The IMF have upgraded Spain’s 2014 growth forecast to 1.2%. Simon Nixon from the WSJ quipped on twitter that this time last year that was their forecast level for 2018.
@HigherWayne also joined in the tweeting with a story that they declared Bulgarian banks safe just two weeks before the bank runs on CCB and First investment bank.
We can’t dig them out too much as we know that forecasting is largely as accurate as playing pinning the tail on the donkey, and the Bulgaria situation seems to be more to do with criminal activity than any systemic problems.
Today news came out that the Bulgarian CCB will be renamed and nationalised after it was alleged that the main shareholder took 205m levs (around €100m) via a third party ahead of the central bank takeover, and that huge amounts of information on loans are missing and presumed destroyed. It’s also alleged that a significant part of the banks loan portfolio links parties related to the main shareholder. The central bank has said it will guarantee all assets of citizens and companies, except those of this shareholder.
It’s another finger in the eye for EU bank regs