Panama plans to introduce the euro

 

Panama President Ricardo Martinelli (Reuters/Carlos Jasso)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/business/news/panama-euro-currency-plan-544/

Panama is considering introducing the euro as legal tender alongside the US dollar, the country’s President Ricardo Martinelli has announced.

­He revealed the plan to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a visit in Berlin this week. "In Panama the currency in free circulation is the American dollar and I told the chancellor we are looking for ways for the euro to become another currency of legal circulation and to be accepted in the Panamanian market," Ricardo Martinelli said.

The president expressed "full confidence" in the stability of the German and European economies and stressed he expected the euro zone fiscal problems to be resolved soon. Concerns over a possible breakdown have eased since the European Central Bank said it was ready to start buying government bonds- in the so-called buy-back program – to reduce the borrowing costs of troubled countries such as Spain and Italy.

Panama has an unemployment rate of 2.7% and the economy is among the fastest growing and best managed in Latin America. It grew 10.6% last year with the help of heavy infrastructure spending including the expansion of the Panama Canal and a free trade agreement with the US.

The country's economy is mainly based on a well developed service sector including banking, commerce, tourism, and trading. The Panamanian currency is officially the balboa, but in practice, the country is dollarized. The president hasn’t provided any details about the probable introduction of the euro.

Panama is 10,000 km from the mainland eurozone it wouldn’t be the first overseas nation to use the currency. French overseas departments from the Indian Ocean to the Caribbean and the territories of Mayotte, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon already use the euro.

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US sets steep duties on Chinese solar panels

 

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/266053.html

China demanded Thursday that Washington repeal steep tariffs on solar panels that Chinese producers fear will shut their equipment out of the American market.

The tariffs upheld Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department add to financial pressure on struggling Chinese solar panel manufacturers that are suffering heavy losses due to weak demand and a price-cutting war.

"The United States is inciting trade friction in new energy and sending a negative signal to the whole world about protectionism and obstructing the development of new energy development," Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang said in a statement. It gave no indication whether Beijing might retaliate.

"We hope the U.S. side will correct its erroneous action with early termination of the trade remedy measures," Shen said.

The dispute highlights tensions over whether China's government-dominated economy should be treated as a free market. Beijing has pressed the United States and Europe to officially grant such status, which would make it harder to bring some dumping and other complaints, but none of its major trading partners has agreed.

Beijing launched its own probe last November into whether U.S. government support for producers of wind, solar and other renewable energy technology is an improper trade barrier.

In August, the Commerce Ministry ruled that U.S. support for six clean energy projects violated free trade rules and called on Washington to stop but made no mention of possible penalties. Businessweek

FACTS & FIGURES

On Monday, October 8, the U.S. House Intelligence Committee warned that China's two leading technology firms pose a major security threat to the United States. Financial Review

The panel says regulators should block mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. by Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp. It also advises that U.S. government systems not include equipment from the two firms, and that private U.S. companies avoid business with them. Financial Review

The U.S. is in the midst of a deep economic crisis. Devoid of any real solutions to put forward, U.S. politicians are instead looking for a scapegoat which these days happens to be China. The National

U.S. politicians are largely declaring "China is cheating" and engaging in "rogue practices." With no end in sight for the U.S.' economic malaise, the anti-China protectionist sentiment is likely to continue and spread into other sectors, especially as next year's presidential elections come closer. The National

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