European debt crisis

The projections for Bulgaria's economic growth in 2019 and 2020 remain unchanged - 3.3% and 3.4% respectively. Inflation will be 2.4% this year and 1.7% in 2020, according to the European Commission's economic forecast.

In May 2019, the unemployment rate in the 28 countries of the European Union fell to a new record low of 6.3%, within the eurozone - to a near 11-year low of 7.5%, and in Bulgaria stabilized in April a historic bottom of 4.5% - the lowest level since 2000 since Eurostat has data for our country.

Greece's economy is expected to grow by 1.9 percent this year, the country's central bank said in its annual monetary policy report on Monday, an expansion pace below what the government is projecting.

European Union leaders on Friday urged the 19 countries that use the euro currency to quickly figure out how they would fund a joint budget that would seek to stabilize and strengthen the single currency zone.

Eurozone creditors are concerned that Greek pension payments and social handouts and the scraping of already agreed tax reforms put the agreed primary surplus target at risk, the head of the eurozone bailout fund Klaus Regling said on Thursday.

It is highly improbable that Greece will be discussed during Thursday's Eurogroup in Luxembourg, a top eurozone official said Wednesday.
The same official said that the third report on Greece's enhanced post-program surveillance issued by the European Commission will be discussed by the eurozone finance ministry staff (Euro Working Group) after Greece's July 7 elections.

To date, Greece's four systemic banks have drawn liquidity totaling 8.4 billion euros through the instruments provided by the European Central Bank known as targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO), and they will draw more.

Romania's consumption-fueled growth has raised macroeconomic imbalances, including inflation pressure and increased fiscal and current account deficits, so a change in the course of policies is needed to reduce the likelihood of another boom-bust scenario, the International Monetary Fund writes in its Staff Concluding Statement of the 2019 Article IV Mission posted on Friday.

Unemployment has been the lowest since 2008, writes NOVA news.
Inflation in the eurozone dropped sharply to 1.2% in May, according to data released by AFP. Analysts surveyed by the Factset data company predicted a modest fall in inflation to 1.4%, down from 1.7% in April.

There are currently five major Balkan candidates for EU enlargement: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia and Turkey. While talks with Turkey have stuttered, the remaining countries could prove pivotal for the EU to continue its policy of enlargement of its union of democratic markets.