Monday, April 1, 2013

Greek manufacturing PMI dropped sharply in March ..... After the Cyprus deposit snatch debacle , we now learn a deposit snatch scheme was discussed with Greece in 2011 ( next bailout in Greece , the Greeks now know what will be planned for their deposits ) ....Cyprus President dismisses report about relatives transferring 21 million euros a few day before capital levy on deposits imposed by Eurogroup - let's see if the Cypriot people dismiss the report ..... Cypriots can make a stand , turnout corrupt politicians and demand the rule of law and their Constitution be honored - or they will be looted by the Troika , the complicit and corrupt leaders in place and other opportunist thieves in their midst !

Monday Cyprus related  updates .....


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-01/list-released-132-names-who-pulled-cyprus-deposits-ahead-confiscation-day


List Released With 132 Names Who Pulled Cyprus Deposits Ahead Of "Confiscation Day"

Tyler Durden's picture
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2013 12:51 -0400



With every passing day, it becomes clearer and clearer the Cyprus deposit confiscation "news" was the most unsurprising outcome for the nation's financial system and was known by virtually everyone on the ground days and weeks in advance: first it was disclosed that Russians had been pulling their  money, then it was suggested the president himself had made sure some €21 million of his family's money was parked safely in London, then we showed a massive surge in Cyprus deposit outflows in February, and now the latest news is that a list of 132 companies and individuals has emerged who withdrew their €-denominated deposits in the two weeks from March 1 to March 15, among which the previously noted company Loutsios & Sons which is alleged to have ties with the current Cypriot president Anastasiadis.
From Sigma:
Money transfers made within 15 days, namely from 1 until March 15. On Friday, March 15, had met the Eurogroup, which officially decided to impose a tax on deposits by companies and individuals in all financial institutions in Cyprus.

These 132 companies and individuals have withdrawn all deposits in euros, dollars and rubles, which were transferred to other banks outside Cyprus.

The disclosure of the list, which shows that the outflow of deposits from local banks other financial institutions outside Cyprus became massively raises suspicion that some had inside information about the decisions taken by the other 16 eurozone countries in exchange for financing deficits of the economy.

In listings, and the company is Loutsios & Sons Ltd, which carried 21 million deposit in a UK bank, while the owner of the company is alleged to have family ties with the President of the Republic, Nikos Anastasiadis.

The first column are names of companies and individuals in the second record of the amounts withdrawn in the third column refers to the amount withdrawn in the same currency, the currency in the fourth and the fifth and last column refers to the date of transfer.
So, ironically enough, in answer to our question from last week, "So Who Knew", the answer appears to be everyone.


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-01/cyprus-pain-only-just-starting


For Cyprus, The Pain Is Only Just Starting

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Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2013 18:09 -0400



