European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet will cut short a trip to Australia to attend a special EU summit as concerns heighten over a debt crisis in the bloc.
EU leaders are due to meet tomorrow in Brussels for a special summit on the economy under pressure to restore confidence among investors worried that rising debt in Greece, Portugal and other weaker states in the euro zone could undermine the global recovery.
The summit was called in early January and Trichet had been expected to spend both today and tomorrow in Australia at central bank meetings. Instead, he is leaving early, officials at the Reserve Bank of Australia and the ECB said.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
“There is a possibility that the EU could get the ECB involved and support Greece,” said Ayako Sera, market strategist at Sumitomo Trust Bank. “Fiscal concerns that have also spread to Spain and Portugal could temporarily ease if we get something on Greece.”
The euro inched up on news of Trichet’s changed travel plans, although it remains marred near a nine-month low of US$1.3583 hit on Friday.
It has fallen more than 6 percent since mid-December when ratings agencies first downgraded Greece.
Investors have shifted funds out of riskier assets into so-called safe havens, including the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc. Yields on Greek, Portuguese and Spanish debt and the cost of insuring against default have risen sharply.
The EU usually holds four summits a year, when all 27 heads of state or government gather in Brussels. The first summit, scheduled for March, normally focuses on economic issues.
But EU President Herman Van Rompuy, who can convene a special summit at any time if there are pressing issues, called for the meeting saying the bloc needed more economic growth in order to finance its social model on a sound basis.
Eurozone finance ministers, facing the bloc’s first debt crisis in the 11-year-old currency union, tried to calm investor fears over the risk of sovereign default in peripheral states at a G7 meeting in Canada over the weekend.
They said they would ensure Greece kept to a plan to cut its budget deficit to below 3 percent by 2012 from 12.7 percent last year, the euro zone’s biggest gap.
Trichet, who attended the G7 meeting, expressed confidence in the Greek plan. But the G7 comments did little to lift investor appetite for risk.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed on Monday below 10,000 points for the first time since November, weighed down by the euro debt woes.
The MSCI index of Asian shares outside Japan slid to a five-month low yesterday.
“Sentiment is still weak amid deepening concerns about southern European nations’ sovereign rating risks,” said Juhn Jong-kyu, a market analyst at Samsung Securities in Seoul.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS