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Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Hungary, Poland Aid Borrowers Hurt by Franc's Rise
BUDAPEST—Hungary accelerated efforts Friday to aid local borrowers squeezed by the sharp rise in the value of the Swiss franc in recent years, even as authorities in Bern sought to check further gains by the safe-haven Alpine currency amid this week's global market turmoil.
Starting next month, Hungarians with foreign-currency loans will be able to participate in a repayment program that for three years will fix the exchange rate applied to their outstanding debts at a level far below the prevailing market rates for the Swiss franc and the euro.
The appreciation of the Swiss franc has placed enormous financial pressure on households across Hungary, Poland and Croatia that took out Swiss-franc loans in the middle of the last decade because they had far lower interest rates than loans in their domestic currencies.
These debt woes have acted as a brake on national economic growth, dragging on consumer confidence and spending, and pushing governments to act. Poland this week also enacted legislation aimed at easing pressure on foreign-currency borrowers.
"If this continues, the hit to consumption could be quite high" in Hungary and Poland, said Neil Shearing, senior emerging-markets economist at Capital Economics in London. "The only real way out of this is for the Swiss franc to depreciate, and we don't see that happening soon."
Hungary's plan, which offers more help to borrowers than the measure adopted by Warsaw, could help cushion some of the blow here in the short term, Mr. Shearing said. But even Budapest's moves are effectively just pushing households' debt problems further down the road.
Borrowers who participate can make monthly loan payments at a rate of 180 Hungarian forints for 1 Swiss franc, or 250 forints for 1 euro. The franc was trading at about 248 forints on Friday, while the euro was trading at around 272 forints.
The difference between what is paid at the fixed rate and what is owed at the actual rate will be turned into a separate forint-denominated loan that must be repaid, with interest, starting 36 months after a borrower enters the program.
Authorities said Friday that borrowers would be able to start paying lower installments from September, one month earlier than originally planned when the program was approved in May. Borrowers whose loans are less than 90 days overdue are eligible to participate. They must apply for the program by Dec. 31.
"The aim of this scheme is to smooth out extreme foreign-currency rate moves, similar to those we've seen in August," said Roland Natran, state secretary of Hungary's Economy Ministry. Mr. Natran said the arrangement would also help banks by reducing the risk of defaults by borrowers.
Capital Economics estimates that Swiss franc-denominated debt is equivalent to between 15% and 20% of Hungarian gross domestic product, while in Poland and Croatia, Swiss-franc loans amount to roughly 10% of GDP. Most of that is in the form of mortgage loans held by households.
Write to Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com
hungarian forints, debt woes, currency loans, domestic currencies, national economic growth, market turmoil, swiss franc, neil shearing, foreign currency, consumer confidence, repayment program, last decade, hungarians, debt problems online, loan payments, safe haven, borrowers, emerging markets, global market, warsaw
Vietnamese Dinner HDR
Vietnamese Dinner HDR
Marinated beef, imperial rolls and shrimp.
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Saturday, August 13, 2011
The Age of Maturity at Muse Rodin Paris France
Nagada Harbour, 1985
Crosby Sends Canada to Gold
VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Canada pulled out a sudden-death victory in men's ice hockey Sunday, earning the one of its record 14 gold medals that matters most to this hockey-mad nation of 34 million.
After a spirited U.S. team clawed back from a 2-0 deficit, Canada's best-known player, Sidney Crosby, scored the winning goal on a pass from Jarome Iginla, one of the few holdovers from Canada's last gold-medal team, from 2002. Mr. Crosby threw his mouth guard, gloves and stick into the air and his teammates piled on him in joy. The final score was 3-2.
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European Pressphoto Agency
Sidney Crosby takes the game-winning shot for goal over U.S. goalie Ryan Miller.
To the side stood the U.S. team, one of the youngest and most surprising of the tournament. They won the silver—far better than most had predicted two weeks ago—but again failed to beat Canada in a gold-medal game, having lost in 2002 too.
After the game, while his jubilant countrymen screamed and waved huge Canadian flags in the stands, Mr. Crosby said, "It doesn't even feel real. It feels like a dream."
The victory sealed what for Canada was an emotional Olympics, embraced across the vast nation in a way few Olympics are. At first, the Games were marred by the death of a Georgian luge athlete and then by Canada's stumbling out of the gate, casting doubts that its vaunted plans to win medals would pan out.
But the local fans remained faithful and, by the second week, when the Canadian medals began to pile up, they were exuberant. Norway and the Soviet Union previously shared the record for gold medals in the Winter Games, 13.
Fans across Canada celebrated Sunday's hockey victory wildly, with the streets of major cities thronged with cars honking and crowds shouting. In Vancouver, which was transformed from a sleepy-chic city on the Pacific to the country's emotional capital for 17 days, fans paralyzed the downtown as they flowed out of bars and restaurants onto the rainy streets.
In the arena, fans applauded the U.S. team, especially its star goalie, Ryan Miller, who finished the tournament with the best goals-against average of any goalie and was a key reason for the Americans' surprising run to the gold-medal game. The team lost just one game in the tournament—Sunday's—and had beaten Canada, 5-3, in a preliminary round.
The team's silver medal bore out the strategy of U.S. general manager Brian Burke. He resisted the temptation to recruit the most talented, highest-paid players America had to offer. Instead, he selected players he thought would embrace the very different form of hockey played at the Olympics—a game with a simplified playbook often won by the team that can skate the hardest the longest.
"We started a new trend with USA hockey," the goalie, Mr. Miller, said after the game. "We felt like we deserved to be in that position."
Canada took the harder road to the final. After lashing perennial weakling Norway, 8-0, Canada needed to shootout to eke out a 3-2 victory over a surprisingly tough Swiss team.
Then it hit its biggest stumble with the loss to the U.S. But it scored decisive wins over Germany and a touted Russia squad, then it hung on against Slovakia to make Sunday's final.
The U.S. team almost scored first on Sunday. Midway through the first period, the Americans slipped the puck under Canada goalie Roberto Luongo, where it rested on the goal line. Later that period, Canada's Jonathan Toews rifled in a rebound of a Mike Richards shot to make it 1-0. Then Corey Perry made it 2-0 on a broken play in the U.S. zone, and things began to look bleak for the Americans.
But Team USA rebounded with a goal to make it 2-1, then silenced the partisan crowd with a scrappy goal by Zach Parise within the last 30 seconds that sent the game into overtime.
Nearly eight minutes into OT, Mr. Crosby forced the puck into a U.S. corner. A Team USA clearing attempt failed, and Mr. Iginla sent a quick pass to Mr. Crosby, who snapped the puck between Mr. Miller's legs.
Canada exhaled. As defenseman Duncan Keith put it, "It's as much a relief as it is excitement."
Write to Ian Johnson at ian.johnson@wsj.com, Reed Albergotti at reed.albergotti@wsj.com and Adam Thompson at adam.thompson@wsj.com
gold medal game, gold medal team, canadian medals, mr crosby, gold medals, vancouver british columbia, sidney crosby, canadian flags, chic city, rainy streets, emotional capital, mouth guard, winning shot, ryan miller, final score, jarome iginla, winter games, honking, luge, countrymen
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