 353 232 -31 800 -335 -1 938 221 -180 774 999 -2 378 -7 100 -50 257 93 -173 -50 598 -764 -6 534 -916 -150 375 153 275

Profit/(Loss)

`

-4 033

-4 345

-2 708

-2 452

-6 741

-6 797

-27 989 -1 856 -18 954 -9 100 -245 -701 35 -180 87 612 -2 656 -11 700 -32 272 -328 -320 -16 501 -60 -6 248 -4 062 -103 487

119 472

311 612

-5 476 229

9.28

-0.03 6.47 -36.72 -4.85 -5.79 -3.18 -2.80 0.31 -9.00 0.40 1.44 -4.30 -6.18 -10.88 -0.61 -0.46 -2.62 -0.05 -10.30 -31.25

source: Eurivex Ltd. NAV: Net Asset Value

PAT:Profit After Tax

Bold: Final results

EPS: Earnings per Share based on existing number of shares.

P/E: Price to Earnings ratio. Weighted P/E ratio: Calculated based on market cap weighting of profit reporting companies, Book Value: According to our estimates. N/A Indicates Not Applicable, Price 31/12/2009 is the closing price or in case of New Listings the opening price.

EMERGING MARKET (N.E.A.) FOCUS FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSTANTINOU BROS PROPERTIES CYPRUS LIMNI RESORTS & GOLF PHONE MARKETING S.A. ITTL TRADE TOURIST & LEISURE INT'L LIFE GENERAL INSURANCE SA ORCA INVESTMENT PLC P.C. SPLASH WATER PUBLIC CO. WARGAMING PUBLIC CO. ECHMI S.A. INVESTMENT CONSULTANTS EPILEKTOS ENERGY S.A. KERVERUS IT (CYPRUS) LTD C.O. CYPRUS OPPORTUNITY ENERGY TOTAL

CSE Code EXTE/EXTE ΚΩΑΜ/CBAM ΛΙΜΝΗ/LIMNI PHONE/PHONE ΙΤΤΛ/ITTL INLE ΟΡΚΑ/ORCA ΠΚΣΓ/PCSW ΓΚ/WG EXMI/ΕΗΜΙ ΕΠΙΕΝ/EPIEN ΚΕΡΒ/KERV ΓΚΑΖ/GAS

No. of Shares (000) 1 690 1 950 300 000 1 575 100 000 8 057 1 200 35 052 3 400 321 10 906 1 810 8390

Market Cap EUR (000) 11 830 36 855 300 000 5 513 75 000 21 834 14 280 42 062 3 400 1 611 43 624 2 407 10 488 568 905

Latest price EUR 7.00 18.90 1.00 3.50 0.75 2.71 11.90 1.20 1.00 5.02 4.00 1.33 1.25

Nominal Value EUR 0.30 0.01 0.10 0.30 0.50 1.00 0.01 0.25 0.10 1.00 0.32 1.00 0.01

Listing Date 29/3/10 29/3/10 29/3/10 29/3/10 06/8/10 21/7/11 10/9/10 10/10/11 2/11/11 10/04/12 28/06/12 29/06/12 17/07/12

WARRANTS EUROPROFIT (WAR. 2005/2012) ALKIS HADJ. FROU-FROU (WAR. 2015) AMATHUS NAVIGATION (WAR.07-2013) UNIGROWTH INV (WAR.10/12) TOTAL EMERGING MARKET (N.E.A.) GreenTea SA

Ignores weighted number of shares in circulation Forecasted profits are liable to change without notice and responsibility

No. of warrants (000) 893 24831 17606 2218

Mkt Cap (00) 1 25 176 22 224

CSE Code No. of Bonds

Exercise Period

Exercise Price euro cents

Expiry Date

41212 20-30 Jun 2001-2015 1-15 May & 1-15 Nov 07-13 1-15 Nov 2010 and 2012

8.67 173 20c or EUR 35c 29

30-10-2012 30-06-2005 15-11-2013 15/11/2012

Latest Close 0.001 0.001 0.010 0.010

GRTEA

1 040

Market Cap EUR 104 000 000

Latest price EUR 100 000

Listing Date 8 Nov 2011

Latest NAV N/A

Kappasquare Ltd Nugreat Ltd Zetadynamic Ltd

KPSQ NGRT ZETA

17 000 23 000 9 000

1 700 000 2 300 000 900 000

100 100 100

30 Mar 2012 30 Mar 2012 30 Mar 2012

N/A N/A N/A

Akcern Ltd

AKCN

2 001

200 100

100

9 May 2012

N/A

DISCLAIMER: The information, comments, analyses and financial data published in this newspaper were obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but their accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed and may change without notice. Any of the information or opinions published herein should not be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell investments.

