EU candidate Bulgaria will probably join the Euro in 2010, before existing members Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, Austria’s leading bank predicted last Thursday. The candidate state in South-East Europe is well in the race, an analysis by Austria’s Bank Austria-Creditanstalt showed. Romania and Croatia could also adopt the joint currency in 2012, it said. Slovenia is expected to join the currency as planned on January 1 2007. Lithuania, which applied along with Slovenia in March, is unlikely to reach its target because inflation is too high, the experts said. The EU Commission and European Central Bank will publish their evaluations in May, which will be decisive for the council of EU finance ministers, and the council of heads of state in June.
Estonia, which originally planned to join the Euro at the beginning of next year, decided not to apply because of persisting high inflation. Due to high growth and the accompanying inflationary pressures, the Baltic states may have to wait some years before joining the Euro.
They could join together in 2009 at the earliest, at which point Slovakia could also be ready for membership, the bank said. Chief analyst Mariane Kager said that in the Czech Republic, which already fulfils the Euro criteria, as well as Poland, policy-makers were not willing to abandon independent monetary and exchange policies. In Hungary, the main obstacle was a lack of progress in overhauling public finances.
The share of renewable sources in Brazil’s domestic energy supplies rose to 44.5% in 2005, according to preliminary data from the National Energy Balance, released yesterday. This compared to 13.3% in the rest of the world. According to Maurício Tolmasquim, president of the Energy Research Enterprise "Brazil is in the global vanguard in this sphere, mainly because of hydroelectric power and energy obtained from sugarcane derivatives." The largest source continues to be hydroelectric power, which represents 32.4% of total renewable energy and 14.9% of domestic energy supplies.
Venezuelan Vice-President José Vicente Rangel rebutted the remarks of US Department of State Spokesman Sean McComarck. "The United States should swallow its words, because it is not morally entitled to judge Venezuela in the area of human rights." McCormack had expressed his government’s satisfaction that Venezuela failed to join recently the new United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, after getting 101 votes.
The Ho Chi Minh City branch of HSBC has received a license from the State Bank of Vietnam to supply pilot investment products associated with credit ratings.
Credit rating is considered an effective tool to help investors enjoy a secure investment environment by measuring the ability and willingness of an entity to keep its financial commitments. The service will be applied to the Vietnamese government and local businesses whose bonds have been issued abroad. The clients are Vietnam-based credit institutions, who operate in compliance with the Law on Credit Institutions. The pilot project will be carried out within one year while investment transactions associated with credit ratings will enjoy five-year durations.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas may not increase domestic interest rates in line with last week's increase in the US Fed rate. Governor Amando M Tetangco Jr announced that the Philippines' interest rate will be driven by an assessment of the country's inflation outlook and factors that might increase pressure on inflation such as liquidity, exchange rate. Bangko Sentral’s Monetary Board, which held its last meeting on May 4, had decided to maintain the overnight borrowing rate at 7.5% and the overnight lending rate at 9.75%.