Great Recession in Europe

Greece should wind down energy support measures by end of 2023 suggests European Commission

Greece, along with Italy, continues to experience excessive imbalances but its vulnerabilities appear to be receding due to policy progress, according to fiscal policy recommendations given by the European Commission in the context of the European Semester.

In more detail, the European Commission recommends that Greece:

Fiscal space of 900 mln euros

The 2023-2026 Stability Program that the government submitted over the weekend to the European Commission allows for some 900 million euros of fiscal space this year, which can be used for possible new handouts to be implemented after the elections.

France vows economic reforms to continue after debt downgrade

France will go ahead with structural reforms to overhaul its economy after credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded the country's debt worthiness, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has told AFP.    

Fitch downgraded France's debt worthiness a notch to "AA-" from "AA" on April 28, claiming the country's "fiscal metrics are weaker than peers".    

Exports hit $24 billion in March

Türkiye's exports increased by 4.4 percent in March from a year ago to 23.6 billion, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

Imports rose 3.4 percent on an annual basis to $31.9 billion. Consequently, the country's foreign trade deficit amounted to $8.3 billion, marking a limited 0.9 percent increase compared with March last year.

Retails sales rise 22 percent in February

Retail sales volume has increased by 21.5 percent in February from the same month of last year, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

This was lower than the 34 percent year-on-year increase in retail sales in January. Strong earthquakes hit several provinces in Türkiye's south in early February, which devastated businesses and killed more than 50,000 people.

Current account, industrial production data out this week

This week will see the releases of some key macroeconomic data, including the current account balance, industrial production and jobless rate.

Today, the Central Bank will announce the current account figures for February. Analysts expect the current account gap to be around $8.5 billion in February.

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Finance predicts a Slowdown in Economic Growth to 1.8% this year

The Bulgarian economy will slow its growth to 1.8 percent this year, according to the spring macroeconomic forecast of the Ministry of Finance.

Due to the Russian war against Ukraine, an alternative scenario has also been developed, according to which the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices may deviate downwards by between 0.5 percentage points.

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