Eurozone crisis

Greeks are preparing to celebrate their first Easter of the post-bailout era this weekend. Many will be confined to tight budgets, something they got used to in the past decade of the debt crisis which brought the country to the brink of disorderly default.

Cyprus' first 30-year bond sale was overloaded with orders on Wednesday, with high demand for such long maturities showing just how much Europe's bond market is adjusting to expectations of persistently low interest rates and central bank stimulus.

Cypriot borrowing costs hit a one-month high ahead of a debt sale that will see the country attempt to take advantage of favourable market conditions with its first-ever syndicated 30-year bond sale.

Cyprus on Tuesday appointed banks for a syndicated sale of debt maturing in December 2024 and May 2049, with the deal largely expected to be launched later on Wednesday.

Turkey is carrying out policies pledged in the reform package, the country's Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said late April 22, after his ministry announced that government debt securities worth 3.7 billion euros ($4.16 billion) will be issued to support the banking sector.

The government received on Thursday another warning about the risk that growth rates may fail to rise above the current low level, with investments remaining at half the amount of those in other European countries and the unemployment rate refusing to budge below 15 percent.

As just as Greek claims may be regarding German reparations and the repayment of the "occupation loan" which the Nazi took out from the Bank of Greece and even started to service, one is obliged to address the issue carefully and with an understanding of the legal and political complexities.

It is not an issue to be exploited for electoral gain or for cultivating false hopes.

Inflation in Bulgaria is again gaining momentum in March, and our country ranks fourth in the European Union to raise prices, according to data from the European Statistical Office.

In the third month of the year, prices rose by 2.8 percent over the same period last year. As of February 2019, the consumer basket is 0.2 percent more expensive.

Greece is looking to strike a deal this weekend to repay early about half of the loans it received from the International Monetary Fund, in a bid to lower the euro zone member's burden of debt servicing, a senior official said on Friday.

The eurozone's peripheral government bond yields continued to benefit from the European Central Bank's dovish signals on Friday.
Greek government bond yields remained at 13-year lows, having fallen 19 basis points this week and 21 basis points last week.
The Greek 10-year yield was at 3.31 percent, down almost four basis points on the day.
[Reuters]

In the last three months of 2018 house prices in Bulgaria rose by 5.5 percent on an annual basis, according to European Statistical Office data published today. This is the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2016 when the reported growth was 4.6 percent.