Euro zone yields hit lows: Is ECB trumping reality?

It's hard to believe it's just a few years since countries like Ireland and Spain had to go cap-in-hand to international lenders - at least if you look at their bond yields.

Ireland to close ‘double Irish’ tax loophole

Apple and other multinationals based in Ireland are to be given a four-year window before the phasing out of a scheme that cuts their tax bills.

Irish GDP revision eases debt target

Research and development (R&D) costs and illegal activities have been added into Ireland's GDP for the first time, enlarging the economy by 10bn euros ($13.6bn; £7.9bn).

Irish finance minister says new EU calculation could add over 1 percent to GDP

(Reuters) - New EU rules on calculating economic output could boost Ireland's gross domestic product by over 1 percent and mean a little less austerity next year, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said on Wednesday.

In landmark for EU, Ireland leaves its bailout behind

DUBLIN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Three years after going cap in hand to international lenders to avert bankruptcy, Ireland has officially ended its bailout in a landmark for the euro zone's efforts to resolve its debt crisis.

ECB's Asmussen says Ireland should stick to austerity target

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland should not ease up on austerity in its annual budget next month but stick to a target of 3.1 billion euros ($4.2 billion) worth of spending cuts and tax hikes, European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said on Saturday.

The Euro Zone Crisis Is Back - on Multiple Fronts

Europe's finance ministers meeting in Dublin on Friday are facing a renewed crisis on multiple fronts,with a backlash against austerity acting as a gloomy backdrop for negotiations over bailout extensions for Portugal and Ireland, while tackling Cyprus's botched bailout and growing worries about Slovenia.

UK services sector slows to 22-month low

Growth in the UK services sector grew in October, but the pace has slowed to an almost two-year low, according to "disappointing" official data.

In Euro Crisis, Fingers Can Point in All Directions

FRANKFURT — The debate about how to distribute the cost of preserving the euro often centers on a fundamental question that is unspoken but implicit: Who caused this crisis anyway?

Debt crisis: Ireland hails euro 'game changer'

Ireland claimed that a deal struck at a summit of eurozone leaders was a “game changer” for the country which would help it escape a second bailout.

EU, IMF: Ireland on track with deficit cuts

DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland is successfully cutting its deficits, bolstering its banks and pursuing job-creation strategies, its international bailout creditors said Thursday as they signaled support for a further round of loans.

Euro-Area Ministers to Decide This Week on Future of Firewall

Euro-area finance ministers will meet in Copenhagen on March 30 to weigh whether to expand the 17-nation region’s financial crisis firewall. At stake is the future of the region’s two rescue funds, the temporary European Financial Stability Facility and its permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism.

EU says Ireland may need to revise budget

(Reuters) - Ireland may need to make further changes to its budget this year if the economy continues to deteriorate, the European Commission said on Wednesday in a draft of a report obtained by Reuters.

Crisis-hit Ireland backs Lagarde to lead IMF

Ireland, whose economy has been among the worst hit by the global financial crisis, yesterday threw its support behind French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to become the next director of the International Monetary Fund.

The move comes as something of a surprise, given French-Irish tensions over the terms of Ireland's EU-IMF bailout.

Ireland's support adds to the growing European momentum for Lagarde to succeed her countryman Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who quit last week after he was accused of attempting to rape a New York hotel maid.

Lagarde called a Paris press conference for today, amid increasing speculation that she will formally announce her candidacy.

However, the representatives of major developing nations on the IMF's board issued a joint statement yesterday urging the lending agency to abandon the practice of always choosing a European to head the IMF.

The decision on the next IMF leader will be made by the 24-member executive board, whose officials represent the 187 IMF member countries.

The executive directors representing Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa said they wanted to see the election of the next IMF chief be "truly transparent" and merit-based.

"This requires abandoning the obsolete unwritten practice of convention that requires that the head of the IMF be necessarily from Europe," the five executive directors from developing nations said. In the IMF's history, it has always been headed by a European while an American has always been head of the World Bank.

"We feel it is outrageous to have the post reserved for a European," said Nogueira Batista, IMF executive director from Brazil and one signatory of the joint statement. "We want it to be a truly open process, not just in words, but in reality."

Batista said his country and the other nations who joined in the statement have not picked a candidate yet. He said they will be watching to see the candidates emerge during the nomination process over the next three weeks.

The top three candidates in terms of the support they receive from the IMF board will go into a final round of interviews with the IMF board. The IMF has said it hopes to have the job filled by the end of June.

"We hope to have a managing director selected who is the best person for the job irrespective of nationality," Batista said.

Licinda Creighton, Ireland's minister for European affairs, said she believed that Lagarde would be an "excellent candidate, she's eminently qualified, and if she's nominated we're likely to support her."

Ireland's influence on the choice of the next IMF chief is limited, but European heavyweights including Germany and Britain have already backed Lagarde, making her the European frontrunner for a job she has yet to declare any interest in.

French government spokesman Francois Baroin said China is "favourable" to Lagarde's candidacy to run the IMF, which provides billions in loans to stabilise the world economy.

China's endorsement would provide a big boost to Lagarde. However China's IMF executive director signed the joint statement issued by major developing countries.

The head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Angel Gurria, said choosing a woman to lead the Washington-based fund would benefit diversity.

"That certainly is welcome," he said. The IMF has never had a woman managing director.

"Madame Lagarde herself would be the first one to say it is not a question of simply because you are a woman," Gurria said. "But if it's a formidable woman like she is, well of course then you're talking business."

Gurria, a former Mexican finance minister whose name has also been mentioned in connection with the post, played down suggestions he might run if nominated.

"When you're talking about merit, it's difficult to find somebody with more merit [than Lagarde]," he said। "The Europeans have clearly picked their best and the brightest."

www.nzherald.co.nz

Five ways to solve the eurozone crisis

Myths and misinformation feed in to a general lack of ideas about how to save the eurozone

The crisis of the eurozone seems to be going from bad to worse. Not only have the key players not yet found convincing solutions for the fiscal problems in Greece, Ireland and Portugal but we are already witnessing the beginning of a political backlash that could undermine the achievements of decades of European integration. There is generally a lack of ideas about what needs to be done to turn things around so here are my suggestions:

Eurozone crisis as Ireland's credit rating cut again over economy

The crisis in the eurozone deepened yesterday as Ireland’s credit rating was cut to just one rung above ‘junk’ status.

One of the world’s biggest ratings agencies cut Dublin’s status by two grades and warned further reductions may follow – potentially barring investors from buying Irish government bonds should the rating fall further.

Ireland’s taxpayers must share the pain

The principle of “no taxation without representation” should work both ways. If taxpayers have the right to share in decision-making, they must also accept the consequences. But in Europe this relationship between taxpayers and the financial system is not working.

One way to end Irish crisis — let banks go bust

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Missing in the 88 pages the Central Bank of Ireland has produced in determining that the Irish banking system is undercapitalized by some $34 billion (24 billion euros) is a different way to end the euro-zone nation’s financial crisis.

It’s an elegant and simple solution, and one that could prove cheaper: Let all the banks collapse.

Ireland tax battle adds layer to euro debt crisis

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Ireland’s low corporate tax rate isn’t responsible for Europe’s debt woes, but a battle over the levy is adding yet another layer of uncertainty to the euro-zone’s long-running sovereign debt crisis.

The Irish 10-year government bond yield pushed above 10% Thursday, while short-term two-year yields also traded near double digits, underlining fears that the 85 billion euro ($120.1 billion) European Union-International Monetary Fund bailout provided last autumn won’t be enough to ensure Dublin avoids default.