Greece makes IMF payment but reverses reforms

Greece’s left-wing Syriza government has paid 200 million euros back to the IMF but has also reversed a number of reforms demanded by its international creditors.

They include the rehiring of 13,000 civil servants, and scraps their annual reviews and promotion-on-merit schemes.

Municipal police forces will be revived and several thousand school caretakers will return to work.

Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis may be unpopular in the eurogroup for insisting on getting a better deal for Greece, but his cleaning staff will love him. Almost 600 women cleaners sacked by the finance ministry as a cost-cutting measure get their jobs back next month after protesting in front of the ministry for most of the last year.

Eurogroup meetings come and go yet there’s no sign a deal is in sight on Greece’s debt, as the repayment deadlines keep on coming.

“On May 12 Greece must pay a further 750 million euros to the IMF. But as cash-strapped Athens is quickly running out of money, the Greek government is resting its hopes on a deal with its creditors at next Monday’s Eurogroup meeting. But, this is in spite of the fact that the messages coming from Brussels are for now at least, not very encouraging,” says euronews’ Stamatis Giannisis.

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London market slips back on hung parliament fears

Fears of an indecisive result in Britain’s general election and a weak government hurt shares in London and helped the European markets down.

A late poll after voting began suggested a late Labour surge with them neck and neck with the Conservatives, but Britain’s worries had no effect on the euro, which rose to a two-month high against the dollar since its 12-year low in March.

Businesses have expressed concern that Britain may be about to leave the EU and lose Scotland, leaving the world’s fifth-largest economy in unknown territory. The FTSE index is now more than 300 points shy of its all-time April high.

Sterling ticked a little lower and the currency is stable, but the wrong result could send the foreign exchange market into a tizzy.

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Record April fall for Spanish unemployment

April saw the sharpest fall for the month on record in Spain’s crippling unemployment, by 2.7% , with nearly 119,000 people finding jobs.

Services took nearly two thirds of the growth, while the construction and industry sectors were also hiring.

However the unemployment rate still stood at 23.8% for the first quarter.

The number of people paying into the social security system also rose by its highest monthly figure, to a shade under 17 million.

The figures appear to confirm Spain’s strengthening growth, the fastest in the EU, which the government claims will create two million jobs by 2018.

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Services with a smile prop up UK growth

Britain’s services sector came to the rescue in April, with growth there suggesting there is further growth out there in the wider economy.

It also suggests the Q1 figures may need revising as they were far more pessimistic about GDP in particular.

Surveyors Markit/CIPS said the April numbers pointed to “robust growth momentum”, and that the weak start to the year was over.

However that upswing in purchasing managers’ confidence was not reflected in the construction and manufacturing sectors, which both weakened and were showing “warning lights flashing about the sustainability of growth.”

The latest figures confirm investment spending remains weak, and that the economy as a whole has become services-heavy. It, along with consumer spending, are increasingly the sole agents of growth.

Productivity is flatlining, so any slowing in growth will immediately create fiscal pressure and hit living standards.

Also on Wednesday the National Institute for Economic and Social Research lowered its growth forecast for economic growth this year to 2.5 per cent, down from the 2.9 per cent it forecast in February.

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Siemens to slash 4500 jobs

More jobs are to go at Siemens after the German industrial giant
posted a larger-than-expected drop in quarterly profits.

Siemens says its digital factory unit underperformed, compounding problems in the energy division.

Four thousand five hundred jobs are to go, with half in Germany, or 1% of the global workforce, many from the gas turbines business which has been hit by poor demand and price erosion. The company’s sprawling portfolio also contains other loss-making divisions.

Analysts say Siemens will struggle to raise industrial margins to 10-11% in the short term.

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UK economy: whats behind these royal figures?

In this edition of Business Line we take a closer look at the UK’s economy and its key components.
Why does the OECD say the country’s growth rate is the highest in the G7 leading nations? To answer this question we focus on the UK GDP growth, the country’s unemployment data and inflation figures.
We also speak to Euronews’ Sarah Chappell in London to find out people’s hopes and fears.
Finally, in our IT-dedicated segment, we’ll explore the consequences of expansive monetary policies on computer prices. Believe it or not, the QE has had in impact on the PC

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