The majority of Germans think their country would be better off without the euro, a poll suggested yesterday, as the German economy minister reiterated doubts over whether Greece can stay in the single currency.
The Emnid poll for the Bild am Sonntag mass circulation weekly showed 51 percent of Germans believed Europe’s top economy would be better outside the 17-country eurozone. Twenty-nine percent said it would be worse off.
The survey also showed that 71 percent of Germans wanted Greece to leave the euro if it did not live up to its austerity promises.
Photo: Reuters
German Minister of Economics and Vice Chancellor Philipp Roesler told the Bild am Sonntag there were “considerable doubts whether Greece is living up to its reform promises.”
“The implementation [of the reforms] is faltering. There is still no functioning tax office. Also, almost nothing has happened in terms of the promised privatization of public assets,” Roesler told the paper. “If Greece does not fulfill its obligations, there can be no more money. Then Greece would be insolvent.”
Roesler and his party — junior partners in Germany’s ruling coalition — have frequently expressed doubts about whether Greece is prepared to follow through with the painful reforms necessary to stay in the single currency club.
Debt-wracked Greece is under immense pressure to carry out a structural reform program, part of a package worth billions of euros that have been keeping its economy alive since 2010.
International auditors are currently in Greece, assessing the Greek government’s progress toward reforms seen as essential to get the country back on its feet.
The audit report will determine whether Greece will receive the next tranche of 31.5 billion euros (US$38.8 billion) from its aid program that it needs to keep the economy afloat.
Meanwhile, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Saturday threw cold water on speculation that the eurozone’s bailout fund will buy Spanish public debt.
Spanish and French media have suggested that the European Financial Stability Facility would start buying bonds issued by Italy and Spain in a coordinated action with the European Central Bank (ECB).
“No, these speculations are unfounded,” Schaeuble said in an interview with the German weekly Die Welt am Sonntag that was to appear on yesterday.
The ECB could resume its own purchases of sovereign bonds on secondary markets to ease pressure on borrowing costs for Rome and Madrid that have climbed to what many consider to be unsustainable levels.
Many economists have also begun to expect some kind of combined effort on the part of eurozone governments and the central bank, especially after ECB President Mario Draghi said on Thursday that the bank would “do whatever it takes to preserve the euro.”
Yet Madrid has rejected the notion of a financial rescue and ruled it out again on Friday.
“A bailout is not an option,” Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said.
The Spanish economic daily El Economista spoke on Wednesday of an overall plan worth 300 billion euros that would allow Spain to finance its public deficit for at least a year-and-a-half.
The eurozone has already approved up to 100 billion euros in aid for the Spanish banking sector.
Schaeuble told Die Welt am Sonntag that Spain “has taken all necessary decisions and is putting them into effect.”
The German finance minister said financial markets had not yet taken account of efforts made to resolve Spain’s banking sector crisis, but added: “That will come.”
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
TECH RELIANCE: Growth is increasingly reflecting an unequal K-shaped distribution, where technology sectors outperform and other industries struggle, an expert said Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth to 9.5 percent this year, up from 7.6 percent previously, citing surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand driving exports, semiconductor production and investment. The upgrade reflects a sustained AI supercycle that continues to fuel demand for advanced chips and technology infrastructure, which form the backbone of Taiwan’s exports, the bank said in a report this week. “We raise our 2026 growth forecast to reflect a much stronger-than-expected first-quarter GDP figure,” Standard Chartered senior economist for greater China and Asia Tommy Wu (胡東安) said in the report. Driven largely by a 35.3 percent
Two of Taiwan’s international carriers, Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), have retained the five-star airline rating awarded by international airline review organization Skytrax. Starlux was awarded the distinction for a second consecutive year, while EVA Air received it for the 11th straight year, Skytrax said in statements released yesterday and on Thursday last week, respectively. The five-star rating is considered one of the airline industry's highest honors and is awarded following professional audits of airline product and frontline service standards, Skytrax said. The ratings are based on in-depth assessments using unified global quality standards rather than customer review scores
RSS