Euro ends year as worst performing currency

Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Dec 31: More than $6.3 trillion have
been wiped away from global stock markets as the impact of eurozone debt crisis reverberated across the world calling into question the strength of the mightiest currency in the world- the dollar. The capitalisation of the global stock market fell by 12.1 per cent, according to Bloomberg new agency. Euro ended the year as the worst performing major currency.
There is more than euro457bn due to be repaid in the first quarter of 2012. Italy is the biggest defaulter.
Analyst fear that China's economy, now the strongest in the world, could face a hard landing in 2012, posing a threat to the fragile global economy.
Spain said its budget deficit will be 8.0 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, however, seems to be in most comfortable position. The Kingdom had approved a budget raising spending by one quarter in 2011 to thwart social unrest. The Saudi Arabia is expected to announce an eye-popping budget for 2012 with a huge stimulus packagae. The budget could be as high as $184 billion. There will be an 11per cent increase in Saudi Arabia's public expenditure in 2012.