If the suffering, yet docile, Cypriot serfs thought deposit confiscation would be the end of their problems under the European feudal system, they are about to be shocked. Because as part of their banking sector bailout, the country is set to get a "loan" from the Troika, a loan which comes with a Memorandum of Understanding, aka a "blueprint for austerity", with dictates terms for government revenue increases and spending cuts (of the variety that nearly caused America's leader to blow a gasket when he was describing the untold devastation that would result if the rate of acceleration in US budget spending dared to be slowed down even by a tiny bit). Today, a draft of the revised Cypriot MOU being prepared by the head of the IMF mission to the island nation, Delia Velculescu, leaked and can be found in its 24 page entirety here. However, for the benefit of our Cypriot readers, here is the important part: the listing of the anticipated austerity tsunami coming, not to mention healthcare system, "pension reform" changes and other proposals the ECB and the IMF are imposing on Cyprus as part of their generosity to keep the recently insolvent country as a well-behaving serf in the Eurozone.
Key highlights:
  • Freeze public sector pensions
  • Increase the statutory retirement age by 2 years for the various categories of employees
  • Reduce preferential treatment of specific groups of employees, like members of the army and police force, in the occupational pension plans, in particular concerning the contribution to the lump-sum benefits;
  • Reduce certain benefits and privileges for state officials and senior government officials, in particular by
    suspending the right to travel first/business class by state officials,
    senior government officials and employees with the exception of
    transatlantic travel.
  • Increase excise duties on energy, i.e., on oil products, by increasing tax rate on motor fuels (petrol and gasoil) by EUR 0.07
  • Increase the standard VAT rate from 17% to 18%.
  • Introduce a tax of 20% on gains distributed to winners of betting by the National Lottery for winnings of EUR 5,000 or more
  • Increase fees for public services by at least 17% of the current values
  • Increase excise duties on tobacco products, in particular on fine-cut smoking tobacco, from EUR 60/kg to EUR 150/kg. Increase excise duties on cigarettes by EUR 0.20/per packet of 20 cigarettes.
  • Introduce a permanent contribution of 3% on pensionable earnings to Widows and Orphans Fund by state officials who are entitled to a pension and gratuity. Introduce a contribution of 6.8% on pensionable earnings by officials, who are entitled to a pension and gratuity but are not covered by the government's pension scheme or any other similar plan;
  • Actuarially reducing pension entitlements from the General Social Insurance Scheme by 0.5% per monthfor retirements earlier than the statutory retirement age at the latest from January 2013, in line with the planned increase in the minimum age for entitlement to an unreduced pension to reach 65 (by 6 months per year), between 2013 and 2016;
  • Ensure a reduction of seasonal hourly paid employees by 992 from 1806 in 2012 to 814.
  • Implement a four-year plan as prepared by the Public Administration and Personnel Department aimed at theabolition of at least 1880 permanent posts over the period 2013-2016.
  • Ensure additional revenues from property taxation of at least 70 million by updating the 1980 prices through application of the CPI index for the period 1980 to 2012
  • Increase the statutory corporate income tax rate to 12.5%; Increase the tax rate on interest and dividend income to 30%.
  • Increase the bank levy on deposits raised by banks and credit institutions in Cyprus from 0.11% to 0.15% with 25/60 of the revenue earmarked for a special account for a Financial Stability Fund
  • Undertake a reform of the tax system for motor vehicles, based on environmentally-friendly principles,with a view to raising additional revenues, through the annual road tax, the registration fee and excise duties, including motor fuel duties.
  • Ensure a reduction in total outlays for social transfers by at least EUR 113 million through: (a) the abolition of a number of redundant and overlapping schemes such as the mothers allowance, other family allowances and educational allowances; and (b) the abolition of supplementary allowances under public assistance, the abolition of the special grant and the streamlining of the Easter allowance for pensioners.
  • Ensure a reduction of at least EUR 29 million in the total outlays of allowances for employees in the public and broader public sector by i) taxing pensionable allowances provided to senior government officials and employees (secretarial services, representation, and hospitality allowances) in the public and broader public sector  ii) reducing the allowances provided to broader public sector employees and reducing all other allowances of broader public sector employees, government officials and hourly paid employees by 15%; and iii) reducing the daily overseas subsistence allowance for business trips by 15%. Ensure a further reduction the subsistence allowance of the current allowance when lunch/dinner is offered by 50% (20% - 45% of overseas subsistence allowance instead of 40% - 90% currently paid).
And last but not least:
  • Increase excise duties on beer by 25% from EUR 4.78 per hl to EUR 6.00 per hl per degree of pure alcohol of final product. Increase excise duties on ethyl alcohol from EUR 598.01 to EUR 956.82 per hl of pure alcohol.
So the stronger the booze, and the faster it gets one drunk, the more expensive is will be.
In brief: for the Cypriot serfs the pain is just starting.
Troika Draft MOU source




Greek news items  from Monday - focus on Greece and Cyprus from the Greek point of view....






http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_01/04/2013_491111


Greek manufacturing suffered further slump in March, PMI shows


Greece's manufacturing slump deepened in March as new orders shrank again, with the impact of the crisis in Cyprus yet to take its toll on the local economy, a survey showed on Monday.
Markit's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for Greek manufacturing, which accounts for roughly 15% of the economy, dropped to 42.1 points in March from 43.0 points in February.
The index has held below the 50 point line dividing growth from contraction since September 2009, just before the country's fiscal problems came to light.
"After rising in the opening two months of the year, the headline PMI dipped in March, largely reflecting faster declines in both output and new orders,» said Markit senior economist Phil Smith.
"Eyes now turn to next month's release for an early insight into whether developments in nearby Cyprus have impacted business and consumer confidence,» he added.
Firms saw another fall in new orders in March, accelerating from the previous month, as demand in the economy slumped.
But new orders from abroad fell at a much slower rate, and the seasonally adjusted index for new export orders climbed to an 11-month high.
Fiscal austerity is expected to keep the economy in recession for a sixth straight year in 2013, with the government projecting a 4.5% contraction in gross domestic product on top a 20% GDP shrinkage over the 2008-2012 period.
Reduced workloads and spare capacity forced manufacturers to shed staff at the fastest pace this year. The official unemployment rate stood at 26% in the fourth quarter.
[Reuters]




