Euro

Greece said on Wednesday it expected to beat a 2014 budget target set by its international lenders and may tap bond markets again with an issue of between 3 and 6 billion euros to plug any potential funding gap over the next 12 months.

Jeff Black & Boris Groendahl

European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio said lenders in the region are reducing the risk of failing a balance-sheet review by taking pre-emptive steps to increase capital ratios.

By Derek Gatopoulos

Greece's will achieve better-than-expected budget figures in 2014 year but that unemployment would only decline slowly over the coming four years, the country's finance ministry said Wednesday.

By Abigail Moses

A recovery in the nation that set off the euro region’s debt crisis is allowing Greece’s largest electricity company to return to the bond market for the first time since 2000.

Credit rating agency Moody's on Tuesday upgraded the Greek banking system from negative to stable and said the country's economy would return to growth this year after a six-year recession.

Greeks are among those least likely to use credit cards in the European Union, according to a European Central Bank report published on Tuesday.

Greece came third last both in terms of the frequency of use and the total value of payments made by credit card, according to the ECB.

Neal Armstrong & Lucy Meakin

European government bonds dropped as reports showing annual inflation quickened in eight German states curbed speculation the central bank will announce a debt- purchase plan to revive the economy as soon as next month.

Private-sector deposits in Cypriot banks rose slightly in March, the first monthly increase since November, while deposits in other southern European countries hit by the eurozone debt crisis remained relatively stable, ECB data showed.

Reforms push Greece to economic recovery

The costs are high, but the government has stuck to implementing the required steps.

The government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras floated a sovereign bond for the first time since the economic crisis began in 2010. [AFP]

It took Eurobank just four hours to fill its book with adequate offers for its approximately 2.5-billion-euro share capital increase from foreign investors on Friday, as investors offered 1.24 billion euros to add to the 1.33 billion that the consortium led by Fairfax has tabled.