DETAILS OF WALL STREET DEALS WITH EUROPEAN COUNTRIES EMERGING - Complex financial deals between Wall Street and struggling European economies are coming to light. The deals allowed these countries mask their debt and temporarily prop up their finances, to comply with European law. With Wall Street's help, Greece was able to skirt European debt limits for over ten years. Other countries, like Italy, have been doing it too. One such deal in 2001 and it involved Goldman Sachs helping the Greek government to borrow billions. The deal was treated as a currency trade rather than a loan, so it was hidden from public view. It helped Athens meet Europe's deficit rules, and allowed Greece to spend beyond its means.
Landon Thomas Junior has been writing about the issue at The New York Times. He says that while the deals are not illegal, it really is a question of how they are used. He says a controversy arises when they are used to get around the formal requirements the European Union put down. The journalist says it is not entirely clear just how widespread these deals were, but they were popular among some euro zone countries, including Italy. He says that Greece is a particular example of a country that even from the onset of the euro, was having trouble meeting Maastricht criteria. He says that Greece was always going to suffer, given its structure of high spending and the country's difficulty in collecting taxes and so the mis-match between spending and revenues.
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MORNING BRIEFS - It looks like a deal might be close as Independent News and Media says the deadline for its exclusive talks with Russian oligarch and Evening Standard owner Alexander Lebedev has been extended until February 26. The talks are about the future ownership of its London based titles - The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. Mr Lebedev is a former KGB agent and he is chairman of Russia's National Reserve Bank.
*** It has been a busy weekend for singer Billy Bragg. He has been staging protests against bankers' bonuses and signed a petition outside the Royal Bank of Scotland's former headquarters in Edinburgh. Already, more than 30,000 people have backed the campaign online. He is calling on the UK's Chancellor, Alistair Darling, to cap bonuses to chiefs at the bailed-out bank. Bragg is refusing to pay tax on his earnings until the Government imposes a £25,000 sterling limit on RBS bonuses.
*** Later payments are strangling Irish firms, according to the Small Firms Association. It says that the average payment in Ireland takes 75 days and it is calling for a Small Claims Court for business to be set up so small companies can themselves pursue outstanding debts, without going through lengthy and costly civil court proceedings.
*** Northern Irish financial services firm First Derivatives has bought Cognotec in $4.7m deal. Cognotec has been in receivership since last month.
*** Japan's economy grew by a better than expected 1.1% in the final three months of last year, according to government figures. That is the equivalent of an annualised increase of 4.6%. But despite the growth in October to December, the economy contracted by 5% over the whole of 2009. The figures mean Japan remains the world's second biggest economy, although China is drawing level and is expected to overtake soon.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is trading at $1.3590 cents and 86.9 pence sterling.
