Re: La Giornale

by **MiguelLeal** 8th April 2011, 13:35

Sorry Thomas, but that is unrealistic. How can a small mediterranean country have a 0,75% rates?

by **Spy9600** 8th April 2011, 18:27

MiguelLeal wrote:Sorry Thomas, but that is unrealistic. How can a small mediterranean country have a 0,75% rates?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo?

HOW DOES THE SIZE OF THE COUNTRY MATTER TO ITS INTEREST RATES?!

It IS realistic...as usual. :GG:

by **Thomas** 8th April 2011, 18:48

MiguelLeal wrote:Sorry Thomas, but that is unrealistic. How can a small mediterranean country have a 0,75% rates?

Why couldn't a small Mediterranean country have an interest rate of 0.75%? All major central banks, bar Australia, have an interest rate lower than 1.25% and all non-Eurozone countries except for Iceland and Hungary have interest rates below 1.25% too.

Low interest rates can help debt repayment and encourage people to purchase more expensive products. Most importantly, it encourages economic growth as people spend more money and businesses have lower operating costs, so not as many people are made redundant and more consumer spending means more investment and growth.
Now in a time when Europe is struggling to escape recession, low interest rates are a necessary stimulant. Regardless of the size of a nation.

by **MiguelLeal** 9th April 2011, 09:24

Wait... I must be confused...It is because of english, I now understand it.

I thought it was about debt taxes.

Sorry, man... :?:

by **Thomas** 9th April 2011, 11:38

Oh, don't worry. I had a feeling you weren't sure what I meant by interest rates. Smile

And Cattala does have reasonably small debt levels anyway. At least, nowhere near the 225% of GDP that Japan has, or the 118% of GDP that Italy has.

Coincidentally, the country with the lowest debt in the CIA World Factbook is Libya, with debt of 3.3%. : LOL

:

by **Blakeway4** 9th April 2011, 22:09

Cattala is perfect! :shock: Cheeky/Razz

by **Thomas** 10th April 2011, 12:42

Debt rose sharply during the recession of 2008-2009. Cattala was in a similar position to Malta in the fact that the initial banking crisis didn't affect it too badly because it has a strong regulatory body. The problem came when banks closed their Jennai bases because they lost money elsewhere.

Debt actually rose sharply in 2008-2009, and the country made a series of tax reforms and cut government spending, especially overseas expenditures. Some cuts are still being made today, such as the closure of embassies. Luckily we could naturally cut the armed forces budget simply by withdrawing troops from overseas missions, such as Afghanistan.

by **Thomas** 12th April 2011, 12:01

Inflation falls for first time in six months
Interest rates now unlikely to rise as pressure moves onto Govt

The rate of inflation has fallen for the first time since November 2010, although only marginally. Newly-released figures show that the CPI rate of inflation, which was at 4%, has now fallen to 3.6%. However this is still much higher than the Bank of Cattala's overall target rate of 2%. The spike in fuel prices, as well as food costs, has fallen slightly as the cost of petrol and diesel is now on the edge of the psychologically important ₴2 a litre mark, which is £1.
The Bank of Cattala has now escaped it's intense scrutiny from businesses and consumers to raise interest rates from 0.75%, especially after they refused to raise the rate last week. However the criticism has now moved to the Government for refusing to even negotiate an AIN Monetary Fund. Analysts at Pearl&Westwood said this could be seen as "anti-globalisation" and "selfish" behaviour from Cattala, which may impact negatively on trade and overseas growth in pro-Fund nations like Fairview. Next week the Fiscal Committee meets for it's quarterly report from the Bank of Cattala, and alongside inflation, the issue of a Monetary Fund is also expected to be mentioned.

by **Huston** 15th April 2011, 11:04

Well at least there is some relief for the nation. On a somewhat unrelated point, Great paper Thomas!

by **Forsma** 15th April 2011, 18:26

Nice work!
I would someday to adapt your idea to create a economy newspaper.. Smile

by **Thomas** 28th April 2011, 18:20

GDP grows by 1.2%
Economy rebounds to above-target growth rate

The economy grew by nearly double the expected rate in the final quarter of the 2010-2011 financial year, causing the Jennai Stock Exchange to close up 2.8%. In the preliminary figures, manufacturing and the services sectors grew the most, whilst construction and the public sector failed to achieve positive growth rates. The growth rate for the entire 2011-2012 financial year, which began at the start of April, was predicted to be around 2% - but if growth remains at the current level then Cattala might see double that figure.

"In Q3 of last year, the economy grew by a meagre 0.4%, which is a third of the growth achieved today. Everyone was surprised by this level of success, but it won't be good for the Bank of Cattala." said leading economists in Jennai, alluding to the fact that high growth rates may mean the economy does not need supporting any more, and the anticipated rise in interest rates may come earlier than expected.

