Economy of Europe

Eurobank reported on Thursday a drop in its first-quarter losses to 94 million euros ? against losses of 524 million euros in October-December ? and a 7.2 percent quarterly increase in profits before provisions.

Turkey?s economic growth will remain broadly unchanged at 3 percent in 2015 and 2016, significantly below the country?s long-term potential, said the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in its latest Regional Economic Prospects report on May 14. 

Measured optimism that the market may have seen the worst yet generated early gains at the local bourse on Wednesday, but the changes imposed on the MSCI index setup regarding Greek chips left the benchmark virtually unchanged from the previous day at the end of the session.

The revision of the Customs Union between the EU and Turkey will provide an opportunity for the parties to overcome chronic problems such as visa issues and transport quotas, as well as enabling Turkey to build a solid foundation for new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that are becoming more important in EU trade policy, the Economic Development Foundation (IKV) in a note on May 13. 

Equity prices rose on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) on Wednesday, with the basic share price index up 0.98% at 835.57 points at 11 a.m. and turnover at 10.125 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE Large Cap index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks was up 1.51%and the FTSE/ASE Mid Cap index was up 1.63%.

Less than ninety minutes remain until the start of today’s Eurogroup, in which 19 Eurozone Finance Ministers, the ECB’s director Mario Draghi, and EC officials will discuss the Greek matter.

Gazprom has launched the construction of the sea section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, according to Alexei Miller, CEO of the Russian energy giant.

In a Friday interview for the Rossiya 24 TV Channel, Miller, as cited by the TASS news agency, announced that Gazprom had moved to the stage of construction of the sea stretch of Turkish Stream.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow may consider extending funding to Greek companies which join the Russian pipeline project to deliver gas to Turkey and onward to Europe, RIA Novosti reported.

Technical-level talks continued in Brussels on Friday between Greek officials and representatives of the country's international creditors in a bid to achieve as much convergence as possible ahead of Monday's Eurogroup summit in Brussels.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed energy cooperation in a telephone conversation on Thursday during which the Russian leader expressed his readiness to finance a Greek company that will participate in the construction of a Russian pipeline that would carry natural gas to Europe, Tsipras?s office said.