A wing of Greece's anti-austerity Syriza party is eyeing a plan to default on government debt and replace the euro with its own national currency in case negotiations on a bailout with its creditors fail, media have reported. The plan envisions a default similar to the one implemented by Iceland during the 2008 financial crisis, along with the nationalization of the Greek banking system. [...]

Moscow is expecting Kiev to clarify whether the latter is going to honor Ukraine's international commitments made by the previous authorities, including the $3 billion debt to Russia, after President Poroshenko dubbed it a "bribe" to Viktor Yanukovich. “In the first place, we are expecting some kind of explanations on whether the current Ukrainian authorities are planning to reject their stat [...]

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 te [...]

A fundamental problem for Greece is that at the end of the day it wants to be in Europe but doesn’t want to have austerity policies, Mark Blyth, professor of political economy at Brown University, told RT’s “In the Now.” Greece has delayed its IMF debt payment until the end of June. [...]

Sberbank has issued its first yuan-denominated letters of credit that involve funding from the Export-Import Bank of China to Russia’s largest pharmaceutical company. Pharmasyntez, Russia’s leading drug manufacturer, appealed to Sberbank with a request for funding credit guarantees in Chinese national currency as part of contracts for the supply of imported pharmaceutical products worth ove [...]

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in a speech to parliament on Friday that his country cannot accept the "unrealistic" proposals set by its lenders that did not include a promise of debt relief. Tsipras said that the only offer worth considering and which held the basis of a deal with creditors was the one made by Athens earlier in the week and that other proposals set by Greece’s lend [...]

Russia will appeal to the International Court of Justice if Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signs a moratorium on the payment of Ukraine's external debt into law and fails to pay its debt to Russia, said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. Siluanov said Ukraine was virtually defaulting on its debt, adding that Russia doesn’t yet have grounds to lodge any claims. [...]

The euro fell to a two-week low on Wednesday following a Greek government warning that it will miss the June 5 IMF payment deadline without a deal with the Troika by then. The single currency traded at $1.1115, down 0.4 percent at 11:36am MSK on Wednesday. It declined 0.71630 against the British pound and 134.34 against the Japanese yen. [...]

Government regulators have cracked down on four cancer charities, accusing the Cancer Fund of America, Cancer Support Services, the Children's Cancer Fund of America, and the Breast Cancer Society of cheating donors out of $187 million. [...]

The Central Bank of Russia is taking effective steps to stabilize the national currency and the economic situation as a whole, according to the Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Min Zhu. “I think the Russian Central Bank is reacting adequately to the current situation,” the banker said at a conference on doing business with the BRICS countries in Washington o [...]

Ukraine's government has submitted to parliament a bill allowing the introduction of a moratorium on foreign debt payments. This is to protect state assets in case of an "attack" from dishonest lenders, and to help the ailing economy out of crisis. "To protect the interests of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian government today has introduced to the Rada a bill that would give the government t [...]

This is a fascinating story with implications for every American… Dr. Ron Paul–the former U.S. Presidential candidate and 22-year Congressional veteran–was briefly back in Washington, D.C., recently. Dr. Paul was in the nation’s capital to educate Americans on what he believes our country’s next financial crisis will look like. He says America is on the verge of a real “currency [...]

Ukraine has the fastest falling economy of 2015 according to the British periodical The Economist. The country has seen its GDP shrink by 6.5 percent since last April, with countries like Libya and Macau performing better. The Ukrainian economy showed the most significant deepening recession compared to the rest of the world, according to the data, published on Wednesday by the head of the anal [...]

Pope Francis in a highly emotional appeal called for equal pay for men and women during his weekly General Audience in St Peter's Square, Rome. "Why is it taken for granted that women must earn less than men? No! They have the same rights. The discrepancy is a pure scandal," he said as cited by Reuters. [...]

The evidence is mounting... While broadly-speaking, both 'hard' and 'soft' macro data has disappointed, as we noted previously, the scale of those 'missed expectations' is stunning - worst since Lehman. While this is blamed on weather, the fact is that America had 30% less snow this year than last and still, as the following charts strongly suggest, the YoY drops are on a scale that screams "reces [...]

Some European central banks have reportedly called on Greek bank subsidiaries operating in their jurisdiction to cut their exposure to Greek assets to avoid fallout should the country go into default. The central banks of Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have demanded Greek banks’ subsidiaries minimize their exposure to Greek bon [...]

The laws of the global economy should be written by the United States and not by the likes of China according to President Obama, as concern over China's influence is growing. Washington hopes a Pacific free trade pact will curb Beijing's investment bank. "When 95 percent of our potential customers live abroad, we must be sure that we are writing the rules for the global economy, not a country [...]

The BRICS New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), both seen as alternatives to US – led institutions, will not compete, but rather complement each other, said the head of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina. Nabiullina made the statement Thursday in Washington where she is attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Ban [...]

Rogue investors who ignored the negative hype about Russia, are smiling from ear to ear after the ruble gained about 6 percent this week. The ruble surged 6 percent this past week, opening Monday at 56.55 and closing at 53.5 on the Moscow Exchange on Friday. In the last month alone, the ruble has appreciated by more than 20 percent. [...]

Austria, Spain and South Korea have been approved as founding members of the Asia Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB), the Chinese Finance Ministry announced Saturday. A founding member of the bank has the right to help write its rules and Saturday’s additions bring the number of prospective founders to 41. The exact number of founding members will be finalized on April 15. [...]

The US may no longer be in control of the global economy, warned former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, urging Washington to regain dominance by honoring commitments and stopping its own hypocrisy. China’s establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Washington’s failure to stop its traditional allies from joining, was a development without precedent since the [...]

The Russian ruble has hit 55.3 to the dollar Monday, its highest value this year. The currency has become the best performer during the first three months of the year, after it finished 2014 as one of the biggest losers. The ruble gained above one percent against the US dollar, standing at 55.3 and at 60.8 to the euro at the closing on Moscow Exchange on Monday. [...]