Governments and other economic actors need to get ready for higher borrowing costs after years of record lows, ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure said yesterday.
“It’s obvious that the financial sector and other economic actors and, especially, governments must prepare [for higher interest rates],” Coeure told a finance conference in Paris. “I hope that eurozone governments know that interest rates will not stay at current levels,” Coeure added.
Coeure also said that negative interest rates – that the ECB charges banks to deposit with it – had been effective in terms of monetary policy but such rates should not stay in place too long due to the risk it could weaken those banks.
British government cuts stake in Lloyds Bank to below 2%
The British government has reduced its holding in Lloyds Banking Group PLC to less than two per cent, putting the lender on track to be in full private ownership within weeks.
The government has now recovered over £20 billion of the £20.3 billion taxpayers injected into Lloyds during the financial crisis, the Treasury said in a statement.
UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI), which manages the government’s stake, resumed share sales in October, having halted them for almost a year due to market turbulence.
It said yesterday that its stake stands at 1.97 per cent, down from 2.95 per cent on March 15.
The government spent more than £136.6 billion rescuing some of Britain’s biggest high street lenders at the height of the financial crisis, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds but has so far only managed to recoup half of that money.
Etihad Airways says bookings to US healthy despite laptop ban
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Etihad Airways’ bookings to the US are healthy despite last month’s introduction of a ban on most electronics from the cabins of passenger flights to the US, the Abu Dhabi carrier said yesterday.
On March 25, the US banned electronic devices larger than a mobile phone from passenger cabins on direct flights to the US from 10 airports in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, including the United Arab Emirates.
“Bookings to US destinations remain healthy and customer feedback to the initiatives taken by Etihad Airways to provide for their business and entertainment needs has been very positive,” an Etihad spokesman said.
Industry experts warned the ban – prompted by reports that militant groups want to smuggle explosive devices in electronic gadgets – could be damaging to fast-growing Gulf carriers by weakening demand among corporate flyers who use their travel time to complete work on laptops and other devices.
Etihad said last week it would lend approved tablets and offer unlimited Wi-Fi to business and first-class passengers travelling on US-bound flights.
In March, fellow Gulf carrier Emirates said booking rates on US flights fell 35 per cent after President Donald Trump’s first travel ban which like the electronics ban only applied to Muslim-majority countries.