A deep Cyprus recession has been forecast by the IMF for this year and next year. However, the IMF also predicted that Cyprus should return to growth by 2015, so long as it ensures that its austerity program is vigorously adhered to. News Source: PressTV

The FTSE 100 is now just 208 points from surpassing its all-time high of 6930 reached during December 1999, just before the dotcom bubble burst. According to the Telegraph, stock exchanges across the globe are following the trend. The Dow Jones in America is up 17% this year, while the Nikkei in Japan is up [...]

Greece’s credit rating has been upgraded one notch from CCC to B- by Fitch ratings. The upgrade by Fitch was due to Greece’s reduction in its budget deficit and reduced fears of a eurozone exit. Greece’s credit rating of B- is still junk status, but the news will further increase investor confidence across Europe. Read [...]

The FTSE 100 closed above the 6,600 mark for the first time since late 2007 on Friday. London’s premier index closed Friday up by 32.2 points to finish the day at 6,625. Over the past year alone, the index has seen its value increase by 17%. Analysts point to buoyant European markets having a positive [...]

The FTSE 100 suffered a heavy 70.38 point fall (1.1%) on Wednesday to finish the day at 6,429.28. On a day of few risers on the index, investor sentiment was weakened by concerns regrading the speed of recovery of the US economy. These concerns heavily impacted those sectors such as the banking and mining sector, [...]

The FTSE 100 ended the week by finishing up by 24.18 points on Thursday. The solid gain occurred despite prevailing concerns about the consequences of the Cyprus bailout which placed a large bank levy on depositors with savings greater than 100,000 euro’s. London’s premier index has gained 1% since the start of March and gained [...]

The Cyprus bailout which included a large levy on big depositors at its banks could serve as a ‘template’ for future bailouts for countries who require additional financing. Early reports indicated that the head of the the Eurogroup used the term ‘template’, however these comments were allegedly denied by a spokeswoman. Indications that the agreed [...]

The FTSE 100 finished lower by 14.38 points despite initial sharp gains during the morning following news of an agreed Cyprus bailout deal. Investor sentiment was strong in the morning following the agreement of a 10 billion euro bailout package for Cyprus. However, the optimism soon faded and the index posted a 14 point fall [...]

China’s economy is to become the world’s biggest economy by 2016 and surpass the United States. According to the OECD, China’s economy will grow by 8.5% this year and 8.9% during 2014. Read More: OECD / PressTV  

Cyprus and the Troika have agreed a new 20% tax on bank deposits of over 100,000 euros held at the Bank of Cyprus. According to Reuters, a bank tax of 4% will also be applied to deposits held at banks other than the Bank of Cyprus.