PARIS — The euro zone economy shrank more than expected in the first three months of 2013, official data showed Wednesday, marking a sixth consecutive quarter of decline as France returned to recession for the first time since 2009 and Germany marked time. The 17-nation euro zone contracted by 0.2 percent from the last three months of 2012, Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, reported from Luxembourg, less than the 0.6 percent decline recorded in the fourth quarter, but more than economists’ expectations of a 0.1 percent fall.
WASHINGTON, CMC – A new study published here is urging Latin America and Caribbean governments to renew efforts to modernize their tax system. The study done by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) suggests that while Latin America and the Caribbean have made great strides in boosting tax collection in recent years, they need a new generation of fiscal and tax reform to reduce income inequality, cut evasion, boost productivity, strengthen local governments and preserve the region’s natural resources.
EUROPE’S economic problems are growing steadily worse, with unemployment in parts of the Continent now above the level reached in the United States during the Great Depression.
Meanwhile, policy makers dither over solutions. Last week, the European Central Bank cut interest rates by a meager quarter of a percentage point, akin to giving two aspirin to a patient with pneumonia. Meanwhile, pressure is growing to ease the emphasis on austerity and to allow larger budget deficits.
If it were only that simple.
WASHINGTON, CMC - The United States Congress has started formal consideration of a sweeping immigration reform bill that creates a “path to citizenship” for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, including Caribbean nationals.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to finish work on the bill this week adopting Republican amendments aimed at stronger border security.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The news that our offshore sector was recently severely criticized in the Canadian parliament is one more inconvenient truth that the Barbados economic policymakers will have to face.
In a report earlier this month, the Standing Committee on Finance of that country’s parliament made recommendations to its government on a number of proposals to come down hard on Canadian companies and individuals using this country and other low-tax jurisdictions.
? KINGSTON, Jamaica - The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is now set to appoint a new director general. He is Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo, Brazil's long-serving ambassador to the organisation. His appointment is good news for developing countries insofar as Carvalho de Azevêdo is from a leading developing country that has shown itself not to be averse to taking on the countries that have dominated the WTO. Those countries are the United States and the collective 27-nation European Union.