((((((((( G-7 NATIONS NOW INSOLVENT )))))))) At 500% Net Liabilities To GDP, It Is Too Late To Prevent The Collapse Of The G-7; Greece Is Irrelevant, WE'RE ALL NOW INSOLVENT!!!
North Korea Executes Finance Chief
Pak Nam-gi was killed by firing squad last week, said Yonhap, citing multiple sources. The Workers party chief for planning and the economy had not been seen in public since January.
The 77-year-old was put to death as "a son of a bourgeois conspiring to infiltrate the ranks of revolutionaries to destroy the national economy", the agency said.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) described the currency revaluation as "disastrous", in a report released this week.
The reform appeared to be aimed at reasserting state control over the economy, curbing inflation and tackling corruption.
Although people were allowed to exchange currency – at a rate of 100 to one – a cap on the amount that could be changed wiped out the savings of slightly better off North Koreans.
Food prices soared as uncertainty over contradictory policies led to hoarding, the ICG said. By mid-January, there were reports of rising deaths from starvation, thought to have prompted the release of emergency food supplies.
The government later reversed a December ban on holding foreign currency and allowed markets to reopen.
-- Edited by Franklin on Thursday 18th of March 2010 04:12:14 PM
The People's Party, the largest group in a five-party coalition, walked out amid disputes over how to cope with the country's severe problems.
Unemployment has now hit 20 per cent and the economy contracted by 18 per cent last year.
The People's Party quit after its action plan failed to get the backing of Valdis Dombrovskis, the Latvian prime minister, who labelled it "populist".
Mr Dombrovskis warned the People's Party's departure could cause yet further economic instability.
"Any contradictions in the government are immediately reflected in the financial markets, and they directly affect the fiscal stability our country... a policy that is truly responsible for the country cannot be self-centred," he said.
But he said remained confident that an emergency IMF bail-out worth £6.7bn would remain unaffected by the political instability.
New Era, Mr Dombrovskis's party, confirmed it had already extended invitations to other parties to join a new coalition in an attempt on gain the majority in Latvia's 100-seat parliament.
It attempted to play down concerns about the prospect of a minority government at the helm of country in severe economic turmoil.
Laila Dimrote, a spokeswoman for New Era, said: "This is not a big deal. Latvia has had many minority governments in the past, and often this is the case prior to elections."
Latvia and Greece, two countries in very similar situations.
Greece is in trouble because of economic speculation/gambling, and since Greece is a member of the European Monetary Union, they now have to dance to whatever tune the EU parliament is playing for them, which basically means the people will have to pay for the trouble the banksters/gangsters caused in the first place.
In Latvia, Swedish banks (especially Swebank, owned by South African investors) spread debt over the poor and middle class population by giving loans with very little security in return, money that they can't get back after the economy crashed over a year ago and a lot of people lost their jobs. But Latvia also has big ambitions to become a member of the EMU, and the EU has put strict rules on Latvian state deficits and finance, similar to what we see in greece, so if Latvia does not follow this, they will not become a EMU member for a very long time.
Monetary unions is one insane idea in the first place. Being a member of the EMU sucks if you are not France or Germany.
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Latvian political uncertainty precipitated by the walk-out of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis’s biggest coalition partner may lead to an “ineffective” government and a “negative” market reaction, Danske Bank A/S said.
The premier, who took office a year ago during the former Soviet state’s worst economic crisis in two decades and forced through the European Union’s toughest austerity program, was left heading a minority administration after the People’s Party quit yesterday in protest over economic policies.
The People’s Party recalled its five Cabinet members after Dombrovskis refused to sign an agreement between the party and his own New Era group yesterday. It called for delaying tax increases this year and next and fewer ministries. The premier now controls 44 seats in the 100-member legislature with four unaligned deputies. A general election is scheduled for October.
“Political risk and uncertainty are on the rise again,” Violeta Klyviene, senior Baltic economist at Danske Markets in Vilnius, wrote in a note. “This might disrupt confidence in the Latvian economy and bring renewed pressure to the financial market. The market reaction to this event might be relatively negative.”
Swedbank Shares
Shares of Swedbank AB, the largest lender in the Baltics, fell as much as 0.5 percent today to 71.95 kronor, extending a 0.21 percent drop yesterday. The stock traded down 0.41 percent at 72 kronor at 9:26 a. m. in Stockholm.
Latvia’s benchmark OMX Riga stock index was up 0.18 percent at 11 a.m. It’s gained 14.4 percent this year.
Dombrovskis appealed yesterday to the People’s Party for “political stability” to ease concern in the markets and ensure “fiscal stability,” the Riga-based government said in an e-mailed statement.
“A policy that is truly responsible for the country cannot be self-centered and categorical,” Dombrovskis said in the statement. “One party cannot become a guarantee for political stability in a country where five parties are represented in the government coalition.”
Raimonds Vejonis, chairman of another coalition partner, the Greens and Farmers Union, said that if the People’s Party leaves the coalition, his group would continue to support Dombrovskis, the Baltic News Service reported.
‘Remain Intact’
“We think that the remaining four parties will continue to support the coalition and the minority government will remain intact until the elections,” said Yarkin Cebeci, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Istanbul.
The Baltic nation turned to a group led by the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund for a 7.5 billion-euro ($10.3 billion) rescue loan in 2008 after taking over its second-biggest bank. The government has passed budget cuts equal to about 10 percent of gross domestic product in an effort to comply with the terms of its credit.
“Recently, the IMF praised Latvia for its progress in meeting the terms of its bailout package,” wrote Klyviene. Still, the fund “warned of significant risks ahead and urged the government not to move to a fiscal easing option.”
The economy shrank a revised 16.9 percent last quarter after retail sales dropped by a third and the jobless rate approached 20 percent. Output slumped 18 percent in all of last year.
“No-one wants to bring this government down so it seems like it will stumble along until the elections,” said Nils Muiznieks, a professor of political science at the University of Latvia, by telephone. “I would be very surprised if this government can adopt the budget, or take any serious steps” until “after the election.”