No liability is accepted whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this publication.

FinancialMirror.com

July 18 - 24, 2012

32 | BACK PAGE

World watches Bernanke as Ben eyes euro GLOBAL ECONOMY WEEKAHEAD Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke serves up a new set of clues this week that might help solve one of the thorniest riddles for the world economy: what will it take to make the U.S. central bank ease monetary policy further?

Bernanke will present his semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress against a background of lacklustre growth at home and a festering sovereign debt crisis in Europe that is increasingly preoccupying U.S. policymakers.

But investors will be lucky if Bernanke goes much further than the minutes released last week of the Fed’s June 19-20 policy meeting. The central bank kept open the option of a third round of outright bond purchases, or quantitative easing (QE) in market jargon, if the economy took a marked turn for the worse, but appeared to set a high bar for such aggressive action.

“Right now the economic numbers are very mixed so I don’t think Bernanke can make a clear, compelling commitment on QE at the current time,” said David Hale, who runs a global economics consultancy in Winnetka, Illinois.

Growth might have been as soft as 1.5% in the second quarter, Hale said. But he also pointed to falling unemployment claims in recent weeks as well as a bounceback in auto sales and durable goods. Some forecasters were penciling in a pickup in growth this quarter to an annual rate of 2.5% or 3.0%, he noted.

“So the situation is far too unclear,” Hale said. “I think all he’ll do is keep his options open and see what the economy looks like in September.”

This week’s batch of U.S. economic data is unlikely to tip the scales one way or the other.

The first regional industry surveys for July, from New York and Philadelphia, are forecast to show a modest improvement; retail sales for June are expected to have edged up 0.1% on the month; headline inflation in the year to June probably ticked

down to 1.6% but economists see no deflationary risk that could push the Fed off the fence.

If the economy does stumble or market confidence collapses, the Fed’s initial response is likely be to indicate that interest rates, now expected to stay close to zero at least through late 2014, will remain exceptionally low for even longer.

Vince Reinhart, Morgan Stanley’s chief U.S. economist, believes the Fed’s decision last month to buy an additional $267 bln in long-term bonds with proceeds from short-term debt - a measure known as Operation Twist - effectively puts the central bank’s balance sheet on auto-pilot for the rest of the year.

“We think their first recourse will be to tweak their language about interest rates. From their perspective, a modest disappointment requires, at most, a modest policy response,” Reinhart, a former senior Fed staffer himself, said in a note to clients.

EURO ZONE WOES The wild card is the crisis enveloping the euro zone.

Speaking in London last week, St Louis Fed President James Bullard listed a number of domestic impediments to U.S.

growth. “But even more pressing is the situation in Europe.

The crisis is contributing to recession, adding a dragging factor on U.S. and Asian performance. There is a financial sector dimension which periodically threatens to expand into a more generalised financial crisis,” Bullard said.

After Italy successfully navigated a bond auction on Friday despite a two-notch credit rating downgrade from Moody’s Investors Service, the next such financial test of the euro zone comes on Thursday when Spain is due to tap the bond market.

Thanks to an agreement in principle to bail out Spanish banks to the tune of up to 100 bln euros without adding to the state’s debt, yields on 10-year Spanish bonds have fallen back from the 7% level widely deemed to be unsustainable.

Euro zone finance ministers will gather on Friday to put flesh on the bones of the Spanish deal, clinched in return for a further 65 bln euros in tax increases and spending cuts announced by Madrid last week.

Confirmation by ministers that the euro zone’s rescue fund would not be paid out ahead of other creditors should Spain default would be a relief for bond investors.

The losses imposed on private owners of Greek debt, while the official sector was spared, has accelerated a flight from the bonds of other heavily indebted countries such as Italy and Spain.

But many questions are likely to linger about the plan to help Spain, not least because the bailout is linked to plans for euro zone-wide supervision of the 17-nation area’s biggest banks - a politically and technically fraught undertaking that will take months of preparation.

Gianluca Ziglio, an interest rate strategist at UBS, said the bank rescue was positive because Spain was relying on domestic buyers to refinance its debts.

“If you underpin your banks you are able to buy time. But in my view it will be just buying time. It’s difficult to see how Spain can actually avoid a full-blown bailout,” he said.

And, as Ben Bernanke knows all too well, that could touch off a financial tsunami that would hit economies far beyond Europe’s shores.