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(Reuters) - The savings of the European Union's 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says.
The EU is looking for ways to wean the 28-country bloc from its heavy reliance on bank financing and find other means of funding small companies, infrastructure projects and other investment.
"The economic and financial crisis has impaired the ability of the financial sector to channel funds to the real economy, in particular long-term investment," said the document, seen by Reuters.
The Commission will ask the bloc's insurance watchdog in the second half of this year for advice on a possible draft law "to mobilize more personal pension savings for long-term financing", the document said.
skuly
"The economic and financial crisis has impaired the ability of the financial sector to channel funds to the real economy, in particular long-term investment," said the document, seen by Reuters.
edit on 13/2/2014 by skuly because: little edit
TREASURER Joe Hockey wants the savings of Australian mums and dads used to build the big projects governments can no longer finance because they are broke.
He today outlined an economic plan based on government abandoning many investment areas and handing them over to private enterprise along with a guarantee of a return on investments.
Mr Hockey urged workers to get their wealthy superannuation funds to pour cash into areas which traditionally have been the monopoly of state and federal governments.
The Treasurer was responding to the six per cent unemployment figure for January — the highest level in a decade — which he said could not be lowered unless the economy was more productive.
“Australia needs to get back to (economic) growth rate of three per cent and beyond to address the rising unemployment rat,” said Mr Hockey. The current growth rate is about 2.8 per cent.
And he said the Government had a strategy to do this.
Last night Mr Hockey revealed he hoped to raise $130 billion from privatisation of state and federal assets. The Commonwealth will offer Medibank Private for sale but today Mr Hockey would not speculate on other sell-offs.