Lord Monete welcome the figures, claiming it was the current Government's economic policy that had "restored growth and rejuvenated" the economy, a clear stab at the opposition Democratic and Il Popolo parties, who both claim the Government has failed to re-invigorate the economy since the recession.

by **emperordaniel** 28th April 2011, 18:26

Pretty nice paper! Although economy isn't really my thing, this looks interesting enough Laugh

by **Forsma** 29th April 2011, 15:03

What is the main economy sources for Cattala?

by **Thomas** 29th April 2011, 15:23

Agriculture in the south east and all rural areas is the main sector.
In the south, through Jennai and parts of Celeste, financial services and manufacturing are dominant.
In the east, manufacturing and high technology are the big business, whilst shipping is also very important in Calora.
Of course tourism is a massive industry and the state owned corporations, such as RMi, Cattala Airways and Ferrovie Cattala, employ many people throughout the country.

by **Thomas** 15th May 2011, 12:54

Energy prices will rise by 17%
Current government's "harsh environmental policy" will lead to higher prices

The heated debate about renewable energy in Cattala has been revived again, with the energy watchdog URE reporting that the 25% renewable energy source target by 2020 may lead to a surge in energy prices over the next 10 years, due to the current inefficiency of wind and wave power, which Cattala has invested heavily in. The Ufficio di Regolazione Energetica said in it's report that "the desire to expand renewable energies in Cattala is honourable, however the current 2020 target will stretch the energy market to it's limit. The ongoing problems with efficiency in non-solar energy sources, especially in the Ionian Sea projects, means that achieving this target will come at the cost of higher energy bills due to instability in supplies.

The Secolo administration has been highly praised for it's wide-ranging renewable energy plans, including the billion-Ainero rebranding and expansion of Energie Verdi. During the 2007 election campaign, Cattolica Conservatori, under Secolo's instructions, based many of it's proposals on environmental efficiency and new energy sources. This summer, they will have to answer the electorate's questions on the true cost of Green Government.

by **MiguelLeal** 15th May 2011, 19:06

I think Cattala should invest more in Solar energy than wind ones.

by **Thomas** 15th May 2011, 19:36

Cattala has a large domestic solar energy infrastructure already - this report criticised mostly the other sources of renewable energy. Hundreds of millions of Ainero have been spent on wind and tidal projects in the Ionian Sea, and so far they aren't working as well as forecast.

by **emperordaniel** 15th May 2011, 19:50

How about pumped-storage hydroelectric?

by **Blakeway4** 15th May 2011, 19:52

Wind is better than Solar imo. Solar is less money and energy producer than wind.

by **Forsma** 16th May 2011, 12:05

I would prefer tidal power plant using sea power.. I should be very good for the coastal area in Cattala..

by **Thomas** 16th May 2011, 19:26

Daniel: Of course the government looks into every technology, but it also has to be commercially viable in the areas of Cattala that they're located in, as well as being ecologically sound.

Julien: The problem with wind in Cattala is, that it is not as efficient as solar panels. Because there's more sun in Cattala than there is wind. Cheeky/Razz

Dryan: A lot of this technology is new, and is still being invested in. There's a long way to go with tidal power, especially in Ionia, where the resources aren't always available. Plus a majority of northern and eastern coastline are nowhere near as populated as the southern and western coast, so the access and demand isn't always there.

by **Thomas** 1st July 2011, 20:55

NDBC announces 10,000 overseas job cuts
Now Cattalian banks begin to wind down their overseas investments

The banking world is changing. NDBC, Cattala's largest international bank, today surprised the banking community by announcing the closure of much of it's North American arm and the suspension of African expansion plans outside of South Africa. At least 6000 jobs will be lost in Corraile, America and Lower Columbia, with the Nyhaven base of NDBC America closing completely. The state-of-the-art Abu Dhabi headquarters will continue to be constructed, but the Dubai and Onubis offices will be scrapped.

