The Latvian government has agreed to slash pensions and state sector salaries in a bid to keep the country afloat financially. Riga must cut costs to qualify for more financial aid from the EU and the IMF. Latvia's prime minister says last-minute state budget cuts have saved his country from bankruptcy. The country is seeking to avert the possible devaluation of its struggling currency, and it needs to reduce budget shortfalls in order to qualify for crucial financial aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The country has been particularly hard hit by the current recession, and is facing an economic contraction of up to 20 percent this year. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis described the decision to slash 500 million lats ($1 billion) from budget expenses as "very difficult", but necessary if Latvia wants to receive the next installment in a 7.5 billion euro ($10.6 billion) bailout plan which was inked in December.
Latvia's prime minister says last-minute state budget cuts have saved his country from bankruptcy. The country is seeking to avert the possible devaluation of its struggling currency, and it needs to reduce budget shortfalls in order to qualify for crucial financial aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
The country has been particularly hard hit by the current recession, and is facing an economic contraction of up to 20 percent this year.
Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis described the decision to slash 500 million lats ($1 billion) from budget expenses as "very difficult", but necessary if Latvia wants to receive the next installment in a 7.5 billion euro ($10.6 billion) bailout plan which was inked in December.
The economic crisis is rattling the aviation sector and no company has been left unscathed. Airline profits are suffering while orders for new planes are down. There's no telling when turbulence might end. It sounds like something of a pipedream. Randy Tinseth, marketing manager at Boeing forecasts that despite the plethora of current problems: "We will see our industry grow," he says at the end of the telephone conference call. Aviation remains "a highly valued and integral part of the social and economic fabric of the world," he says.
The economic crisis is rattling the aviation sector and no company has been left unscathed. Airline profits are suffering while orders for new planes are down. There's no telling when turbulence might end.
It sounds like something of a pipedream. Randy Tinseth, marketing manager at Boeing forecasts that despite the plethora of current problems: "We will see our industry grow," he says at the end of the telephone conference call. Aviation remains "a highly valued and integral part of the social and economic fabric of the world," he says.
Recession and weak currencies are threatening the continent's summer partiesThe musician Neil Young will tonight entertain thousands of fans at the Isle of Wight festival before packing up his guitar and heading off to a sold-out Glastonbury, where he will headline along with Bruce Springsteen and a reformed Blur in a fortnight's time. Despite the uncertainties of our summer weather, the credit crunch, and, in many cases, the same acts doing the rounds, Britain's music festival season is in full swing and rude health. Along with Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight, there will be T in the Park, Womad, V, Reading, Latitude and Bestival to name just a few of more than 100 planned between now and the end of September. But across Europe it's a different story. In what was once a burgeoning market, particularly in eastern Europe, long starved of Western music during the Cold War, the festival circuit faces crisis. From Denmark's giant Roskilde - Europe's second biggest festival after Glastonbury - to Romania's B'esfest and Hungary's Sziget - promoters are struggling to sell tickets, despite such normally guaranteed draws as Coldplay, Oasis, Fat Boy Slim, the Prodigy and Kanye West.
The musician Neil Young will tonight entertain thousands of fans at the Isle of Wight festival before packing up his guitar and heading off to a sold-out Glastonbury, where he will headline along with Bruce Springsteen and a reformed Blur in a fortnight's time.
Despite the uncertainties of our summer weather, the credit crunch, and, in many cases, the same acts doing the rounds, Britain's music festival season is in full swing and rude health. Along with Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight, there will be T in the Park, Womad, V, Reading, Latitude and Bestival to name just a few of more than 100 planned between now and the end of September.
But across Europe it's a different story. In what was once a burgeoning market, particularly in eastern Europe, long starved of Western music during the Cold War, the festival circuit faces crisis. From Denmark's giant Roskilde - Europe's second biggest festival after Glastonbury - to Romania's B'esfest and Hungary's Sziget - promoters are struggling to sell tickets, despite such normally guaranteed draws as Coldplay, Oasis, Fat Boy Slim, the Prodigy and Kanye West.
