Activists who think that Ukraine’s 2016 budget screams death to the agricultural sector have brought a dead pig in a coffin to the Verkhovna Rada building in Kiev and held a mock funeral ceremony. The angry protesting farmers and their supporters demand to keep a simplified tax system and special VAT rules for the agricultural sector in 2016, something the announced budget lacks as Ukraine has to... 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk declared a moratorium on the payment of three-billion-dollar debt to Russia. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine supported his decision. In addition, the official Kiev is not going to pay the debt of $507 million to Russian banks (the debt was amassed by two Ukrainian companies that collaborated with Russian banks). “From today, all payments shall be... 

Saudi Arabia may go bankrupt within the next five years if the government maintains its current spending habits, the International Monetary Fund said in a report Wednesday. Saudi authorities are already planning spending cuts as the world’s biggest oil exporter seeks to cut its budget deficit created by the drop in crude prices. Saudi officials have repeatedly said that the kingdom’s economy... 

The United States is reported to be working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a backup plan to rescue the Greek economy as economists throughout the world queue up to criticize the latest bailout plan as totally unworkable. The sheer folly of the latest bailout plan for Greece was summed up last week by Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini who said that, in agreeing... 

German Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger. Germany has ruled out any restructuring of Greece’s debt to international creditors, despite a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which shows the cash-strapped country is in dire need of debt cancellation. An analysis by the IMF, which was released in Washington on Thursday, showed that Greece needed an extra EUR 50 billion (USD 56 billion)... 

The International Monetary Fund has confirmed that it didn’t receive the €1.6 billion payment from Athens that was due by the end of June 30, Brussels time, making Greece the first developed country to default on its international obligations. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in a statement that Greece had asked for a repayment extension earlier Tuesday and that the fund’s board will consider... 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently called on Ukraine and its creditors to continue negotiations on the country’s debt, but the editor-in-chief of the business and finance media company thinks that Kiev should instead concentrate on “fixing what is absolutely, chronically broken economy” and launch immediate reforms. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on Ukraine... 

International Monetary Fund representatives have cut short negotiations with Greek officials in Brussels, after they failed to present a viable reform plan. The move has left Athens, due to repay €1.6 billion by the end June, on the edge of default. “The ball is very much in Greece’s court,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told the media during a specially scheduled announcement, before his team... 

Greece will not be able to make next tranche of debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the country has no money to pay, the Interior Minister said. “The four installments for the IMF in June are 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion), this money will not be given and is not there to be given,” Nikos Voutsis told Greek Mega TV’s weekend show on Sunday. Asked about the... 

Nikos Filis, parliamentary spokesman of Greece’s Syriza Party. The Greek government says the repayment of its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) scheduled for early next month will not be possible unless a deal is reached between Athens and its international creditors for unblocking a bailout fund. The parliamentary spokesman for Greece’s ruling Syriza Party said Wednesday that the government... 

Moody’s rating agency downgrades Greece’s debt to junk. Moody’s rating agency has downgraded Greece’s credit rating further into junk territory over growing uncertainty about the country’s ability to make its debt payments. On Thursday, Moody’s slashed Athens’ rating to Caa2 from Caa1 and assigned it a “negative” outlook. The rating is just two steps away from the level signaling... 

A study by the International Monetary Fund tracked three decades of income and found that as unionization declined, the wealth of the richest 10 percent in advanced countries showed a continuous increase. More specifically, the study’s authors found that when researching income levels during the period of 1980-2010, the decline in unionization explained about half of the rise in incomes for the... 

China surpasses the US as the top destination for foreign direct investment. China has surpassed the United States as the top destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), a position held by the US for 11 years, a United Nations organization says. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently published a report showing China had attracted USD 127.6 billion in foreign investment... 

A stunning new report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) states that President Putin has ordered an immediate deployment of at least 125 special forces operatives to Greece to “insure the protection of life at all costs” of that nations new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. [Photo left] According to this report, Prime Minister Tsipras took office this... 

The victory of Greece’s anti-austerity Syriza party is a monstrous democratic slap to the European Union, believes Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Front party, adding that for her this success means “the trial of the euro-austerity.” “I welcome the monstrous Democratic slap the Greek people has given to the European Union,” Le Pen told France’s RTL radio. According...