Central bank

The Bank of Japan announced a review of its longstanding monetary easing measures on April 28 but said it would maintain them for the time being in the first policy decision under new governor Kazuo Ueda.

The Turkish Central Bank on April 27 held its interest rate at 8.5 percent in its Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC)  meeting.

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has taken measures to restrict lending and control the growth of inflation. The central bank's decision is to more than double the minimum required reserves of banks.

This is happening two days after the BNB reported as a risk the rapid growth of lending from commercial treasuries.

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.     

The process of raising interest rates in Bulgaria will accelerate in the coming months, the BNB predicts in the traditional publication "Banks in Bulgaria". The Central Bank warns that there are prerequisites for the accumulation of risk in the balance sheet of the banking system.

"1.8% - this is the optimistic option for the growth of the economy. The Bulgarian National Bank, for example, predicts 0.4% growth. This is a positive realistic option. There are also options with a recession, which are even more frightening.

Members of the Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will meet this week to decide on the key interest rates, as the decision is due on April 27.

Last month, the bank kept the policy rate (one-week repo auction rate) unchanged at 8.5 percent.

Greece's four systemic banks showed high profitability of 3.7 billion euros last year, against losses of €4.7 billion in 2021, while also recording one of the highest net interest margins among European banks.

BELGRADE - National Bank of Serbia (NBS) gross FX reserves reached 21.38 bln euros at end-March, their highest end-of-month level on record since monitoring began in 2000, the central bank said on Tuesday.

The FX reserves increased by 184.4 mln euros compared to the previous month.

The World Bank's ongoing reform could result in a $50 billion lending boost over the next decade, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has told AFP ahead of stakeholders' meetings this week where key changes are expected to be announced.