Economy

Greek payments company Viva Wallet is seeking to raise half a billion euros to support its digital banking operations, two sources told Reuters, eight months after securing a banking licence through a merger with Praxia Bank.

The speed and path of the economic recovery are uncertain, conditional on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictive measures, as well as on the economy's response to fiscal and monetary stimuli, according to the minutes of a monetary policy meeting of the board of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) of August 5, 2020.

Turkey's current account balance posted a deficit of $2.93 billion in June, slightly down from the market expectation, according to the Turkish Central Bank data on Aug. 14.

The June figure widened by $2.8 billion from the same month last year, data showed.

The country's 12-month rolling deficit totaled at $11.1 billion, the bank said.

Turkey's current account balance is expected to show a deficit of $3 billion on average in June, according to an Anadolu Agency survey on Aug. 12. 

The country's balance of payments figures for June will be released by the Turkish Central Bank on Friday, Aug. 14.

Jewelry and fashion accessories company Folli Follie sustained losses of 121 million euros during 2019, or 44% less than in 2018, according to results as yet uncertified by chartered accountants.

Operational losses also declined, to about €74 million in 2019 from €156.2 million in 2018, despite turnover shrinking to €203 million from €297 million.

The government will submit to Parliament in September a new payment schedule for debts to the state incurred during the coronavirus pandemic.

These new debts will be paid either in 12 interest-free installments in 2021 or 24 low-interest installments. The amount of unpaid taxes and previous debt settlements that froze during the period from March to May exceeds €2 billion.

Piraeus Bank has applied to the Hercules asset protection scheme that aims to reduce banks' exposure to nonperforming loans through their securitization.

The application concerns the securitization of Phoenix, a €1.9 billion portfolio of housing loans.

Piraeus' application leaves National Bank as the last of the "big four" Greek retail banks that has not applied to the scheme.

As of June 15, banks had granted loans to the amount of 4 billion lei under the IMM Invest programme, and this week the one billion euro equivalent mark will be passed, Cristian Paun, chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Credit Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises SA - IFN (FNGCIMM SA - IFN), said on Wednesday.

The Turkish private sector's outstanding loans from abroad fell further in April compared to the end of last year, the country's Central Bank announced on June 17. 

Long-term debts hit $173.6 billion as of April, falling $7.4 billion from end-2019, with 41.9% held by financial institutions.

Public Finance Minister Florin Citu says that his objective is to minimize the negative impact of the global economic crisis on Romania's economy, and that the best measures to this effect have been taken so far, a fact confirmed by official data. "The real economy proves me right! We have taken the best measures for the economy and this is confirmed by official data.