World economy

In a Handelsblatt interview today, the Greek central bank chief Yiannis Stournaras called for the country’s international creditors to take decisions quickly on how to ease the ailing country’s enormous debt burden.

An estimated 60,000 Greeks - as well as many more depositors in countries around the world - are worried about the introduction of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which goes into effect on January 1, 2017.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced backing for a 288 million-euro bond ($305 million) to finance a state-of-the-art hospital campus in the eastern Turkish province of Elazığ.

The government's fear that a compromise between the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to secure the latter's participation in the Greek bailout program will lead to a new batch of measures in 2018 through 2020 has prompted Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to revive the prospect of snap polls.

A meeting of finance ministers of core European Union countries to discuss the possible concessions Brussels could offer to secure the participation of the IMF in Greece's third bailout has been canceled, according to reports Wednesday.

The meeting was set to take place in Berlin on Friday.

The European Union should discuss debt relief for Greece and potentially move ahead even without the International Monetary Fund, Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno said in an interview published Tuesday by the Bild newspaper.

"We have to start this discussion," the German newspaper quoted Centeno as saying.

Bulgaria received a LARGELY Compliant estimate in a report of the Global Forum for Transparency and Exchange of Information for tax purposes with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, reported the National Revenue Agency, cited by BTA.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Bulgaria was 21% less in the first nine months of 2016 compared to the same period of last year, central bank statistics show.

According to data from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), FDI for January - September 2016 amounted to EUR 1.3 B, which is 2.8% of Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP).

A new pension cut, layoffs and a further reduction of its tax-free threshold are some of the new measures demanded by the IMF in exchange for joining Greece’s new bailout program, in addition to an active rather than an advisory role.

CEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have signed an agreement on a EUR 116 M loan to the energy distribution venture.

The loan is intended for the financing of investments of the company in the period 2016-2017 and will be paid back over a period of 7 years.