Finance

Greece's government will be able to pay wages and pensions in May but needs an agreement with creditors by the end of the month because of its cash crunch, the government spokesman said on Monday.

"There should be a solution in May so we can resolve our liquidity issues," Gabriel Sakellaridis told a news conference.

May 18 Greece's government should stick to earlier commitments and present reform proposals to help avoid the country becoming insolvent, Germany's central bank warned on Monday.

In its monthly report, written by economists and officials at the bank, the Bundesbank used unusually frank language to describe what it called the «worrying» situation in Greece.

By Inyoung Hwang

European stocks fell, erasing earlier gains, as lenders sent Greek and Italian stocks lower.

George Romanias, General Secretary of Social Security, dropped a bomb during his interview with the morning show on private TV ANT1 by stating that he will not cancel out the ‘zero deficit’ clause on pensions but will ‘freeze’ these indefinitely. “Whether the ‘zero deficit’ clause is abolished or suspended, there will be pension reductions,” he said.

 A missed debt payment will indirectly make it impossible to cover pensions and state wages next time

By Dimitris Kontogiannis

Greece has paid public sector wages due in mid-May, the finance ministry said on Friday, confirming scheduled payments as the country struggles to stay solvent.

Athens, which had been expected to easily make Friday's payments, will find it harder to meet wage and pension commitments later this month as well as debt payments in June.

By Roula Salourou

Greece will remain among the countries with the highest pensions in Europe over the next four decades if reforms concerning the level of pensions and the age of retirement are implemented, according to a European Commission report.

One of Turkey?s largest state-owned banks, Ziraat Bank, was authorized by the country?s banking regulator to begin operations in its Islamic banking division, according to the government?s official gazette on May 14.

The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) issued a certificate giving permission to Ziraat Bank to commence operations as an Islamic bank.

The head of Germany's Bundesbank criticised the weekly top-ups of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greek banks, saying in a German newspaper interview that this broke the taboo of financing governments.

HSBC Holdings Plc could select a preferred bidder for its struggling Brazilian unit as early as next month, with the sale expected to be finalized by August, three sources with knowledge of the process said.