By Renato Cuevas

After intervention and expropriation announcement by Argentina, the Mexican Stock Exchange (MSE) suspended trading of the securities of the oil company YPF.

The Stock Exchange said in a press release after the cessation of trading in New York and Buenos Aires, the Mexican stock market has decided to suspend the sale of securities YPF, which is traded on the International Quotation System (SIC-Capital ) of this market.

By Susana Lima

Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund Managing Director, does not exclude the possibility that Greece may approach back to bankrupcy and has to abandon the euro and the European Union.

Lagarde warned: There is still medicine to take and that's what happens in most southern states of the eurozone, most of all Ireland. The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, said the Greek press takes Germany as "scapegoat".

Schauble said the antipathy generated by German politicians between many Greeks is a common reaction in a difficult situation after Greece went through cuts and reforms in a hurry for the huge debt that belongs largely to Germans sureties.

It's always like that, when you have countries and people who have been living beyond their means and now have to implement austerity, cutbacks and reforms in its labor market, in this situation they tend to blame others, look for scapegoats, but at the same time they know their prosperity is thanks to Europe, said Schauble.

As a result of the nail tearing through of this small European economy, which has a public debt of 168% of its gross domestic product (GDP), Athens has had to impose tough austerity measures like cutting pensions, lower wages, increased tariffs and dismissal of 150,000 public employees as a requirement of the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission.

By Lara Holmes

The entity presided by Francisco Gonzalez requested authorization to delegate to the board of directors the power to issue up to 12,000 million Euros into convertible securities for a maximum period of five years, as reported to the CNMV.

This mechanism would allow the bank to strengthen its capital to the new provisioning requirements of the Government of assets linked to real estate and the European Banking Authority (EBA) to raise the core capital ratio to 9%.

By Fernando Álvarez: Ex IMF Economist

Writing in the Financial Times online on Tuesday, January 24, World Bank President Dr. Robert Zoellick writes that for almost 60 years, Germans have maintained that it is their responsibility to participate in a modern Europe. Today, Germany’s responsibility is to lead in saving that Europe. This shift is not easy for Germans, who have often been urged to step forward, only then to be criticized for aggressiveness. But no other country can lead Europe out of crisis and into revival Europe has stumbled from one partial solution to another, buying time without solving the interconnected problems of sovereign debt, banks and competitiveness. Germany has recently urged a fiscal pact as part of a renovated European project. Chancellor Angela Merkel knows that while Germans do not want to waste money, they are deeply committed to their European identity and will offer support if presented with an achievable plan.

Combined with new governments pushing fiscal discipline and structural reform in Italy and Spain, as well as support from the European Central Bank, Ms Merkel’s new direction has improved prospects. But these steps are not enough. Risks abound. Italy, Spain and others will find it much harder to make fiscal and structural reforms without growth. What will happen to Prime Minister Mario Monti’s political support if Italy does not see results? And what are the costs of a Eurozone breakdown if seemingly precipitated by German “austerity” policies? Germany needs to expand its proposal for a fiscal pact into a plan that offers incentives and support to countries that translate words into action. Germany cannot and should not save countries if they do not act to save themselves, but it can assist reformers to sustain political support. Rather than be dragged grudgingly to help bit-by-bit at the last moment, Germany and its European partners should put incentives on the table now. What might a revival plan look like?

By Susana Lima

The Norwegian oil company Statoil announced on Monday about the discovery of a new large oil field located in the Barents Sea, which could contain 300 million barrels or so.

This revelation confirms the potential of the Barents Sea depths, where in April of 2011, Statoil discovered another deposit called Skrugard.

Havis, as the recently discovered deposit was named, and Skrugard could contain between 400 and more than 600 million barrels of oil.

Statoil deputy Helge Lund said in a statement that the two fields opened a new oil province in the north.

Both reserves are 7 miles away and despite not sharing any connection, its development could be set together.

The two deposits, which are part of the same production license, owned by Statoil, which has 50%, Italy's Eni, 30% and Norwegian state-owned Petoro which owns 20%.

By Eliane Portillo

At the meeting of the General Affairs Council on 5 December 2011, ministers continued work on the next multiannual financial framework (MFF). They had agreed earlier that the next MFF would cover the period from 2014 to 2020.

The debate was based on a comprehensive note by the Polish presidency, aimed  at taking stock of the debate so far. Since the MFF encompasses a wide array of policy areas, topics as diverse as cohesion, the Connecting Europe Facility, the Common Agricultural Policy and security and citizenship were discussed.

In addition, the way in which different kinds of mechanism and instrument are going to work has to be determined, for instances as regards the different types of conditionality. Overall, several aspects of the proposal submitted by the Commission need further clarification and examination; this applies for example to the new VAT own-resource or the use of innovative financial instruments.

This was the last debate about the MFF during the Polish presidency. Formal negotiations are expected to begin in early 2012.

By Susana Lima

As a relief to the Spanish unemployment that continues to rise, now besides Germany, Norway has also recruited professionals in Spanish territory.

It is estimated that Norway will need to hire about 5,000 engineers over the next two years thanks to new discoveries of oil fields in the North Sea.

By Fernando Álvarez: Ex IMF Economist

According to a new Report published on November 10 by the EU, the recovery of the EU economy has stopped. Sharply deteriorated confidence is affecting investment and consumption, weakening global growth is holding back exports, and urgent fiscal consolidation is weighing on domestic demand. GDP in the EU is now projected to stagnate until well into 2012. Growth for the whole of 2012 is forecast at about ½%. 

By 2013, a return to slow growth of about 1½% is expected. No real improvements are projected for labour markets, and unemployment is forecast to remain at the current high level of around 9½%. Inflation is set to return below 2% over the coming quarters. Fiscal consolidation is forecast to progress with public deficits set to decline to just above 3% by 2013 under an assumption of unchanged policies.

By Susana Aguirre

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel inaugurated on Tuesday the first phase of what is considered that will be the largest energy infrastructure in Europe. This is the Baltic gas pipeline linking Germany with Russia.

The budget for this project is 7.300 billion euros, which has raised suspicions in the regions of Warsaw and Kiev.
The Nord Stream pipeline capacity at peak performance will exceed 55.000 million cubic meters of gas per year, which will be transported through 1.224 km of pipes laid on the Baltic Sea bottom.

Thus, the Russians managed to avoid the gas transfer through Ukraine and Poland to achieve supply the most lucrative markets in Western Europe.

By Eliane Portillo

Twenty-one months after Greece triggered financial and political turmoil by admitting it was broke, the euro zone still can’t fix its debt crisis.

One after another, troubled European countries have asked for bailouts: Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. Late-night meetings produced hasty statements and new crisis measures, like Sunday’s rushed decision by the European Central Bank to buy Spanish and Italian bonds and ward off financial collapse there. Bond markets steadied, but by midweek the cloud of fear simply moved to France, with panic selling of French bank stocks.