Norway appears to be steering clear of the global financial crisis. FRANCE 24's reporters take a closer look at this resilient economy, bolstered by its sovereign wealth fund and its extensive oil and gas resources.Contrary to the rest of Europe, Norway seems to be escaping the financial crisis - a miracle that can be explained in part by the rich natural resources of the Scandinavian peninsula, which is home to one third of the world's unexploited oil and gas reserves. Norway is the world's third biggest gas exporter, its fifth biggest oil exporter, and the leader in GDP per capita. It also has the world's second biggest sovereign wealth fund, just behind Abu Dhabi: a treasury with an estimated worth of more than 216 billion dollars, replenished by gas and oil revenue. If natural resources are abundant, the ethos of saving money is also ingrained in the system; earning a lot and spending little is indeed Norway's credo. This financial discipline is to thank for the country's economic hardiness, according to the government.
Contrary to the rest of Europe, Norway seems to be escaping the financial crisis - a miracle that can be explained in part by the rich natural resources of the Scandinavian peninsula, which is home to one third of the world's unexploited oil and gas reserves. Norway is the world's third biggest gas exporter, its fifth biggest oil exporter, and the leader in GDP per capita. It also has the world's second biggest sovereign wealth fund, just behind Abu Dhabi: a treasury with an estimated worth of more than 216 billion dollars, replenished by gas and oil revenue. If natural resources are abundant, the ethos of saving money is also ingrained in the system; earning a lot and spending little is indeed Norway's credo. This financial discipline is to thank for the country's economic hardiness, according to the government.
Lack of housebuilding means Britain looks destined to live with relatively high house prices lurching from boom to bust as they have done for decades.There are campaigners who argue that Britain should deal once and for all with its damaging boom-bust cycle in house prices by reaching for a radical policy known as annual land value tax (LVT), which would be levied on the value of land up to its maximum permitted development value. The tax would be levied on property owners at, say, 1%, of the land's value every year, with the proceeds used to replace council tax and reduce income tax, thus rewarding work rather than property speculation. LVT would also encourage, for example, an elderly person living in a large family house to move to a flat and free the house for a family in a country where space is limited. It would also discourage developers from sitting on empty sites and buildings."This tax-shifting vision would release billions into the pockets of millions of working people and their families to spend and make the economy work for them and not landowners, speculators and bankers," says Louanne Tranchell, chair of the Labour Land Campaign.LVTs are used elsewhere in the world and the idea goes back at least two centuries. "With the financial crisis, the time is ripe to introduce a system to collect the unearned income from the value of the land, which arises from community activity and services, and through investment in transport and infrastructure funded by the public purse," Tranchell adds
Lack of housebuilding means Britain looks destined to live with relatively high house prices lurching from boom to bust as they have done for decades.
There are campaigners who argue that Britain should deal once and for all with its damaging boom-bust cycle in house prices by reaching for a radical policy known as annual land value tax (LVT), which would be levied on the value of land up to its maximum permitted development value.
The tax would be levied on property owners at, say, 1%, of the land's value every year, with the proceeds used to replace council tax and reduce income tax, thus rewarding work rather than property speculation. LVT would also encourage, for example, an elderly person living in a large family house to move to a flat and free the house for a family in a country where space is limited. It would also discourage developers from sitting on empty sites and buildings.
"This tax-shifting vision would release billions into the pockets of millions of working people and their families to spend and make the economy work for them and not landowners, speculators and bankers," says Louanne Tranchell, chair of the Labour Land Campaign.
LVTs are used elsewhere in the world and the idea goes back at least two centuries. "With the financial crisis, the time is ripe to introduce a system to collect the unearned income from the value of the land, which arises from community activity and services, and through investment in transport and infrastructure funded by the public purse," Tranchell adds
So, maybe it's not only speculation that's pushing oil to $70+... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