http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_01/04/2013_491084


Troika discussed depositor bail-in for two Greek banks in 2011


The troika discussed with Greece in 2011 the possibility of bailing in depositors at two failing banks in a similar scheme to the one adopted for Cyprus.
Sunday’s Kathimerini discovered that a haircut for depositors at Aspis and Proton banks was discussed in the spring of 2011 as part of talks between Greece, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund ahead of the Greek debt restructuring program, or PSI.
Greece’s lenders deemed at the time that Aspis and Proton were not systemic lenders and as such a haircut on depositors would not impact the rest of the country’s banking system.
The Greek side argued that the systemic banks would already be losing part of their capital as a result of a restructuring of Greek bonds and that the knock-on effect of deposit losses at Aspis and Proton might be too much for lenders to bear.
This led to the plan for a haircut on deposits in Greece being abandoned.


http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_01/04/2013_491060

Anastasiades dismisses report about relatives' transfers ahead of deposit haircut


Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has dismissed a report that a firm owned by his son-in-law’s father transferred 21 million euros abroad a few days before the Eurogroup’s decision on March 16 to impose a levy on depositors in Cyprus.
Anastasiades rejected on Sunday the report in Haravgi newspaper as being inaccurate and an attempt to “draw attention from those who are responsible for leading our country to bankruptcy.”
The Cypriot Communist Party, AKEL, has called on the country’s Parliament to investigate the allegations.






http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=219311


Cyprus House President: Leave The EMS
From the Famagusta Gazette:
There is no other alternative but to free Cyprus from the bonds of the troika and the memorandum, House of Representatives President Yiannakis Omirou has said.
Omirou also expressed his conviction that no Attorney General would dream of not following through with the results of an investigation led by an independent committee to apportion blame on those responsible for bringing the country’s economy and banking sector near collapse.
Omirou talked about the troika demands, which according to him will multiply and will turn Cyprus to a colony of the worst possible type and warned “I would like to send a message to the Cyprus people that there is no other way, there is no alternative apart from freeing (the country) from the troika’s and the memorandum’s bonds”.
He's right, of course.
What Cyprus needs to do is what Iceland did.  Tell the EU and Troika to stuff it, refuse to pay them, and if they don't like it and refuse to leave Cyprus alone in peace issue warrants for their arrest irrespective of the number of pieces in which they are delivered.
The simple fact of the matter is that an alleged "government" that fails to discharge its duty to the people when it comes to making representations about the health of its financial institutions on which the people depend is no government at all -- it is rogue's gallery of thieves and liars which under any reasonable system of law become subject to indictment, prosecution and punishment.
This is no less true in Cyprus than anywhere else, and Iceland shows that it both can be done and works when it is done.  The people of Iceland surrounded the seat of their government with road flares on one cold winter night, demanding justice, not slavery.
They got what they demanded and their nation is better for it.
The road was not easy, nor free of risk and sacrifice.  But it was worth it, and what's better is that those who committed the acts that led to the crisis in the first place are now coming under the purview of the justice system and being tried for their crimes.  Those who insisted on being paid irrespective of the fact that they had no right to funds and were complicit in the attempted looting got told to stuff it instead, and Iceland made that stick.
Italy is next folks; Monte Paschi owes the ECB far more than it has in capital.  This bank should have been shut down long ago and the stock and bondholders stuck with the loss.  Instead it now looks like depositors are again going to get screwed despite the fact that the so-called regulators are supposed to have a duty to insure that this does not happen.
At present loss provisions exceed revenues; this institution is in a deep hole from which it is unlikely to be able to recover.  What's worse is that the bank apparently engaged in derivative transactions that hid losses.  
There is either the rule of law or there is the law of the jungle, and scant middle ground between them. There is utterly no reason for the people of any nation to tolerate being lied to and as a consequence their property winds up being stolen by foreigners with the complicity of their government.
The international shell game of derivatives and demonstrably and known unsound leverage must end, and those who have engaged in these schemes must be held to account.




Late Sunday news for Cyprus....






http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-31/new-cyprus-business-model-20-fee-move-millions-offshore


New Cyprus Business Model: 20% Fee To Move Millions Offshore

Tyler Durden's picture
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/31/2013 22:28 -0400




After being told that the Cypriot business model was broken, the ever-resilient people of this 'storm in a teacup' island have, by all appearances, taken up their entrepreneurial sickles to make hay while the Troika sun shines. As the FT reports, the hunt is on for many Cypriot bank account holders to find ways to circumnavigate the new Draconian capital controls - and get their money off the island. It seems that this 'need' is being addressed by friendly 'unidentified' locals who are willing to help transfer money across the border (since there is a EUR3,000 limit) for a mere 20% upfront fee. "There are some dubious capital outflows out of Cyprus as we speak," one senior Eurozone official noted, "and... not only Russians." At least three people have been stopped attempting to cross the border with more than EUR 200,000 in cash on their person - their money was confiscated.

