European Central Bank

Eurozone government bond yields were headed for a weekly rise as robust economic data and hawkish remarks by central bank officials triggered some upward repricing in market bets about future European Central Bank rate hikes.

National Bank, the country's second-largest lender by market value, has posted a 28% drop in earnings for the first quarter on lower trading income and one-off items.

NBG, 40 percent-owned by the country's HFSF bank rescue fund, said net profit stood at 260 million euros in the first quarter, down from 360 million euros in the same period last year.

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has no formal basis and has not suspended the technical work on the adoption of the euro. It is being carried out on schedule and within the bank's budget for 2023, the press center of the Bulgarian National Bank said regarding political comments that the process of joining the Eurozone should be stopped.

The Cypriot economy maintained strong momentum in the first quarter of 2023 with real GDP registering an annual growth rate of 3.4%, marking signs of a slowdown against the backdrop of the uncertain external environment and the restrictive monetary policy by the European Central Bank in a bid to wrestle inflation under control.

Economic expansion in Bulgaria is expected to slow in 2023 before picking up in 2024, according to the European Commission's "spring forecasts".

After GDP growth of 3.4% last year, the EC expects it to slow to 1.5% in 2023 before accelerating to 2.4% in 2024.

Alpha Bank, Greece's third-largest lender by market value, on Monday posted a 24% rise in first-quarter net profit on higher interest income.

Alpha Bank, which is 9% owned by Greece's HFSF bank rescue fund, said net profit came in at 162 million euros, up from €131 million in the first quarter last year.

Since July 2022, lending rates in Cyprus have risen by 3.5%, putting borrowers in a tough position with dangerously increasing loan repayments. Banks are now searching for ways to alleviate the situation, and they may have found a way to offer some "breathing space" to borrowers with mortgages.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on April 28 urged European central banks to "kill the beast" of inflation by pursuing interest rate hikes.

"You need to go and kill that beast" the IMF's European department director Alfred Kammer told reporters in Stockholm.

Standard & Poor's on Tuesday raised the outlook of credit ratings of Greek banks, citing significant progress achieved by the financial institutions.

The European Central Bank's chief economist yesterday said it was "not the right time" to end interest rate hikes, despite easing inflation in the eurozone.    

The ECB has raised rates by 3.5 percentage points since July last year in an unprecedented campaign of monetary tightening to bring soaring consumer prices under control.