Good morning.<\/p>\n
The focus of the EU crisis is now slowly shifting to Italy although the political crisis in Greece is remains unresolved. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has agreed to step down shortly after winning the confidence vote. The country\u2019s elections will be held in February and former European Central Bank vice president Papademos is expected to run the show in the interim. His central bank experience may come handy in handling the crisis, though it\u2019s not exactly the Greek government who\u2019s calling the shots. Greece\u2019s domestic policies are now dictated mostly by the ECB, EU and the IMF. The situation was further exacerbated by outgoing PM Papandreou.<\/p>\n
EU finance ministers will be meeting later today to discuss the latest tranche of \u20ac8 billion bailout money to Greece, which the Greece finance minister said is absolutely necessary to keep the country afloat. However, Italy\u2019s deteriorating situation is expected to dominate the EU finance ministers\u2019 meeting.<\/p>\n
IMF chief Christian Lagarde is in Russia to meet President Dmitri Medvedev, ostensibly to discuss the European crisis. Russia has relatively low budget deficit and public debt levels and is Europe\u2019s biggest energy supplier. Though it has not been hit by the EU crisis, a contagion may affect its biggest energy market adversely. Kremlin has already expressed its willingness to contribute to the EFSF through the IMF. The IMF chief is expected to visit China and Japan seeking support for expanding the EFSF bailout fund. All the three countries had expressed willingness to participate in expanding the lifeboat fund\u2019s lending capacity.<\/p>\n
GBP\/EURO \u2013 1.1651
\nGBP\/US$ \u2013 1.5986
\nGBP\/CHF \u2013 1.4420
\nGBP\/CAN$ – 1.6318
\nGBP\/AUS$ \u2013 1.5538
\nGBP\/ZAR \u2013 12.7652
\nGBP\/JPY \u2013 124.98
\nGBP\/HKD \u2013 12.4326
\nGBP\/NZD \u2013 2.0173
\nGBP\/SEK \u2013 10.5960<\/p>\n