China’s exports shrink by 15%: trade surplus at 13-month lowMore than 8/10 business executives want UK to stay in EUTalks between Athens and creditors expected to get underway 10.14am BST The rouble has reversed earlier gains and slipped against the dollar on Monday, bringing a halt to the remarkable recovery of last week.The Russian currency has gone from being one of the worst performers, to the fastest-recovering, having gained 17% this year. The money flowing in shows confidence that the ceasefire in Ukraine will prevent any further ratcheting of US.-led sanctions against Russia. It’s likely to send the rouble rallying as much as 16 percent to 45 per dollar in the coming weeks, according Alfa Bank, the nation’s second-largest private lender. Not everyone’s rushing back. Peter Wilson, a seniorportfolio manager at Wells Fargo Asset Management in London,says Russia is an “unstable” investment. 9.50am BST FinMin Varoufakis book (talking-to-my-daughter-about-the-economy) on sale at Athens Airport #Greece pic.twitter.com/68pYtm9KwF 9.40am BST Valdis Dombrovskis’ interview on the upcoming talks with Greece is now available to view on Bloomberg. Twitter highlights 8.44The talks are apparently “very complicated”, following a weekend of claim and counter-claim.Since outright debt forgiveness is politically impossible, the next best solution would be forGreece to pay off its expensive IMF loans early, redeem bonds held by the European Central Bank and extend the maturity of loans from eurozone governments to secure lower interest rates for years to come.“This step would save Greece’s budget billions of euros, while reforming the Troika arrangement, eliminating the IMF’s and the ECB’s financial exposure to Greece,” said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who advocates such an arrangement. 9.10am BST Remember the campaign the get women on bank notes?“The United States needs to show the world that we, too, recognise and value the contributions of women,” says Susan Ades Stone, executive director of the campaign group Women On 20s.Our money says something about us and what we represent as a society. So if we’re all about gender equality and diversity and inclusion, let’s walk the walk.” 8.44am BST If it is Monday (or any other day ending in ‘y’) it must be time for more talks about Greece’s EU bailout.E Kathimerini reports that technical talks between Greece and its lenders are expected to get underway in Brussels and Athens today, to prepare the ground for a finance ministers meeting on 24 April.Kathimerini understands that the deliberations will resume after discussions during Wednesday’s Euro Working Group ended with an agreement that Athens should have a comprehensive proposal to make within six working days. The reform proposals will have to cover fiscal, pension, labor and privatization issues, according to creditors.#EU Dombrovskis says there cld be more progress on #Greece, working on scenario w Greece staying in #euro, willing to work w Greek govt ~BBG.@markbartontv Dombrovskis says Greece deal - a lot of time wasted initially - picking up speed now! No Secret negociations some unhelpful 8.28am BST The main European markets are all slightly down this morning, following weaker-than-expected trade data from China. 8.21am BST Another week; another survey of business attitudes to the EU.This one shows that more than 8 in 10 business leaders in Europe want the UK to stay in the EU, while around three quarters thought a British exit would damage the British economy.Of 437 business leaders surveyed across 32 countries, 76% said a British exit would hurt the UK economy, while 56% said it would damage their own business.Mikal Hallstrup, founder of Designit, a Danish technology firm, said a Brexit could influence how Europe was viewed internationally. “You can trade across borders so UK exit wouldn’t lead to other countries leaving . . . but it would be like a grey cloud following us — like a football team when one person is sent off.” 8.02am BST Hot on the heels of Monday’s disappointing Chinese trade figures, the World Bank has warned that the slowdown in China will hit countries across the Asia-Pacific.Developing East Asian economies, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, will grow more slowly than previously thought, while rich countries, such as Australia will see falling demand for commodities such as iron ore.The slowdown in China reflects efforts by policy makers to address vulnerabilities in the financial system and make growth more sustainable, the bank said. Growth in the rest of developing East Asia will climb half a percentage point to 5.1 percent as the drop in energy costs spurs demand in Southeast Asia, [the World Bank] said in the report, released Monday.“The region will still account for one-third of global growth, twice the combined contribution of all other developing regions,” Axel van Trotsenburg, the World Bank’s vice president for the area, said in a statement. Cheaper oil will give governments room to “push fiscal reforms that will raise revenues and reorient public spending toward infrastructure and other productive uses.” 7.45am BST Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and the business world.The week begins with some surprisingly bad trade data from China, heightening concern about the slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.It’s a very bad number that was much worse than expectations.It leads to warning flags both on global demand and China’s competitiveness. Continue reading...
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