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Opening Bell: Greece settles up, Toshiba's dodgy accounts, the Government's spending warning

Greece is no longer in arrears to the IMF - the financial institution confirmed yesterday that it...
Newstalk
Newstalk

07.32 21 Jul 2015


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Opening Bell: Greece settles u...

Opening Bell: Greece settles up, Toshiba's dodgy accounts, the Government's spending warning

Newstalk
Newstalk

07.32 21 Jul 2015


Share this article


Greece is no longer in arrears to the IMF - the financial institution confirmed yesterday that it had "repaid the totality of its arrears."

Some €2bn was repaid, an IMF spokesman said that "the Fund stands ready to continue assisting Greece in its efforts to return to financial stability and growth."

Leaked IMF documents have indicated that it does not believe that the Greek economy can be repaired without debt restructuring - this is something which is not included in the country's third bailout package.

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A committee of independent experts has found that Toshiba overstated profits by $1.2bn over the last seven years in a major corporate accounting scandal.

It is believed that excessive pressure was put on employees to achieve tough targets, and this led to individuals overstating earnings.

Hisao Tanaka, Toshiba’s chief executive and Norio Sasaki, its vice chairman are believed to be considering their positions and could be forced to walk away.

Update: The pair have taken responsibility for the scandal, and stepped down.

The company's share price has since lost more than a quarter of its value - and been accused of tarnishing the reputation of corporate Japan by the country's government.

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The coalition has been warned that its spending plans for the next Budget don’t have enough tax increases to pay for them.

The warning comes from the incoming head of the ESRI - Professor Alan Barrett - who has conducted a report into the National Economic Dialogue hosted by the Government last week.

He says that all delegates ‘generally’ accepted the coalition’s plans to set aside up to €1.5bn in ‘fiscal space’ for the next Budget - but were ‘less inclined’ to go along with the Government’s proposed 50/50 split between tax cuts and spending increases.

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Banks and borrowers could benefit from a cut in interest rates on standard variable mortgages. That is according to global credit ratings agency Fitch.

It says that if banks cut the cost of the mortgages, the debt becomes more affordable for the borrower, and the lenders are in with a better chance of getting their money back.

Banks here have been under pressure to cut rates for people on variable mortgages.

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PayPal shares rallied as it split from eBay yesterday, and investors readied themselves for the company to return to the Nasdaq - the payment service is now valued at close to $50bn.

It faces stiff competition as electronic payments go increasingly mobile, it is hoping to take marketshare from companies like Stripe and Square.

"PayPal is the gorilla among independent digital payment service providers with more than 160 million active accounts, global scale and brand recognition," JP Morgan analysts said.

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A fifth of Labour MPs in the UK defied party leadership by voting against the Government's welfare changes. Some 48 of the party's 232 MPs refused to abstain despite being ordered to do so by interim leader Harriet Harman.

One of those was leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn, though rivals Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper eventually fell into line. The Conservatives won a second reading for their package by 308 votes to 124.

Ms Harman has refused to outright oppose the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which cuts tax credits, reduces the welfare cap and introduces a "national living wage".

Rebel ringleader Helen Goodman said the bill was "obnoxious" and "regressive".

"Throughout the election campaign the Tories refused to say how they were going to save £12bn from the welfare bill, and they refused to do that precisely because they knew the measures would be unpopular and it would hit them in the ballot box," said Ms Goodman.

 

Additional reporting by IRN 


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