Great Recession in Europe

An unexpected drop in German industrial production in December, as well as a decline in exports, cast a shadow over the outlook for Europe's biggest economy, analysts said on Feb. 9.

Economic growth will fall to 1.5 per cent in 2016 due to a slowdown in EU funds absorption but will pick up in 2017, the European Commission has said in its latest forecast. 

The latest figures of Eurostat released on Tuesday show that Bulgaria's unemployment rate was below the EU average in the last month of 2015.

In December last year, Bulgaria registered an unemployment rate of 8.8 %, with the EU average being 9 %.

Bulgaria's unemployment rate retained its level from November 2015, decreasing by 1.4 % compared to the same month in 2014.

The World Bank has praised Turkey's economic growth performance in 2015 and kept its forecasts for 2016 and 2017 the same in its latest forecast, which was published on Jan. 6. 

Favorable economic conditions and an influx of foreign workers boosted employment in Germany to its highest since reunification in 1990, according to data published on Jan. 4 as the jobless rate hovers at a historic low.

The  Bank of Greece on Wednesday  released its monthly report stating that the monthly net flow of total credit to the domestic private sector was negative at 458 million euros, compared with a negative net flow of 412 million in the previous month. Bank credit to the domestic private sector continued to be negative in November, with the annual rate at -2.2% from -2% in the previous month.

Turkish unemployment edged higher to 10.3 percent in the September period between August and October from 10.1 percent at the previous period, but was slightly lower than the same period last year, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) said on Dec. 15

The lifting of capital controls is feasible within 2016, Economy, Development and Tourism Minister George Stathakis said to “Sunday’s Vima” newspaper.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Bulgaria's long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'BBB-' and 'BBB', respectively with stable outlooks.

The issue ratings on Bulgaria's senior unsecured foreign and local currency bonds have been affirmed at 'BBB-' and 'BBB', respectively, the global rating agency said in a news release on Friday.

According to the latest figures of Eurostat published on Tuesday, the unemployment rate in Bulgaria stood at 9.5 % in October 2015.

The unemployment rate in Bulgaria was slightly above the EU average of 9.3 %, amounting to 316 000 people

The unemployment rate retained its level from the previous month and decreased by 1.4 % compared to October 2014.