Friday newspaper round-up: Germany, Energy, Oil

9th Oct 2014 19:03

The Eurozone is showing the symptoms of Japan's longstanding economic issues and needs to adopt measures to avert the threat of recession, the Guardian reported on Friday.Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, warned there was a "serious risk" of a recession in the Eurozone if nothing was done to avert a new downturn and hinted that Germany will have to run down its budget surplus in order to boost growth."We have alerted to the risks of persistently low inflation, which was one of the attributes of Japan," Lagarde said.One in five members of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) believes the UK's energy security has worsened over the last five years. As well, higher costs are affecting manufacturers' competitiveness. Both of the above are the result of the government's failure to secure progress on fracking, thus posing a risk to job creation.Heavy energy users complain that they are paying 35% more than the median of the largest corporations over on the continent, said John Cridland, director-general of the CBI, according to The Times.Some traders are panicking about the situation in oil markets, wondering where the growth in demand will come from to meet rising supplies. Those fears were further stoked on Thursday by further weak economic data coming out of Germany.The price of oil in the US hit a two-year low after falling by more than two dollars on Thursday. However, such losses may lead to OPEC stepping in to prop up prices, according to The Daily Telegraph.Passengers arriving at Heathrow and Gatwick airports and on Eurostar trains will face questions and could be medically assessed, as concerns over the spread of Ebola grow, The Daily Telegraph reported.Checks will affect passengers arriving from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and will involve "assessing passengers' recent travel history, who they have been in contact with and onward travel arrangements", the report adds, citing a statement from Downing Street.The decision comes after the chairman of an influential Commons committee and the Labour Party called for tests to be introduced, despite ministers ruling out screenings earlier on Thursday, claiming the UK was following World Health Organisation advice.Hays, Britain's largest recruiter, has been boosted by an increased number of hirings, the Financial Times reported.The figures provide further evidence that economic conditions in the UK are improving, as in the three months to 30 September Hays raised net fee income by 9% on a like-for-like basis from the same period last year, after businesses hired more permanent staff.The company also reported strong growth in Australia and Germany, the report added.London took a big step on the road to becoming the main non-Chinese financial centre for trading that country's currency on Thursday. The Treasury launched the first sale of bonds denominated in yuan.The fact that the Treasury will use the proceeds to establish a reserve for the currency is another sign of the growing importance of that country in international finance. The sale is being led by bank of China, HSBC and Standard Chartered, writes The Times.