- Christina Noyer, Bank of France Governor
Activity in Italy's retail sales sector declined, as stubbornly high unemployment and timid signs of recovery did not encourage Italian shoppers to spend. Retail activity fell 0.1% on month in August, Istat said, whereas analysts hoped for an improved reading of 0.2% following the 0.1% decline in July. On an annual basis, sales in Italian stores declined 3.1%, compared to the revised 1.7% contraction in July, while economists expected a negative growth of 0.9%. However, August labour report provided some positive news, as the number of unemployed was 12.3% down from 12.6% in July.
In the meantime, ECB Governing Council member and Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer urged the French government to make more efforts to cut spending, and call for France and Italy to implement economic reforms to see stronger growth. As currently France's economy is faltering, the country will receive a 1 billion euro rebate, while the UK, which have been growing strongly recently, will have to pay an additional 2.1 billion euros into the EU budget by the end of next month along with the Netherlands, which is expected to pay an extra 642 million euros. Other countries that have also received a rebate include Germany and Poland. The news resulted in a political storm in the UK.
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