Economy

State-owned Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to encourage future cooperation in cross-border funding, bilateral loans, investments and trade, the BDB said on Wednesday.

Turkey's counterfeit rak? crisis has continued to take lives, with three people killed in ?zmir and at least seven others poisoned by bootleg booze. Police, meanwhile, have detained five people suspected of selling and producing the bootleg alcohol. 

After months of a decline amid elections, security concerns and a slow recovery in Europe and the U.S., officials from the Turkish Prime Ministry Investment Agency have expressed hope about a rise in investments in 2016. 

U.S. rating agency Standard and Poor's said on Nov. 25 a budding eurozone recovery was gathering steam thanks to consumers loosening their purse strings.

In a report entitled "Hangin' In There Despite Weak Foreign Demand", it said domestic demand had emerged as a main driver for growth, offsetting export weakness.

The Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS) on Wednesday presented the results of the fifth annual survey of 1,000 businesses.

The report "showed areas where progress has been made and where there are still obstacles to improving competitiveness and economic growth in Serbia," Tanjug reported.

The limitation on credit card installments to pay for a number of items has been extended from nine months to 12 months to revive consumption levels. 

Greek banker Omiros Millas, a former National Bank of Greece executive, said he was harassed for warning that his firm risked breaching regulations on valuations, confidentiality and money laundering.

The long-waited rate hike decision by the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) will most probably be made by the next month. The global markets have definitely prepared themselves adequately for the hike. They have prepared so much that many emerging currencies, including the Turkish Lira, has started to gain value against the U.S.

Hungary's Central Bank (MNB) said on Nov. 24 that it has bought back a majority stake in the country's stock exchange in an effort to boost weak trading volumes after years of sharp decline.

The MNB bought a stake of 68.8 percent from two Austrian firms, CESEEG and OeKG, for 13.2 billion forints (42.5 million euros, $45.1 million), raising its overall holding to 75.8 percent.

German business confidence has increased dramatically in November, shrugging off the Volkswagen emissions scandal and the recent attacks in Paris, a leading economic think tank says German business confidence bounced back in November as Europe's top economy shrugged off global uncertainty and the deadly jihadist assault in Paris, a leading economic think tank said yesterday.