The upturn in France continues apace. The services PMI rose to 58.7 in December, according to the latest figures published by the Institute Markit / CDAF. Services rose for the fourth consecutive month. The index of purchasing managers for the overall activity, combining the services and industry (figure published earlier this week), also indicates an increase, to 59.2, against 60.2 in November.
The indicator for the services' folds compared to 60.9 in November (a high of 37 months) but nevertheless indicates a high rate of expansion, "notes Mark. Beyond 50, the index indicates an increase in activity. The dynamism of the index is due in December by the record number of new contracts at their highest level in two years.
On the other hand, job losses and slowing the decline in prices paid and charged by companies stalled."Further, in 2010, the upturn recently recorded should be based largely on developments in the labor market," said the statement Jack Kennedy, economist at Markit. "He therefore hoped that the growing confidence of businesses in the economic recovery is reflected, in the new year, with hiring decisions."
The services PMI in Eurozone recorded his part for its strongest growth since November 2007, to 53.6 in December against 53 in November. "However, the recovery did not extend to all countries in the eurozone, where the Spanish services sector remains a concern," said Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit.
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How to better control the price of gas? That is the question posed by the UFC-Que Choisir in a study released Tuesday and conducted for the association, the Microeconomix firm, specializing in economic analysis applied to energy. The study, which decrypts the various components of gas prices, indexation of long-term contracts to supply gas to that of petroleum products is no longer justified because "the gas reserves are larger and Practice these two energies are not quite the same. " Moreover, this calculation method penalizes consumers for petroleum products are part of an upward trend and are very volatile. The UFC-Que Choisir gives the example of the United States, where there is a real market price of gas. Its price is low given the recession and the discovery of new deposits while the oil prices started rising.The association proposes that consumer gas prices for the supply, are no longer indexed to oil prices and encourages GDF-Suez and state shareholder to initiate a reflection on this subject.
Costs associated with better delivery boxes
Another point raised by the study: the opacity of the costs of delivering gas (transportation, distribution, storage). The UFC also regretted that the information on the operating expenses of transportation and distribution are not published. The same is true of financial results of storage of GDF-Suez and Total, the two current operators. The study also reveals that the total capital committed to the transportation and distribution in France are paid at a rate higher than in other European countries. The idea would be to align to allow a reduction in the cost of these positions.Thus, for transport, the decrease corresponds to 4% or lower fares for consumers in the order of 0.4% since this activity represents 10% of the total cost. For distribution, the decline would be 3%, slightly less than 1% for the end consumer because the distribution represents 25% of total costs. Finally, for the association, it is necessary for storage, whose price has increased 20% over three years to become a regulated activity, as are transportation and distribution. Currently, operators of gas freely set their rates. The UFC is therefore proposing that the costs of bringing gas to final consumers are better supervised.
At present, regulated tariffs for natural gas are set by the government after recommendation from the Commission of Energy Regulation. Last October, the government had decided not to change the price of gas.According to the formula for calculating the new rates, the decline would be limited to 0.6% to 0.7%. The last drop of gas took place last April. It was around 11.3%.
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"Gas: a new method of pricing?
"PAPER – Read the analysis of the UFC-Que Choisir on gas prices (pdf)
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