The European Sting is Your democratic, independent and top quality political newspaper specialized in European Union News. Unique Features: iSting & Harry Sting
Last Thursday 8 June, on the day the Britons were punishing Theresa May for her mistakes and arrogance, the European Central Bank under Mario Draghi was preparing for a less favorable politico-economic environment and a much longer disinflationary period. Indirectly, Mario Draghi blamed the dying out inflation on the avowed neoliberals, of the kind of […]
Over the past three years the European Central Bank, guided by its President Mario Draghi, has been folowing a super relaxed monetary policy. It has been aiming at reviving uncertain economic growth and dying inflation, by handing out to banks, and through them to the economy, hundreds of billions of euro and at the same […]
More than one economic pundit felt relieved learning that Eurostat, the EU statistical service last Friday estimated the September CPI inflation in Eurozone at 0.4%, the highest level in two years. Understandably, they think that the stagnating and almost deflationary euro area is leaving behind its grim past, aided by ECB’s liquidity injections of €80 […]
The economic misery of the Eurozone doesn’t seem to have an end. According to a preliminary estimate by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service, GDP growth in the 19 member state monetary zone during the second quarter of this year was as miser as ever. On top of that, inflation continues to oscillate around zero, while […]
Last Tuesday Eurostat, the EU statistical service release its latest estimates about the April unemployment rate and May inflation in Eurozone, which unfortunately didn’t diverge markedly from the gloomy predictions of analysts. This week however, the same source published a very interesting survey about the labor market situation in EU. It’s a special report about […]
It has become commonplace to state that the European economy still doesn’t fare well after six years of recession or practical stagnation. For good reasons however in the past few days the horizon looked particularly darkened. Negative statistical evidence and meandering statements by key people are indicative of that. Inflation or rather disinflation statistics, persistently […]
The Eurozone economy doesn’t seem able to gain a sustainable growth path, despite the hundreds of billions that, lately, European Central Bank has injected into the financial system. Analysts say, though, that ECB’s intervention came too late. There is more bad news for the real economy coming from the prices front. Last week, Eurostat, the […]
On Thursday 22 October Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank delighted the world capital markets with his comment about the “factors that are currently slowing the return of inflation to levels below, but close to, 2% in the medium term” He added that “In this context, the degree of monetary policy accommodation […]
This newspaper has been following very closely the Eurostat statistics, including inflation, which paint an accurate picture of Eurozone’s economic condition. Then, not without good reason, during the last few months or even years the European Sting didn’t share the reserved optimism of Brussels about euro area’s prospects and unfortunately Eurostat confirmed this prediction once […]
Last Monday this newspaper questioned the ability of Eurozone’s economy to continue growing even at the negligible rate of three decimal points of a percentage unit, as Eurostat found it for the second quarter of this year. It also pointed out that the danger of recession is increasing and that the risk of deflation (negative […]
According to the latest statistics published in August by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, the euro area economy grew by a meager 0.3% during the second quarter of this year. Despite the fact that the mere three decimal points of more gross product typically illustrate a positive development for the Eurozone economy, there are other […]
Last week Eurostat, the EU statistical service, confirmed that Eurozone inflation was stuck at zero percent in April, remaining in the region of deflation. No need to mention what a too low or zero or negative inflation means for a stagnating or even receding economy. Add to that the perilous position of Greece in and […]
A new Eurostat wave of data statistically confirmed that Eurozone is utterly moored in economic stagnation, with disturbing signs that this might even turn to recession. Most significantly, last week the EU statistical service issued an estimate that the euro area GDP idled with a zero growth rate during the second quarter. The same source […]
Last Monday, Eurostat, the EU statistical service issued data on June industrial price developments (0.1% month to month), actually showing stagnation in relation to May. It is more alarming to observe though that all along the first five months of 2014, from January to May on a month to month basis, industrial prices had been […]
With inflation in Eurozone falling last month to crisis level nadir and a new business investments retreat, it is easily understandable why unemployment is still exploding at double-digit highs. As a matter of fact, at the end of last month Eurostat, the EU statistical service published its estimates for the above mentioned crucial variables, which […]
There are rare times in the economic chronicle, and here they are now, when the merry going economies like Austria and Luxembourg have decent inflation rates around 1.5%, while the unlucky and miserable ones like Greece, Bulgaria and Portugal are being haunted by negative inflation records of up to -2.1%. Let’s get the full and […]
