Aurelia Butler

Inflation in Greece, which touched record levels during the pandemic, has cooled, with consumer prices rising by 3.5% in August. But with food inflation still at 10.8% last month, many families struggled to buy basic goods.The government has offered a monthly allowance to low-income households to help them with their supermarket expenses since February. “We will not hide behind statistics,” Development Minister Kostas Skrekas told a press conference on Wednesday. “No one can be happy when there are families struggling to buy essential goods.”Skrekas said big supermarket chains would have to notify authorities of their suppliers’ price lists to help identify which products have become expensive and fight profiteering.Specifically for fruit and vegetables, supermarkets will need to publish their retail prices, while they will also have to mark products on a discount of at least 5% compared with their cost before Sept. 20.”Our aim is to have permanent and visible drops in the sales prices and boost competition,” Skrekas said, adding that supermarkets that were found to be offering fake discounts would face hefty fines. More

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank’s nominee as chief bank supervisor, Claudia Buch, was given a hard time by European lawmakers at her confirmation hearing, with some even raising objections about the legality of her nomination and her qualifications.Buch, who has been the vice-president of Germany’s central bank for 10 years after a career in academia, was chosen last week over Spain’s Margarita Delgado, the European Parliament’s preferred candidate.Most European lawmakers who spoke at the hearing criticised the ECB for disregarding their opinion, which is not binding, when it chose Buch as next chair of the Single Supervisory Board, which oversees the euro zone’s roughly hundred biggest banks.The EU Parliament will have a final say on the appointment on Wednesday at a vote scheduled for 1400 GMT.Jonás Fernández, a Socialist from Spain, said Buch’s nomination may have broken a rule barring the ECB from picking a candidate from within its own Governing Council, where Buch is an alternate member to Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel.The ECB has responded to that objection in a legal opinion seen by Reuters, arguing Buch, as an alternate, was not a member of the Governing Council so that rule did not apply to her. At the hearing, Buch said she would immediately resign from her role as an alternate if appointed as chief supervisor.ECB President Christine Lagarde said last week that the 26-member Governing Council followed the rules in Buch’s selection.LIMITED EXPERIENCE?Marco Zanni, of the right-wing Identity and Democracy Group, asked Buch how she planned to address what he called her limited experience as bank supervisor compared with the other candidate.Buch, 57, recalled her decade as the Bundesbank’s board member in charge of financial stability, when she worked closely with bank supervisors and navigated “many difficult situations”.”I am fully confident in my ability and strengths for this position,” she added.Responding to another question, Buch said creating a common EU insurance on deposits was crucial, breaking with Germany’s long-held scepticism about an initiative that would see financial resources pooled to save depositors across the bloc.She cautioned, however, that “national specificities” that work well should be kept, a likely reference to Germany’s own system involving a public and private safety net for depositors. She also pledged to simplify the annual checks that lenders undergo by cutting routine tasks. (Additional Reporting by Frank Siebelt; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Alexandra Hudson (NYSE:HUD)) More

China’s factory output and retail sales grew at a faster pace in August, but tumbling property investment threatens to undercut a flurry of support steps that are showing signs of stabilising parts of the wobbly economy.”We should appropriately increase macroeconomic policy adjustments, effectively support the expansion of domestic demand and promote a virtuous economic cycle,” state media quoted Yi, deputy head of the economic committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), as saying.That will help China achieve the 2023 growth target of around 5%, Yi said.The government should move to boost the weak confidence of private firms and tackle local government debt risks that have hampered local authorities’ ability to support growth, Yi said.”In the long term, affected by factors such as the slowdown in urbanisation and the population aging, the overall demand for home purchases may fall to a new level,” Yi said.The central bank should use its structural policy tools to support “rigid and improved housing demand”, he said.Yi also called for reforms of China’s system on residence permits, or “hukou”, and improve social welfare for millions of migrant workers who had entered cities, which will help boost consumption. More

This revised prediction by SECO strengthens the argument for a prospective hike in interest rates this Thursday. The projected inflation rate surpassing the central bank’s target for 2023 signals potential changes in the country’s monetary policy.The Swiss government’s anticipation of inflation exceeding the central bank’s goal is seen as a key factor that could influence the decision-making process regarding interest rates. The upcoming deliberations on Thursday are expected to take these recent developments into account.It is important to note that while the revised forecast is lower than the earlier projection made in June, it still remains above the central bank’s target range. This suggests that despite some adjustments, inflation pressures in Switzerland remain a concern for policymakers.In summary, this week’s announcement by SECO indicates a potential shift in Switzerland’s monetary policy due to anticipated inflation rates surpassing the Swiss National Bank’s target. The outcome of Thursday’s interest rate discussions will provide further clarity on how policymakers plan to navigate these economic conditions.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More