NDBC's overseas expansion has been rapid - in the past 10 years, it has grown from a south European bank into a regional giant, with branches and businesses across Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East. Plans for a vast network of African and Asian offices were abandoned during the global recession, and the North American arm nearly collapsed in 2008, following the US mortgage crisis. NDBC, formerly known as the National Bank of Cattala Commercial, replaced long-serving CEO Jeremy Kaupsing in April, and his replacement, William Versais, has committed himself to reigning in the banks "crazy expansion expectations" and demanded that the company returns to its core market, which according to him is the national banking market and regional investments. NDBC shares fell 0.6% today, reaching 431p. Before the recession, shares reached a peak of 912p, and fell to 106p during the Lehmann Brothers collapse. NDBC received no direct Government funding during the economic crisis, but the Bank of Cattala was believed to have bought shares indirectly during the downturn.

by **Thomas** 26th July 2011, 20:10

Economic growth rise "extraordinary"
Growth targets broken as GDP rises by 1% since April

The Statistics Authority today announced that this years GDP growth rate target has already been met - only 6 months into the financial year. The release of the April-June economic data revealed that the economy continued to grow rapidly. Analysts were stunned in April when the economy grew by 1.2%, and the further rise this quarter of 1% has led to a recalculation of growth expectations. Last December the SA anticipated a full-year growth rate of 2%, and today they confirmed that new predictions would have to be set following the "surprising" recovery of the economy since Christmas.

In the final quarter of 2010, the economy grew by 0.4%, but following a sharp rise in manufacturing output, the first quarter of this year massively exceeded expectations. This quarter however, much of the growth was from agriculture and services, who have both benefited from simplified taxation and stable weather conditions. Despite this, it's being anticipated that the production sector of the economy - mining, quarrying and manufacturing - will provide most of the GDP growth over the rest of the year.

At a provincial level, the strongest growing regions were Fieranti and Lessito, who both benefited strongly from strong growth in urban services, fishery, forestry and agriculture. The weakest growing region was Hellas, which suffered from a fall in tourism-generated income for the third quarter running.

La Giornale - Page 2 GDPgrowth-Q2-2011

Note: Primary is agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining. Secondary is manufacturing and construction. Tertiary is services and information.

by **Thomas** 21st August 2011, 18:59

Energie Verdi threatens to abandon Shushtrepistaz Energy
Flailing energy company may lose it's biggest partner in Europe

Energie Verdi, Cattala's state-owned utilities provider, has threatened to cancel it's multi-billion ainero agreement with Shushtrepistaz Energy, the bankrupt corporation that has an international office in Calora. The two companies had been working together on a vital offshore wind farm in Hellas Province, which is partially operational and will be completed by 2015. The farm is due to merge with Hellas Wind Power, an onshore wind project that was also funded by the joint venture between Energie Verdi and Shushtrepistaz Energy.

However, the collapse of government contracts in Shushtrepistaz has led to the company filing for bankruptcy and the international arm of the group is expected to begin cutting jobs soon. It will raise questions over the partnership, and whether foreign investment in major public services, such as the renewable energy market, should continue. Energie Verdi is said to be "seriously considering" its agreement with Shushtrepistaz Energy and whether its investment in a solar energy plant in Shushtrepistaz is "economically and politically viable" following recent tensions between the eastern nation's Government and leading energy corporation. A board meeting is scheduled for this week.

by **Thomas** 23rd August 2011, 11:04

Energie Verdi: We will not work with Engro
State energy company will withdraw from deal with international arm of Shushtrepistaz Energy

Reports of a takeover bid of Shush.Energy by Engro have led to a rebuke by Energie Verdi, who are expected to announce the end of their partnership with Shushtrepistaz Energy's international business any day now.

Shushtrepistaz Energy collapsed at the weekend after losing government contracts to Engro, who are now planning to purchase the successful overseas business of its former rival. One of the biggest customers of the global arm is Cattala's state-owned Energie Verdi. However the CEO of Cattala's largest utility company has been working on plans to fully purchase the Hellas Wind Power project and its other partnership operation with Shushtrepistaz Energy, effectively ending the partnership and preventing Engro from forcing its way into the profitable business.

Meanwhile, Cattala's interim government has refused to comment on the situation but is believed to have pushed Energie Verdi to take full control of all major Cattalian projects before the collapse of its main partner, and will be pressuring the company to prevent Engro from getting a foothold in Cattala's utility market.

Expo Report: Cattala criticised despite massive expenditure
Criticism of cover ups by foreign media and governments

Cattala's expensive Expo Pavillion has garnered more criticism from foreign media and even governments, as politics rears its head in Liberators City once again. Following a presentation about the structure of the military, both the Vladivostok Informer and the government of Shushtrepistaz complained viciously about the Cattalian pavillion's failure to discuss the recent operation in Uroboria.

"We aren't here to discuss politics, we spoke about the public compromise of Forza D'Assalto and didn't feel the need to elaborate. At least we have a pavillion to show - I haven't seen anything from Shushtrepistaz or Syldavia." said the head of the Cattala Pavillion in the Atlantic Federation. The government of Shushtrepistaz labelled Cattala as "liars" just minutes before their Vice President went on to attack Syldavia.
The Vladivostok Informer has been contacted by the Expo Team requesting an official apology to be published in tomorrow's paper.

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