3 Min Read
MADRID, May 13 (Reuters) - Spain’s economy is expected to bounce back in the second half after a slow start to 2021 and could grow more than expected next year driven by a delayed boost from EU recovery funds, Bank of Spain Chief Economist Oscar Arce told reporters.
In its latest economic outlook from March, the central bank expected gross domestic product, which last year slumped by a record 10.8% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to expand by 6% in its central scenario this year and by 5.3% in 2022.
On Thursday, it said in an annual report that Spain’s economic recovery also hinged on the progress of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the implementation of reforms in the labour market and pension system, as well as private consumption.
By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
Cooling towers are pictured at a coal-based power station owned by state power utility Eskom in Duhva, South Africa, February 18, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/File Photo
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Eskom will implement nationwide scheduled power cuts from 1700 local time (1500 GMT) until Tuesday due to breakdowns at seven of its power plants in the last 24 hours, the struggling state utility said on Sunday.
Eskom said in a statement the breakdowns at the seven plants represented a “total loss of 6,044 MW (megawatts), bringing the total unplanned capacity lost to 16,118 megawatts.”
It said stage 2 “loadshedding”, which will see up to 2,000 MW shaved from the national grid, would be in place until Tuesday 2200 local time (2000 GMT).
(Changes lead, adds new targets)
LISBON, May 14 (Reuters) - Portuguese power grid operator REN plans to boost its capex by 35% over the next five years to 900 million euros, expanding its electricity network to accommodate new renewable energy projects, Chief Executive Rodrigo Costa said on Friday.
REN, which owns high-voltage electricity and high-pressure natural gas transmission grids in Portugal, said it would spend 200 to 235 million euros per year on capital investments, up from an average of 175 million euros in the past five years.
“I’m very confident. Looking towards the energy transition future every country in the world is embracing, I can say we are ready,” Rodrigo Costa told analysts during a Capital Market’s Day conference.
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MUMBAI/NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Cairn Energy has sued India’s flagship carrier Air India to enforce a $1.2 billion arbitration award that it won in a tax dispute against India, according to a U.S. District Court filing reviewed by Reuters.
The move ratchets up pressure on India’s government to pay the sum of $1.2 billion plus interest and costs that the British firm Cairn was awarded by an arbitration tribunal in December. The body ruled India breached an investment treaty with Britain and said New Delhi was liable to pay.
Cairn filed the lawsuit on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking to make Air India liable for the judgement that was awarded to Cairn. The lawsuit argued that the carrier as a state-owned company, is “legally indistinct from the state itself.”
The Bank of England said on Friday that it had approved the "bail in" of $595 million of loans that a British-based financial company made to the major Ukrainian lender PrivatBank before it was nationalised in 2016.