Remy Cointreau, which makes Piper-Heidsieck champagne, said sales of champagne rose 23 percent to 16.7 million euros ($21.3m) in its fiscal first quarter to June 30. Vranken-Pommery said sales rose 52 percent to 66 million in the quarter. “Because of the crisis, consumers temporarily switched to cheaper brands. This phenomenon is now receding. We’re seeing a move back to the major brands and cuvees de prestige,” Vranken-Pommery Chairman Paul-Francois Vranken said. Vranken-Pommery said it was optimistic about all of its champagne brands for the rest of the year, adding that the first half had seen “an end to the crisis for champagne”...
In an updated report on GCC member states the IMF urged countries to prepare exit strategies from the current high spending levels but not to implement them until economic conditions were right. The IMF revised up its growth forecast for non-oil growth for GCC states to 4.3 percent, higher than the 4.0 percent it forecast in May. GCC states include Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. The IMF said challenges in the financial sector in GCC states may restrain growth in the short-term but those problems remain manageable and should not undermine long-term prospects. It said banks’ capital adequacy ratios “remain strong and th...
The IMF should be realistic when considering a deficit target for Hungary for 2011, ruling Fidesz party vice chairman Lajos Kosa has told public television m1. When asked in an interview whether lenders’ expectations for Hungary to cut its deficit to 2.8 percent of GDP next year from a target of 3.8 percent in 2010 was too strict, Kosa said: “It is obvious that Hungary’s situation is one of the most difficult of all member states in European Union. In such a situation, expecting us to run the lowest deficit …. they can say that, but this will not work. “The IMF must be mindful to remain grounded in realities.” A review of Hungary...
But reforming labour markets, one obvious way to help narrow the gap with other emerging economies, will not be easy given the political clout of a union movement that was instrumental in bringing an end to white-minority rule in the 1990s. “You need a much more flexible labour force but the unions are still very powerful,” Mthuli Ncube, chief economist at the African Development Bank, said. “How do you tell the unions, ‘Don’t ask for more wages, don’t unionise?’ They’re such a big political and social force. I don’t know how you deal with that.” Similarly, boosting the export sector by weakening the rand, a proposal endor...
The South American nation, which saw exports rise 25 percent year-on-year in May, responded to the global financial crisis by limiting imports of shoes, fresh fruit and other goods that it also produces. The curbs, designed to protect jobs and boost local production, range from administrative delays at borders and in customs to anti-dumping penalties on goods such as steel products and textiles. China has stopped buying Argentine soy oil in response to the restrictions. Separate complaints from the EU at the World Trade Organisation and from Brazil, the top destination for Argentine exports, have raised concerns that Argentina’s protectioni...
Asia’s largest sovereign issuer of offshore bonds may post its second successive record budget deficit this year, and the key factor that will determine how markets react to the election result will be whether the winning candidate tackles the fiscal situation with sufficient urgency and resolve. Most analysts say markets should not be too ruffled in the meantime if candidates pledge not to raise taxes or impose new revenue measures. Such promises are highly unlikely to be kept. “Any candidate who … promises no new taxes is going to eat his words,” said an economist at a large local bank. “It’s going to happen, otherwise we could ...
A 44-week streak of inflows to funds investing in emerging and frontier equities in Africa has ended while inflows to South Africa have risen, fund tracker EPFR Global said. EPFR Global had recorded net inflows of over $480m to African regional funds in the first half of the year, an indication of investor appetite for the fast-growing continent. But the fund tracker said that the long stretch of inflows ended in the week ending July 14. “Flows into (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Equity Funds were, for once, not driven by investor interest in the commodities story of Russia and Africa, with Africa Regional Equity Funds seeing their 44-wee...
Moody’s has downgraded Ireland’s sovereign bond rating by one notch to Aa2, citing weaker growth prospects and the high costs of rebuilding the country’s crisis-hit banking system. The rating agency, which cut Ireland from Aa1, said the outlook was stable. The move, which put Moody’s on par with rival agency Standard and Poor’s AA rating and still one notch above Fitch, comes a day before Ireland plans to sell bonds worth between Ä1bn and Ä1.5bn at its regular monthly auction. “Today’s downgrade is primarily driven by the Irish government’s gradual but significant loss of financial strength, as reflected by its deteriorating...
Agricultural Bank of China’s $19.3bn IPO crossed the finish line on July 16 after a hectic three-month sprint, notching up modest gains in its Hong Kong debut amid concerns about valuations and glut of bank share sales. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China both soared 15 percent on their Hong Kong openings after listing in 2006. Founded in 1951 by Mao Zedong as the rural unit of the central bank, AgBank is the last of China’s “Big Four” state-owned lenders to list its shares. “Even though the response from the retail side was a bit disappointing, it was well received by institutions, so this was expected,” ...
The tarnished Alan GreenspanArchitect of the now much-derided “Greenspan put”, he protected the US economy from the collapse of the dotcom stock market bubble by dropping official interest rates. However that action is also seen as fuelling the risk-taking that preceded the most severe financial meltdown in 75 years. The global Jeffrey WilliamsonAn authority on globalisation this Harvard economics professor argues that the upheavals were much bigger in the 50 years between 1820-1870 than they are today. Back then, globalisation was triggered by migration, colonial expansion, and rapid industrialisation. In short, not that much different...