Germany is bracing itself for a wave of austerity measures after the country’s cabinet agreed for it to place €123 billion ($155 billion) towards the eurozone rescue package agreed earlier this month.The figure has the potential to rise to a total of €150 billion if more funding is required.To pay for the scheme, tax cuts promised by Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party last year have been scrapped and decisions are now being made on how to raise additional capital for the state.Friedrich Heinmann, a spokesman from the Center for European Economic Research, told the Guardian hard decisions will have to be taken.”If the government increased VAT on items that currently delight in a reduced rate, such as hotels, theatres, books and newspapers, it would glean €8 billion; otherwise it will be forced to raise the current VAT rate [of 19.5 per cent],” he said.The 16 members of the eurozone bloc have agreed to place up €440 billion between them, with the financial rescue package also including a €250 billion contribution from the International Monetary Fund and €60 billion from the European Commission.
Posts Tagged ‘European Commission’
Germany to contribute €123bn to eurozone rescue package
May 13th, 2010 
Before You Invest 
Posted in Finance Fraud 
Tags: Angela Merkel, Austerity Measures, Bloc, Christian Democratic Union, Current, Difficult Decisions, Economic Research, European Commission, Financial Rescue Package, Friedrich, Germany, Guardian, Hotels, International Monetary Fund, Members, Newspapers, Spokesman, Vat Rate 
Comments OffLloyds and RBS to receive second $51bn bailout
November 4th, 2009 Before You Invest Lloyds and RBS are set to receive more than $50 billion in new bailout funds in return for agreeing to cap bonus payouts.Both banks will not pay cash bonuses for 2009 to staff earning more than $63,000 per year as part of the deal, which will see the UK Treasury pump a further $42 billion into RBS and another $34 billion into Lloyds.The go will bring the government stake in RBS up to 84 per cent but Lloyds intends to escape state control with a rights issue that it hopes will bring in $22 billion.It will also raise funds through $12 billion worth of exchange offers.After a European Commission ruling both RBS and Lloyds are being forced to sell off some sections of their financial services operations.RBS is to lose its bank branches and insurance division, while Lloyds must get rid of its Scottish bank branches and several other assets, including its online Intelligent Finance business. Earlier this week, Lloyds made $383 million after it sold its Insight Investment Management company to Bank of New York Mellon.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Assets, Bailout, Bank Branches, Bank Of New York, Bank Of New York Mellon, Banks, Bonus, Cash Bonuses, European Commission, Finance Business, Financial Services, Government Stake, Insight, Insurance Division, Intelligent Finance, Investment Management Company, Lloyds, Rbs, Scottish Bank, Uk Treasury No Comments »Tesco could buy Northern Rock
July 3rd, 2009 Before You Invest The UK’s largest supermarket group Tesco is interested in buying the nationalized bank Northern Rock, the Times has claimed.Government ministers are keen to return the troubled lender to the private sector, preferably at a profit, before the next general election with an outright sale preferred to floatation because it will be quicker, the newspaper added.In order to attract potential buyers, the Treasury plans to split the bank’s excellent and terrible assets, with some of the most toxic assets likely to stay in public ownership. The Times said Northern Rock currently has deposits of £19.5 billion, with a mortgage book worth around £66.7 billion.But, ministers may have to wait for the European Commission to clear any division of excellent and terrible assets, as this may constitute an unacceptable level of state aid, the publication noted.Other potential suitors are believed to include Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and a number of private equity funds.Northern Rock was nationalized in February 2008.
