Finance Minister downplays lower deficit
Updated at 9:35 pm on 6 June 2012
Finance Minister Bill English downplayed a $1.4 billion improvement in the Government's latest monthly accounts, saying it does not lessen the Government's need to keep control of its spending.
The deficit before gains and losses on the Government's investments was $5.9 billion to the end of April, $1.4 billion dollars less than forecast in the Budget in May.
The deficit was smaller due to a higher than expected tax take and lower than expected spending.
The tax take was $770 million more than forecast. But Mr English says tax is still nearly $1 billion down on the Treasury's pre-election forecasts in October last year.
Mr English says a tight rein on spending is still needed to hit the Government's target of a surplus by 2014-15.
The minister says the Government knows where the money is going, but the revenue is uncertain and this month it has been higher than expected. The big task is to do everything possible to lift economic growth.
Returns from State Owned Enterprises and Crown Entities were $300 million more than forecast, while spending was $320 lower than predicted.
The Green Party says the new figures showing stronger-than-expected returns from SOEs is further proof the Government should retain them in full ownership.
The Treasury says company tax was $450 million more than it forecast in the Budget. Crown expenses were 0.6% lower than expected. The debt balance is slightly better than forecast at 25.9% of gross domestic product.
Infometrics economist Benje Patterson says the better-than-forecast deficit does not signal a dramatic turnaround in the Government's books and more spending cuts will be needed to hit the surplus target.
Copyright © 2012, Radio New Zealand
Finance directors’ income at average of £1m - WalesOnline
FOREX-Euro buoyant, Aussie dollar eyes jobs data - Reuters UK
* Spanish bond auction, Bernanke's testimony in focus
* Euro hovers near two-week highs, Aussie not far off parity
* Australian jobs data in focus
By Ian Chua
SYDNEY, June 7 (Reuters) - The euro hovered near two-week highs against the greenback early in Asia on Thursday, while the Australian dollar rose towards parity as hopes grew that Europe was moving closer to helping rescue Spain's stricken banks.
Speculation of more stimulus from the U.S. central bank also helped bolster risk appetite. A top Fed official said a softening U.S. economy is getting close to a point where he would call for more stimulus action from the Fed to revive growth.
As a result, both the safe-haven U.S. dollar and yen fell sharply. The dollar dropped to its lowest since late May against a basket of major currencies. That saw the euro climb as high as $1.2585 overnight.
The single currency last stood at $1.2568, with immediate resistance around $1.2600, followed by $1.2671, a level representing the 38.2 percent retracement of its May 1-June 1 fall.
Also helping sentiment, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny told Austrian television any Spanish request to tap European bailout funds would be a "reasonable option" that could help restore trust in the country's banking sector.
Still, analysts warned that markets will remain choppy, with risk assets vulnerable to further falls.
"Market expectations for a new wave of quantitative easing in the major developed market economies have increased, but this might not tackle the cause of the current challenges or, indeed, allay market anxieties related to banking and sovereign solvency," said Koon Chow, strategist at Barclays Capital.
"Until these problems are tackled head on, it will be hard for emerging market assets to rally independently."
In the short-term, traders said further gains in the euro will depend on Spain's bond auction due later in the day. The sale of up to 2 billion euros of bonds is seen as a crucial test of Madrid's ability to tap the bond market.
It comes at a time when Spain's debt costs are at their highest since the launch of the euro and plans to recapitalise its banks are being actively discussed with German and European Union officials.
The ECB's decision to do nothing on the monetary policy front after its meeting on Wednesday has put the onus squarely on euro zone governments to solve the bloc's debt crisis.
Also in focus is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony on the economic outlook before the congressional Joint Economic Committee at 1400 GMT. Markets will be combing through his comments for hints of any new stimulus.
The U.S. dollar also fell against many other currencies, including the Australian dollar, which jumped above $0.9900 , pulling well away from an eight-month trough of $0.9581 plumbed Friday.
The Aussie was already on fire after surprisingly strong first-quarter growth data on Wednesday dampened market expectations for deeper interest rate cuts.
The market's immediate focus is Australia's employment data due at 0130 GMT. Forecasts centre on a fall of 5,000 jobs in April and for the unemployment rate to edge up to 5.1 percent from 4.9 percent.
The U.S. dollar managed to outperform the yen, which was hit broadly as risk appetite improved. The yen was also dampened by recent threats from Japanese authorities to curb its strength.
