Montenegro applies for EU membership

E-Petition launches regarding property deeds in Cyprus

Slovakia matches interest rate to ECB

NZ’s retail suffers the most in four years

South Africa cut interest rate to 11.5%

Australian commercial property sales fell by almost two thirds

Montenegro applies for EU membership

The Government of Montenegro will apply for European Union (EU) membership, according to Reuters.

The Government press office said in a statement: ‘By taking this step, Montenegro commits itself to the accession process and building of a united Europe which is a strategic goal in which the founders of the European Community invested their vision and commitment.’

According to Reuters, Montenegro’s EU application could stimulate the efforts of Albania and Serbia to do the same in the coming months. Montenegro declared independence from the Serbia and Montenegro state in 2006. Since then it has adopted a new constitution and signed and implemented its ‘Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU’.

Currently there are four EU members in the Balkans: Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia. Croatia applied in 2003 and Macedonia was the last Balkan country to file an application in 2004. For decades, Turkey has been negotiating with the EU on the matter.

E-Petition launches regarding property deeds in Cyprus

There has recently been a lot of press coverage in Cyprus about the delay in issuing title deeds and that this places all property owners, both Cypriot and ex-patriots, at risk of losing their homes.

To gain publicity for this issue, consultancy firm Les Glassock and Associates, have launched at E-Petition on the UK Prime Ministers website http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/TitleDeedsCyprus/

The aim of the petition is to get the UK Government to urge Cyprus to get title deeds issued more speedily and remove the risks from property owners who have already paid for their properties in full.

The firm believes that one reason why deeds are not issued is because, although property owners in Cyprus have paid in full for their properties, the developer may still have a mortgage on the land.

Led Glassock of the consultancy firm said: “The risk is that if a developer then defaults, the bank has a first charge on the land and all the property on it! In the most extreme case a property owner would have to reimburse the bank that holds the charge in order to get the title deeds to property they have already paid for in full. In these difficult economic times some developers in Cyprus may well cease to trade, leaving many property owners in difficult circumstances.”

Slovakia matches interest rate to ECB

The Slovak central bank has reduced the key interest rate by 0.75% to 2.5% to match Euro-Zone levels.

The Bank Board of the National Bank of Slovakia slashed its two-week repo tender limit rate to 2.5% from 3.25%. Meanwhile, the overnight sterilisation rate was lowered to 1.5% from 2.25% and reduced the overnight refinancing rate to 3.5% from 4.25%.

The two-week repo rate now matches the European Central Bank’s (ECB) key interest rate. Slovakia will introduce Euro-currency in January 2009.

NZ’s retail suffers the most in four years

New Zealand ’s retail sales dropped the most in more than four years in October as spending on cars fell amid a slowing economy, job cuts and weaker consumer confidence.

Retail sales decreased by -1.3% from September’s figure when they rose by +0.3%, according to Statistics New Zealand and vehicle sales fell -15% although core retail sales, which exclude cars, fuel and workshops, increased +0.8%.

New Zealand’s $130bn economy is in the worst recession in 18 years as a housing slump and tightening global credit curbs spending and investment. Falling sales add to signs growth won’t return to the economy until next year when fourth-quarter tax cuts and interest rate reductions take full effect.

New Zealand’s unemployment data rose to a four-year high of 4.2% in Q3 2008 and may increase further, economists say. A net 21% of companies expect to fire workers over the next year, according to a November survey by ANZ National Bank. The net number subtracts those expecting staff numbers to rise from those expecting a decline.

New Zealand’s economy contracted in the first half of 2008 and also probably shrank in the third quarter, making the recession the worst in 18 years. Alan Bollard, Reserve Bank Governor, recently predicted growth will resume in the fourth quarter and demand will recover slowly through 2009.

Bollard has cut the official cash rate by 3.25% since July to kick-start spending. The Government also lowered income taxes on 1 st October.

South Africa cut interest rate to 11.5%

South Africa’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.5% to 11.5%, the first reduction in more than three years, as inflation slowed and the economy grew at the weakest pace in a decade.

South Africa joins central banks around the world that are slashing interest rates to help boost economic growth following the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. A slump in demand for gold and platinum, South Africa’s biggest exports, has forced miners to fire hundreds of workers, threatening to push up an unemployment rate that already stands at 23%.

Inflation, which slowed for a second month in October, was 12.4%. Tito Mboweni, central bank governor, believes inflation will drop within the 3-6% range by Q3 2009. In October, the bank forecasted that the target will be reached in the first quarter of 2010. Mboweni believes inflation will ease to an average of 5.9% in 2010.

Australian commercial property sales fell by almost two thirds

According to the Australian Financial Review, Australian commercial property sales fell to A$5.9bn (US$3.96bn) this year compared with A$16.8bn in 2007 amid the global credit crisis.

Sales of tower offices, shopping centres and industrial facilities are at their lowest since 1994, according to the newspaper, citing research from CB Richard Ellis. Institutional and real estate investment trust buyers have deserted the market, according to the review.