Thursday, 28 June 2012

European economics - a quick quiz

Answers below:

1. Which country currently has a lower debt to GDP ratio? Spain or Germany?

2. Which country has a lower rate of inflation - Greece or Germany?

3. Greece has the highest debt to GDP ratio in Europe, but which of the world's 5 leading economies has a higher rate still?

4. The Euro came into full existence on January 1st, 2002. Which of the following currencies has gained most against the other two since - the Euro, the US Dollar or the British Pound?

Answers - as of today (June 28th, 2012 - if answering this in the future, check again on the Web).

1. Spain - 68.5% against 81% (figure courtesy of Focus magazine)

2. Greece - 1.5% against 2% (figure courtesy of Focus magazine)

3. Japan - somewhere in the region of 233% as of February 15th, 2012 - see
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/15/10408834-japan-tops-list-of-countries-deepest-in-debt?lite

4. The Euro.
On 1/1/2002, the EUR was worth $0.88, today it is worth $1.24
On 1/1/2002, the GBP was worth €1.62, today it is worth €1.25

NB -- since first producing this piece I have remembered that EUR/USD was the original 1999 figure ($1.17). I have since checked and found the correct figure - sorry for the mistake, NOT THAT IT CHANGES THE ANSWER!

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