An avalanche of disappointing statistics on Eurozone was released during the last two days, supporting the view that the single money zone is stuck in economic stagnation. The Business Climate Indicator (BCI), Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI), the annual inflation and a euro area bank lending survey, all those statistics for April show that the euro […]
Five Eurozone countries posted negative inflation rate in March (Greece (-1.5%), Cyprus (-0.9%), Portugal (-0.4%), Spain and Slovakia (both -0.2%), while the rate of change of consumer prices ranged between 0.1% and 0.3% in another four euro area members states during the same month. In almost all the rest euro area countries, March inflation appeared […]
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, speaking in Washington DC last Wednesday 2 April stressed that the world economy, in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008-2012, faces a long period of slow and sub-par growth, “well below the solid, sustainable growth that is needed to create enough jobs and improve […]
In a six line and few words Press release, Eurostat, the EU statistical service, announced its flash estimate for March Eurozone inflation at 0.5% further down from 0.7% in February, setting wide open the deflation (negative inflation rates) trap for the 18 countries euro area. This fast disinflation (falling inflation rates) course started last October, […]
Inflation in Eurozone remained subdued during last January at 0.8%, stable as in December 2013 but way below the January 2013 quote at 2%. According to Eurostat, compared with December 2013, annual inflation fell in seventeen member states, remained stable in seven and rose only in four. In January 2014, negative annual rates were observed […]
During the last few days, Eurostat, the EU statistical service, has produced disappointing data on the Eurozone economy. Last week it was a fall of the volume of retail sales in December by 1.6%, compared to November. Also in December last year compared with December 2012 the retail sales index decreased by 1% in […]
Eurostat, the EU statistical service, announced late yesterday evening that in December unemployment remained at the persistently high level of 12% since October, while inflation took a new downwards turn to 0.7% in January, from 0.8% in December. It’s difficult to say which one of the two developments is more alarming. On both accounts Eurozone […]
Yesterday Eurostat confirmed that the euro area inflation rate for December was down to 0.8% from 0.9% in November, dangerously approaching the negative part of the graph. The announcement coincided with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde’s warning that weak growth in Eurozone is now also threatened by deflation (continuously falling prices leading to real economy […]
Weak growth is threatened by deflation in the developed world, while emerging markets have to overcome the financial turbulences that lie ahead, due to forthcoming restrictive monetary policy by the US central bank, the Fed. This is what IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said yesterday, speaking at the National Press Club in the U.S. capital. […]
With consumer price developments in Eurozone remaining below the one percentage unit for many months now, disinflation (falling inflation) is just some decimal points away from deflation (negative inflation). Yesterday, Eurostat, the EU statistical service, released its estimate for the December headline inflation at 0.8% , down one decimal point from 0.9% in November. This […]
Eurostat, the EU statistical service, confirmed its own inflation rate estimate for November at 0.9% in the Eurozone; that is two decimal points higher than in October. However, this doesn’t mean that inflation took the upward path neither does it indicate that growth has already started pressing consumer prices to higher levels. It must be […]
Yesterday, the European Central Bank, in a swift move, reduced its basic interest rate to 0.25% from 0.5%. The decision was taken by the Governing Council of the bank, in its regular meeting which takes place on the first Thursday of every month. This decision has reportedly taken the capital markets by surprise, but this […]
Eurostat, the EU statistical service, estimates that euro area inflation in October fell to 0.7% from 1.1% in September. It was 1.6% in July and then fell to 1.3% in August. This is an alarmingly fast deceleration of consumer price dynamism, threatening Eurozone with real disinflation, way below the 2% benchmark set by the European […]
In three months, from July to September this year, inflation in Eurozone fell from 1.6% to 1.1%, with a brief stopover of 1.3% in August. The European Sting has been sounding the alarm for months now, over this fast deceleration of consumer goods prices. This trend is present all along this year, starting from […]
Under different circumstances a drop of inflation to 1.3% could have been a cause for celebration. It’s not like that now. The fall of the inflation rate to that level in August is a rather negative development. However averages on many instances hide the truth. Eurozone countries in deep recession like Greece and Cyprus or […]
It will be very interesting to hear what the governor of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, has to say tomorrow in his monthly Press conference, about the fast falling inflation rate and the even faster growing unemployment in Eurozone. Unless he sticks to the letter of ECB’s Statutes and insists, that unemployment does not […]
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