Economy of Europe

Indebted eurozone countries such as Greece or Italy need European Union grants rather than loans to deal with the impact of the coronavirus crisis, European Central Bank Vice-President Luis de Guindos said on Wednesday.

World markets were upbeat on Tuesday, following the announcement of bolstering measures by the central banks of the US and Japan, while expectations for an economic rebound starting in the second half of the year added to global stocks' upward swing. In Greece, Athinon Avenue enjoyed a day of significant gains that rose over the course of the day across the board.

Greece's privatization agency (TAIPED) said on Tuesday that it has shortlisted seven investors for the purchase of a majority stake in the country's dominant gas supplier, DEPA Commercial.

At a meeting in the Council of Ministers on June 12, the Government discussed a Draft Protocol Decision on actions taken by Bulgarian Development Bank AD (BDB) to acquire shares from the capital increase of First Investment Bank (FiBank).

The Fed's {decision on Wednesday to hold the key US interest rates unchanged inflicted losses on most European stock markets on Thursday; the Greek bourse followed suit, with its benchmark heading south for the third day in a row, on the lowest daily turnover in 11 sessions.

Eurozone finance ministers on Thursday approved the disbursement of 748 million euros to Greece from profits made by European central banks that purchased Greek sovereign bonds.

The total volume of the investment funds in Turkey has exceeded 150 billion Turkish Liras ($22 billion), and the number of people and entities investing in them has reached 3.1 million, according to the Settlement and Custody Bank of Borsa Istanbul (Takasbank).

The Association of Romania's Privately Managed Pensions (APAPR) has recently asked for the Eurobonds issued by Romania to be included in the European Central Bank's (ECB) procurement programme for euro area countries.

The Eurogroup council of eurozone finance ministers will on Thursday consider suspending Greece's obligation to achieve a primary budget surplus of 3.5% of gross domestic product.

The European Commission has presented a report on the progress of non-Eurozone countries towards the adoption of the euro.   EC Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said there was encouraging progress in some countries.