Category Archives: EU

India’s trade and investment deal with the EU

India recently held further talks with the EU on a planned trade and investment pact, the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA). After fourteen gruelling rounds of negotiations, both participants are looking for a resolution soon. However, the finalisation of … Continue reading

Posted in EU, India, Investment, trade | Leave a comment

Jobs – Two Speed Europe emerges

Jobs are not being lost everywhere in Europe. In the midst of Europe’s debt-induced recession woes, it is interesting to note the vastly different labour market experience of individual European economies since late 2007. The two charts below illustrate this … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Employment, EU, Euro area, Labour, Unemployment | 2 Comments

The UK’s inflation problem – rates compared internationally

It’s no wonder that British consumers are feeling pain from higher prices and that questions are being asked about the appetite of policy makers to control inflation. Just look at these charts. In 2008, the inflation rate in the UK … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, EU, Inflation, OECD, UK | Leave a comment

Long-Term Bond Yields and Credit Ratings

It’s been another tricky week for those in sovereign credit markets. On Tuesday, independent debt-rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded the credit ratings for Portugal and Greece. Greece’s debt rating fell by two notches to BB- and Portugal’s by … Continue reading

Posted in Debt, Economics, EU, Euro area, Germany, UK | Leave a comment

German labour market – records set, no recession

Labour market figures released yesterday by Destatis, the German Statistics Office, showed the country continuing to grow with record employment (post-reunification) and the lowest unemployment for nearly 20 years. The charts below show the positive trends and how the country … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Employment, EU, Euro area, Germany, Unemployment | Leave a comment