International Monetary Fund

The Romanian government on Wednesday announced the launch of the sale of a 51-per-cent stake in the electricity distributor Electrica, from which it hopes to raise up to 1.95 billion lei (some 435 million euro).

The sale forms a major part of the Romania's privatisation strategy, which has been agreed with the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

Declines on most European markets and Tuesday’s International Monetary Fund report demanding measures to plug Greece’s fiscal gap for 2015-16 resulted in significant losses for most stocks during most of Wednesday’s bourse session, although certain blue chips reacted in the last hour of trading and contained the benchmark drop to 1.18 percent.

Serbia's FX reserves total EUR 10.3 billion in May

BELGRADE -- Serbia's FX reserves dropped from the April sum of EUR 10.4 billion to EUR 10.3 billion at the end of May 2014, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) stated.

President of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL, in opposition) Vasile Blaga stated, on Wednesday, following the meeting with the joint International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and European Commission (EC) delegation, that the Democrat Liberals and Liberals demand the suspension of the gas price liberalization.

A sharp fall in the number of people traveling by train and lack of money to improve the lines are among the main reasons behind Romania’s decision to slash the number of railway workers and close almost half of the network.

By Katerina Sokou

Poul Thomsen, the head of the International Monetary Fund’s mission to Greece, expressed on Tuesday confidence that the Greek economy will begin to recover this year, as the impressive fiscal adjustment and market confidence are creating «a virtuous circle."

 Fund concerned about reform fatigue, insists on extending measures, puts unpopular issues on the table

Employees at the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) have launched a case at the Council of State against the service’s chief, Andreas Georgiou.

The ELSTAT workers are arguing that it was unconstitutional for Georgiou to make them sign confidentiality clauses that forbid them from giving details about the statistics they work with to anyone else, including police and judges.

Cyprus appointed lead managers on Tuesday to arrange its first post-bailout bond, underpinning its ambitions for a swift comeback to international markets just a year after teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

The Finance Ministry said it had mandated Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC, UBS Investment Bank and VTB Capital to handle briefings for investors.

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that Greece has made "significant progress" in repairing its economy, but warned it risked falling behind in reforms needed to make its massive national debt sustainable.

In a report, the IMF said Greek debt is expected to remain high "well into the next decade," peaking this year at an expected 174 percent of gross domestic product.