The Romanian Meinl subsidiary Heidi Chocolat will take over the insolvent Viennese Schwedenbomben manufacturer Niemetz. The money is said to have already been transferred to the liquidators. Roman Tahbaz of the 1980 credit reference agency (KSV) said that the purchase and the authorisations were now legally valid. Heidi Chocolat paid 5.25 million Euros for the […]
A German economist has warned from “dangerous monopoly circumstances” in the global rating business. Karl-Heinz Brodbeck told Viennese newspaper Die Presse that the world’s leading credit rating agencies were issuing better grades the more money they made with the rating. He called the situation “dangerous” and called for more transparency. The renowned economic expert – […]
Federal and provincial financial issues decision-makers have postponed their negotiations about the budget of the coming years. People’s Party (ÖVP) Finance Minister Maria Fekter said talks with the provincial governments’ finance councillors would continue next week. Fekter angered the politically muscular provincial parliaments by revealing plans to sanction provinces which breached the stricter new budget […]
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) analyst Alois Strasser has warned that a crisis worse than the most recent one could “totally demolish” Austrian finance institutes’ capital. Strasser – who is in charge of the US American rating agency’s economic estimations for the Austrian economy – told Die Presse today (Fri) that the Republic of Austria could […]
A vast majority of Austrians object to ideas of a drastic pension age increase. Only 16 per cent think that the regular retirement age should be 70, public opinion research group Karmasin said. The agency interviewed 500 Austrians for magazine profil. Karmasin found that 81 per cent of Austrians were against proposed increases of the […]
Three leading electricity providers have reduced their prices. The Austrian Energy Alliance – the distribution agency of Vienna’s Wien Energie, Lower Austrian company EVN AG and Eisenstadt-based BEWAG – said yesterday (Weds) it reduced the price for one kilowatt hour (KWh) of electricity by 3.3 per cent at the beginning of this month. The decrease […]
An influential rating agency has warned Austria about its high state debt. Fitch announced yesterday evening (Mon) Austria needed to act more ambitiously against its steadily increasing high debt rate. The agency claimed the Alpine country would be better protected against economic setbacks in the future if it started to get active now. Austria’s debts […]
The Austrian Social Democrats’ (SPÖ) appeal to install a European credit rating agency has found prominent support. Siemens board member Brigitte Ederer said today (Weds) she had been in favour of the idea “for many years.” The former SPÖ state secretary told radio station Ö1 that the “dominance” of US American institutions “had consequences.” Ederer […]
Shops in eastern Austria have reported that Hungarians are engaging in panic-buying of sugar.Several managers of supermarkets and groceries in the Austrian province of Burgenland told local media today (Thurs) that their stocks of the product were sold out due to recent developments.Branch experts explain that Hungarians have started to cross the border to purchase […]
More than 700 same sex couples decided to follow the government coalitions offer of having their partnership “registered” last year.Federal statistic agency Statistik Austria said today (Mon) that 705 gay couples took the opportunity to gain legal status for their relationships last year when a new law passed by the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the […]