European System of Central Banks

The pro-Russian "Vazrazhdane" party demanded the resignation of the governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), Dimitar Radev. According to them, he has started implementing the plan to introduce the euro.

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has no formal basis and has not suspended the technical work on the adoption of the euro. It is being carried out on schedule and within the bank's budget for 2023, the press center of the Bulgarian National Bank said regarding political comments that the process of joining the Eurozone should be stopped.

"At the beginning of the year, the fiscal reserve was BGN 11.9 billion, of which BGN 10.8 billion was in BNB (Bulgarian National Bank) accounts. As of May 10, the fiscal reserve decreased to about BGN 10.3 billion, and in BNB accounts - to 9.6 billion". This was stated by the acting Minister of Finance Rositsa Velkova in the plenary hall.

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has taken measures to restrict lending and control the growth of inflation. The central bank's decision is to more than double the minimum required reserves of banks.

This is happening two days after the BNB reported as a risk the rapid growth of lending from commercial treasuries.

The European Central Bank's chief economist yesterday said it was "not the right time" to end interest rate hikes, despite easing inflation in the eurozone.    

The ECB has raised rates by 3.5 percentage points since July last year in an unprecedented campaign of monetary tightening to bring soaring consumer prices under control.     

Greece's four systemic banks showed high profitability of 3.7 billion euros last year, against losses of €4.7 billion in 2021, while also recording one of the highest net interest margins among European banks.

Philip R. Lane, member of the Executive Board and chief economist at the European Central Bank (ECB), said he is pleased to witness the significant progress of the Cypriot economy.

He was speaking after meetings on Wednesday at the start of his visit to Cyprus that concluded on Thursday, following an invitation from the governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, Constantinos Herodotou.

The European Central Bank today raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points to 3.5%, the highest level since 2008, and did not comment on what its future steps might be to control inflation.

"Core inflation in the Eurozone will remain high for the foreseeable future, so a European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate hike of up to 50 basis points later this month looks increasingly certain", ECB President Christine Lagarde told the Spanish media group Vocento.

The European Central Bank is set to raise interest rates again on Thursday and pencil in more hikes for the next few months, with the only open question being how big these will be.