In Brief
Cypriot central bank ups GDP forecast to 0.7 pct NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus’s central bank raised its growth forecasts yesterday, saying the island’s economy should grow 0.7 percent in 2010 and 1.8 percent next year but action was needed to put deteriorating public finances in order. In a semiannual report, the central bank said the upward revision followed positive performances by the tourism and financial services sectors. «The upward revision is mainly due to an increase in the GDP growth for the first quarter and better-than-expected data for the second and third quarter,» Athanasios Orphanides, the central bank’s governor and a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, told a news conference. The central bank had forecast in June that gross domestic product would shrink 0.5 percent this year and grow 1.3 percent next year. Despite growth, Orphanides said he was concerned at the upward trend in public debt. Citing European Commission forecasts, Orphanides said that from 58 percent of GDP in 2009, it was poised to hit 68 percent in 2012. «The deterioration is disheartening,» he said. Piraeus shareholders fail to approve cash call Greece’s fourth-largest lender, Piraeus Bank, said a repeat shareholders’ meeting yesterday to approve an 1.05-billion-euro ($1.06 billion) cash call did not reach quorum and will be repeated later in the month. «Monday’s shareholders’ meeting needed a quorum of 50-plus percent. The second repeat assembly on December 20 will need a quorum of 33.3 percent,» said the official, who did not want to be named. (Reuters) Turkish inflation Turkish inflation is expected to continue falling in the coming months, while annual core inflation indicators are expected to show limited rises, the country’s central bank said yesterday. In its regular statement on monthly inflation data, which came out sharply lower than expected in November, the bank said the downward correction in unprocessed food prices was expected to continue in December. (Reuters)
