50 Euro banknote is most popular target of counterfeiters 12. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot In the first half of 2007 the German Bundesbank confiscated 20,540 counterfeited banknotes which is an increase by about 4% in comparison to the first half of 2007. In Germany the banknote most counterfeited is the 50 Euro banknote. There has been an increase in the number of forged 100-Euro and 200-Euro banknotes. The forged …
Key interest rate unchanged at 4 percent 11. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot Yesterday the Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to leave the three key interest rates at 4.00 %, 5.00 % and 3.00 % respectively.
Economic upswing in the EU loses momentum 10. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot The Eurozone´s GDP expressed in real terms increased significantly in the third quarter of 2007 after it had grown only slightly in the second quarter. However, the prospects for future economic development are less bright due to continuing turbulences on financial markets and high inflation resulting from higher crude oil prices. These forecasts were made …
German exports increased significantly in November 10. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot In November 2007 Germany exported goods worth 87.8 billion Euros. Imports amounted to 68.5 billion Euros. Thus, in November German exports were up by 3.2% and imports by 2.3% as compared to November 2006. However, these and the following figures provided by the Federal Statistical Office are for the time being just provisional.
EU wants to promote innovation through pilot markets 9. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot In six particularly important so-called pilot markets the EU Commission wants to remove obstacles hampering innovation. This includes the markets for electronic health services, protection textiles, sustainable constructions, recycling, bio products and renewable energies.
German companies more and more important 9. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot The top ten of the world’s most valuable companies are not dominated by US companies any more. European and Chinese companies are gaining more and more importance. As of the end of 2007 there were four Chinese, four US and two European companies among the top ten of those companies with the highest market capitalization. …
Strike record in 14 years 7. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot In the year 2007 there were 580.000 lost workdays due to strikes which is a new record in 14 years. This is at least that which said Mr. Hagen Lesch, an expert from the Institute for the German economy (IW) in Cologne, in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau. Main culprits are the striking Telekom …
Germany´s competitiveness is worldclass 7. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to European top managers Germany is next to China and together with Switzerland the most competitive country in the world. This finding was revealed through a survey carried out in the course of the “Handelsblatt Business-Monitor International“among top managers from six European countries.
10 bleak forecasts from Denmark 4. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot What lies ahead in the year 2008? Recession in Great Britain, plummeting of the S&P 500, share prices falling by 40% on the Chinese stock exchange, increase in the oil price to 175 dollars per barrel, continuing weakness of the G3 currencies US dollar, Euro and Yen. If these “Outrageous Predictions” by the Saxo Bank …
Employees in SMEs work most 4. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot A survey conducted by the Fachhochschule für Oekonomie und Management (FOM) demonstrated that the work of executives and specialists is marked by above-average long working hours and regular work on weekends. About 400 executives and employees from the whole of Germany took part in this survey. 6% of those interviewed were self-employed entrepreneurs, 29% executives …