Via The FT,
The hunt is on for many Cypriots to find ways to circumnavigate the new Draconian capital controls and get their money off the island.

At least three people have attempted to flee the island in recent weeks with more than €200,000 in cash on their person, according to official sources. The money was in all cases confiscated and the people questioned by the authorities.

...

Sergei Tyulenev, a Russian businessman, says he received a call on Thursday – the day the capital controls were implemented – from Cypriots he did not wish to identify offering to help him move what he implied was more than €1m out of a collapsing local bank.

The move would have seen his money transferred from the now-failed Laiki Bank, where deposits over €100,000 are likely to see substantial write-offs, to Hellenic Bank, a comparatively healthy Cypriot subsidiary of a Greek bank.

There was a catch though, on top of the illegality of the move.“They said I had to pay €200,000 up front. I refused,” said Mr Tyulenev, speaking from Limassol, a town dubbed “Limassolgrad” for its high proportion of Russian residents.

The Financial Times has seen no official reports of illegal financial dealings at the banks. Those calling Mr Tyulenev may not have been able to follow through with their offer or may have been stopped in their attempts by the financial regulators.

...

“There are some dubious capital outflows out of Cyprus as we speak,” one senior eurozone official directly involved with negotiations with Cypriot officials said before the banks had reopened. “I’m sure it’s ‘the friends’, and the friends are not only Russians.”

...

Some 18 per cent of the deposits held in Cypriot banks by residents of other eurozone countries were pulled out in February, according to figures from the Central Bank of Cyprus. Such deposits in Cyprus had fallen 41 per cent since last June to €3.9bn.

...




Monday morning around the horn news.....







http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-01/overnight-sentiment-closed



Overnight Sentiment - Closed

Tyler Durden's picture
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2013 07:04 -0400




With Europe and the UK closed today, it was unclear if the traditional overnight futures levitation would take place as scheduled. To nobody's big surprise, it did, driven as usual by the EURUSD, which rose from an overnight low in the mid 1.27s following news that the Cypriot parliament head wanted to pull his country out of the Eurozone as reported here, but more importantly as that second ramp funding carry pair of choice, the USDJPY fell to the lowest in a month following yet another miss in the Japan Tankan big manufacturer index, touching under 93.30 for the first time since March 6, pushing the Nikkei 225 lower by over 2% - has the magic of Japanese rhetoric finally worn off and is the market finally demanding action instead of hollow promises, threats and simply, words? In China we got a miss in the official PMI data setting up yet another Schrodinger PMI split in Chinese economic growth indicators where the official details once again deteriorating while those tracked by HSBC/Markit are mysteriously improving. Also in Asia, rumblings out of South Korea, which continues to miss on key export and economic growth indicators, that it should cut rates mean the export-driven country is on the verge of joining the global currency warfare at which point the free Japanese lunch is over.
As noted previously, Europe is closed for Easter which means no volume, which means the New York Fed's trading desk will have no problems levitating futures to another all time record close now that every day has to be a record-er close, or else the magic of the ponzi will fail. Below are the key few overnight highlights via Bloomberg:
  • Treasuries lower, led by longer maturities, after three straight weeks of gains. EUR/USD little changed at 1.2824, slid at 1.3% last week. Trading could be light today with Europe and U.K. markets closed for holiday.
  • Yen gains, reaching 93.28 overnight, as Japan’s Tankan improved less than expected in March while South Korean exports rose 0.4% vs 1.8% median est. and a pickup in China’s output trailed forecasts
  • Pessimism among big Japanese manufacturers may make it harder for BoJ’s Kuroda to achieve 2% inflation target as he needs companies to boost spending and wages to help revive growth; BoJ concludes policy meeting on Wednesday
  • China’s March new home prices posted the biggest gain in more than two years as buyers rushed into the market ahead of property curbs by local governments, driving real estate stocks higher
  • China’s overnight money-market rate slumped the most in a month on speculation cash supply will rise after banks met quarter-end capital requirements
Key economic events today:
  • 8:58am: Markit US PMI Final, March, est. 55.2
  • 10:00am: Construction Spending M/m, Feb., est. 0.8% (prior -2.1%)
  • 10:00am: ISM Manufacturing, March, est. 54.2 (prior 54.2), ISM Prices Paid, March, est. 59.5 (prior 61.5) Supply
  • 11:00am: Fed to buy $2.75b-$3.5b in 2020-2023 sector

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