Economy of Europe

Nikos Chrysoloras & Rebecca Christie

The Greek government, approaching the end of a second international bailout that has kept it afloat since 2010, plans a return to markets by selling 2 billion euros ($2.8 billion) of bonds, three officials said.

In February the profit of Bulgarian banks rose by BGN 77 M and for the first two months of 2014 reached BGN 149 M, shows Central Bank (BNB) data. 

This is the third consecutive month with increasing profits. The growth is mostly thanks to lower expenses on bad credits and decreasing interest rates. 

The closing auctions helped the Greek stock market’s benchmark index to post gains of almost 1 percent on Friday, as it registered a small weekly drop of 0.21 percent.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,327.87 points, adding 0.98 percent to Thursday’s 1,314.99 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 expanded 1.05 percent to 428.65 points.

Business loans increased in February on a monthly basis by BGN 320M to a total of BGN 35.22B, according to Bulgaria's National Bank data.

Compared to the same month of 2013, business loans rose by BGN 333M, Expert.bg reports.

John Fraher & Catherine Bosley

Growth in euro-area manufacturing and services stayed close to the fastest since 2011 in March as France improved, providing further evidence that the region’s recovery is on track.

Significant amounts of natural gas could be extracted from Bulgaria's Khan Asparuh deep-water block, OMV believes.

Austrian energy company's expectations have so far been fomented by the discovering of vast amounts of gas at Neptun, a deep-water block in neighboring Romania situated next to Khan Asparuh.

Key interest rate remains unchanged

BELGRADE -- The Executive Board of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) decided on Thursday to keep the reference interest rate unchanged at 9.5 percent.

The board stated that the inter-annual inflation rate returned to the limits of the target inflation in January 2014 as NBS had announced earlier.

The Eurozone GDP is expected to grow 1.2% in 2014, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi announced Thursday.

At his monthly press conference in Frankfurt, the ECB's chief asserted that economic recovery is under way, even though it is not at the desired pace, Businessweek has reported.