French group Carrefour deleted more than 1,600 jobs in Belgium

The French distribution group Carrefour announced Tuesday its intention to eliminate 1672 jobs in Belgium, a total of 15,000 and close 21 stores, representing a second restructuring plan in three years.

A trade union official, Myriam Delmée, told AFP the decision was announced by the works council, which stated that part of the 21 affected stores will be resumed by the Belgian group Mestdagh.
In 2007, Carrefour and abolished 900 jobs and close 16 stores in the small kingdom.

The French distribution group, world number two behind Wal-Mart said earlier this month that it plans to break into the Indian market, after years of delays.

Carrefour Net income in 2009 plummeted 74.2% to 327 million euros (505 million).

Netherlands plans to improve economic growth to 2% in 2011

Netherlands recorded an economic growth of 2% in 2011, slightly above the 1.5% forecast for this year, was announced today by Economic Planning Office (CPB) of the Government.

This improvement in growth will reduce the public deficit from 6.1% of GDP in 2010 to 4.7% next year.

In contrast, employment is expected to remain stable, which means that economic improvement will not result in a reduction in unemployment, while Holland-with unemployment at 4% last December is one of the EU countries least affected by this problem.

The forecast presented today the CPB are provisional and final figures are released in March

BNP Paribas reduces its participation in Banco Santander to 2.49%

The French bank BNP Paribas has reduced its holding in Banco Santander of 3.12 percent to 2.49 percent, as recorded in the records of the Commission Nacional del Mercado de Valores ( CNMV) today consulted by Efe.

With this divestiture, the balance of the portfolio itself BNP Paribas has gone from 0.96 to 0.25 percent, while for third parties has increased to 2.23 from 2.16 percent previously.

At 1300 hours the Santander shares were traded at 9.73 euros, or 1.85 percent more than that marked the end of last week. MarketWatch mbr / mdo

The German economy is stagnating and France is growing

The two countries have emerged as saviors of Greece ended 2009 with a fall in growth never seen before.

The GDP of France recorded the largest fall since the war, after falling 2.2%. The German scored the worst recession in U.S. history, contracting by 5%.

And what's worse for the German economy. In the last quarter, GDP stagnated. In this period, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew from the previous quarter, when it rose by 0.7%, according to federal statistics office, Destatis.

The German Central Bank (Bundesbank) predicts that the economy registered a growth of 1.6%, one tenth more than expected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However, between October and December showed the French economy grew active and triple that in the previous quarter, to increase GDP by 0.6% according to the National Statistics Institute, INSEE.

The household consumption and changes in stored products companies were the main contributors to gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter.
European growth slows

The economic downturn has not affected only France and Germany, but also marked the evolution of European Union countries and the Eurozone in the year 2009.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the EU fell 4.1% last year, while in the euro area fell by 4%, according to data provided by Eurostat statistics office in Luxembourg.

In the last quarter of 2009, GDP in the euro zone rose 0.1% over the previous quarter, and fell three tenths below the growth recorded in the third quarter (0.4%).

Demanded the former president of Bank of America for fraud

The New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reported that sued the former president of the U.S. bank Bank of America (BofA), Ken Lewis, and two of its former executives for fraud and "manipulate" the authorities to receive federal aid mass in 2008.

The charges are framed in the purchase of investment bank Merrill Lynch by Bank of America.
According to Cuomo, supported by the head of the Treasury responsible for monitoring the proper use of funds released in autumn 2008 to save the financial system, the leadership of Bank of America conducted a "maneuver arrogant" and made "a huge fraud."
The lawsuit contends that the direction of BofA voluntarily hid massive losses from investment bank Merrill Lynch, which had decided to buy in September 2008, "so that its shareholders voted for the merger."

Moreover, the Bank of America spokesman Bob Stickler said the bank believed "regrettable" that Cuomo filed the charges, since they lacked merit.
"The evidence shows that Bank of America and its executives, including Ken Lewis and Joe Price, at all times acuta in good faith and consistent with its legal and fiduciary obligations," he said.

With this demand, the Bank of America fell to session lows levels on Wall Street, losing 3.6% to U.S. $ 14.97.