Economy

The idea of a joint borrowing tool to help Europe get back on its feet and reboot the economies of its member-states after the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic is extremely important.

Ukraine's largest lender, state-run PrivatBank, said on Friday that it had filed a new $5.5 billion claim in the Cypriot courts against its former owners.
The bank said in a statement that it was seeking damages in respect of schemes bearing all the hallmarks of fraud and money laundering which the bank alleges were perpetrated by ex-shareholders.

The mixed session that brought the bourse week to a close on Friday saw the benchmark and blue chips record losses, while the mid-cap index advanced and rising stocks outnumbers losers at a ratio of almost two-to-one, on what was the lowest daily turnover of the last eight sessions.

Relief measures are hammered out under emergency conditions. There is no time for thorough preparations and for this reason it is only natural that there will be problems after they are rolled out. 

This has been demonstrated again as the government introduced measures to curb the economic impact from the coronavirus pandemic.

Bulgaria's central bank BNB has adopted the guidelines approved by the European Banking Authority for private moratoria on payments in light of the Covid-19 crisis, BNR reported.

Moldovan citizens returning home on charter flights organized by the authorities are now obliged - together with the cost of the ticket - to pay for a COVID-19 test on arrival under an order issued on Friday by the Moldovan Civil Aviation Authority.

Turkey's foreign trade volume grew 3.6 percent year-on-year to $98.4 billion in the first quarter of 2020, according to a preliminary Trade Ministry data released on April 2.

The country's exports volume was choked off by coronavirus in January-March after seeing 4 percent rise in the first two months, the ministry said in a statement. 

Labour inspectorates say they do not have the resources to look into a spike in reported abuses.

Early indications in some countries point to layoffs in the thousands. Public sector workers, for now, appear safe, but not necessarily their wages.

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Thursday that over 30% of the Romanian economy is affected by the novel coronavirus epidemic, noting that he is not favouring austerity measures or price freeze. "Given that a large part of the economy has been affected by the epidemic, it is clear that economic growth will be affected.

The decision to postpone the payment date of bills of exchange issued for sectors affected by the Covid-19 pandemic between March 30 and May 31 by 75 days has already started a chain of negative consequences in the market.