Economy

Payments totalling roughly 1.5 billion euros owed by Greece to the IMF are due in June, beginning with 300 million on June 5, with a top SYRIZA lawmaker on Wednesday warning that “if there is no deal by then that will address the current funding problem, they won’t get any money.”

Greece will not make a payment to the International Monetary Fund that falls due on June 5 if there is no deal with its creditors by then, the government's parliamentary speaker said on Wednesday.

The euro fell on Wednesday after the Greek government's parliamentary speaker said Greece will not make a repayment to the International Monetary Fund that falls due on June 5 if there is no deal with its creditors by then.

The euro extended its losses and hit a two-week low near $1.1092 at one point. It last traded at $1.1103, down 0.4 percent on the day. [Reuters]

Greece will not be able to make a payment to the International Monetary Fund that falls due on June 5 without a deal with its international lenders, the government's parliamentary speaker said on Wednesday.

Moody's Investors Service has said its outlook on Greece's banking system is ?negative,? owing to acute deterioration in funding and liquidity.

?These pressures are unlikely to ease over the next 12-18 months and there is a high likelihood of an imposition of capital controls and a deposit freeze,? the credit ratings agency said in a report released Wednesday.

A court in Albania has jailed Ardian Bitraj, a former supervisor of cash deposits at the Bank of Albania, for 20 years for the theft of 713 million leks.

He pleaded guilty and said he had lost the proceedings in gambling. Mimoza Bruzia, another bank employee, got 10 years as a collaborator in the crime.

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan has said Turkey, Indonesia and the Islamic Development Bank have accelerated their efforts to establish a "megabank" with the aim of creating a platform to serve as a "central bank" for the world's Islamic lenders, as reported by Reuters. 

The Bulgarian government and representatives of the trade unions and the employers' organisations reached an agreement on the conditions of retirement in the forthcoming years.

The proposal for a pension reform will be tabled to parliament and all three sides said that compromises were made, daily Dnevnik reports.

Ford Otosan, the Turkish arm of Ford, cancelled an extra working shift on May 19 citing supply chain problems amid widening labor unrest in Turkey?s automotive sector.

Production at two major carmakers, Oyak Renault and Tofa?, which account for more than 40 percent of Turkey?s annual car production, was halted earlier this week due to demands for better working conditions. 

A joint IMF and European Commission delegation held its first talks with Bucharest officials on Tuesday over Romania's proposal to change the fiscal code and boost disposable income and get people spending more.

The discussions, due to end on May 26, will focus also on the need for a new deal with the international lenders.