Britain’s hard-pressed manufacturing base received a new blow on Tuesday when French car-maker PSA Peugeot-Citroën said it was pulling out of the United Kingdom, closing its Ryton car factory at Coventry in the West Midlands with the loss of 2 300 jobs. The news was received with dismay by trade unions and local business leaders.
If consumers in Warsaw are wary of the impact of the single market on their wallets, should Britain also be wary of the more grandiose visions of a vast trade empire of 450-million people? The population of the EU will increase by about a fifth — but its economic might will increase by somewhere between 4% and 6%.
The outlook for the global economy is improving, although concerns are emerging about prospects for the United States and the eurozone, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said this week. The International Monetary Fund last week also gave an upbeat assessment of the outlook for financial markets, while highlighting the threat of a renewed al-Qaeda terror campaign.
As the European Union prepares to open its new extension it might care to look at the cracks in the front wall. Countries across the eurozone are struggling with their public finances, high unemployment and voters who are unwilling to accept painful structural reforms of their social welfare networks and labour markets designed to make their economies more flexible.
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/ 13 February 2004
United States President George W Bush expressed alarm on Tuesday after oil cartel Opec threatened to undermine his chances of a second term in the White House by announcing a surprise cut in production from April.
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/ 2 February 2004
In the karaoke bars in downtown Tokyo they must be belting out Shirley Bassey’s Hey, Big Spender. The Bank of Japan may lack the dash of the old hit’s hero, but it does know how to splash the cash. But The greenback’s fall from grace means trouble — except in the United States.
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/ 30 January 2004
They are a club that have built their success on a twin policy of winning on the field while conquering the corporate world. But this week Manchester United, the world’s most financially successful club, could be plunged into one of the biggest crises in their history.