The dollar climbed to a one-week high of 79.39 yen, putting even more distance from a 3-1/2 month trough around 77.65 set on June 1. (Reporting by Ian Chua; Editing by Richard Pullin)
Forex Flash: Today's strategy for USD/JPY – Commerzbank and Danske Bank - FXStreet.com
Finance leaders report demands on the 'finance function' are increasing further - Director of Finance online
Finance leaders report demands on the 'finance function' are increasing further.
Finance Leaders are bucking the current trend for negativity on the economic outlook with over 60% of attendees at PwC's Finance Leaders' Summit expecting positive growth in their industry over the next 12-18 months.
The summit, which was held in London by PwC for CFOs and finance leaders from 98 multi-national companies, also touched on how the emerging markets continue to be important for growth.
Top locations were identified as China followed by Brazil, India, the US and Russia.
As the push for growth in new markets continues, an increasing importance is placed on understanding local requirements and demand with 90% of attendees saying they were increasingly moving away from simply exporting products towards developing products and services that are modified to meet local market needs.
Nick Atkin, partner in PwC Consulting's Finance Effectiveness practice said:
"In today's competitive economic landscape and global marketplace, it is no longer enough to export your home-grown products and services. Understanding the opportunities and risks in the local target market and innovating to develop tailor-made products and services is pivotal to success in the emerging markets."
When looking at business in the emerging markets, 60% of finance leaders cite finding and retaining the right talent as the key consideration for their function, followed by compliance and regulatory control risk.
Talent issues remain a concern for finance functions also when doing business in their own countries. Whilst 89% of finance leaders said that the demands on the finance function have increased over the past year, an overwhelming 92% of attendees reported gaps within their existing finance talent base to be able to effectively deliver against the business strategy - with more than a quarter saying those gaps are significant.
Nick Atkin, PwC partner, continues:
“Finance leaders are increasingly focusing on talent management, on attracting and retaining the right talent and on developing the skills of their teams. As organisations grow and expand internationally this is a top priority for business leaders today."
The drive for finance to become a partner of the business and driver of strategy as opposed to a department of report churners seems to continue unabated. Over half of the finance leaders believe that finance should have the responsibility for driving the right data, information and analytics across the business.
Yet a quarter of the respondents stated that the management information produced by finance failed to meet the needs of the business, with a further 37% only neutral about its impact.
Nick Groves, PwC partner and global leader of the enterprise performance management team said:
"Far too much time is still spent on manipulating data rather than on analysing information to deliver insightful solutions. Whilst finance leaders clearly recognise the importance of their role in driving the right data, significant opportunity remains in aligning management information to the needs of the business."
Whilst adding insight and maintaining control are clearly high on Finance Leaders' agendas, continuing to strive for an efficient organisation is still an important balancing act. 70% of Finance Leaders' said that they are now considering a move towards multi-functional shared services, with Finance, IT, HR and Procurement functions being the top candidates. This generates significant benefits to organisations yet also creates certain complexity
Nick Atkin, PwC partner, concluded:
"Organisations continue to look to drive efficiency across the support functions and deliver high quality services to internal customers freeing up time for finance leaders to support more effective decision making. With more free time, finance can focus on putting information at the heart of the organisation to drive better outcomes, growth and prosperity for the business, its employees and shareholders."
FOREX-Euro gains in aftermath of ECB rate decision and Draghi - Reuters
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Export Finance Guarantee Corporation pays record claim of Rs 713 crore - Economic Times
Banks and exporters, which suffered losses in finance portfolio due to risk arising out of political and commercial. ECGC received premium of Rs 1,005 crore in 2011-12 as against Rs 885 crore in the previous year.
The company made recoveries of Rs 169 crore during the year. It has formed a recovery cell to improve recovery. "Our recovery is not as good as our global peers. We expect to improve recovery after this cell is formed," said N Shankar chairman and managing director ECGC. Banks resort to recovery mechanism by debt recovery tribunals and Sarfaesi Actor the Securitisation Act to recover loan. Different risks arising out of non-payment due to commercial and political risks is insured by ECGC.
As exporters are defaulting on dues due to euro zone crisis and therefore, banks are suffering from losses out of the pre-shipment and post-shipment finance.
The company had issued whole turnover pre/post shipment cover to State Bank of India and its associates.
To insure export credit risk with Iran, ECGC has got into a mechanism where Kolkata based Uco Bank has tied up with four Iranian Banks special rupee vostro account. As per the arrangement between Government of India and Ira, around 45% of the payments to Iranian companies will be deposited to these accounts.
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