International Monetary Fund

The European Central Bank on Thursday committed to a quantitative easing (QE) program that will see it print money to buy up 60 billion euros worth of sovereign bonds from March until the end of September next year.

The money will include some from existing programs.

BELGRADE - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board of Directors is due to hold a meeting on February 23, during which it will decide whether to approve an arrangement with Serbia, Tanjug learned at the IMF Office in Belgrade.

Serbia and the IMF reached an agreement on November 20 to sign a three-year precautionary arrangement worth around EUR 1 billion.

Struggling Greece will never recover without a generous debt cut, despite what the country's creditors might think, the politician likely to become the next finance minister said Tuesday.

Representatives of the Bulgarian government and business gather at their ninth annual meeting on Tuesday to discuss the restoration of the country on the path of economic growth.

This year more than 250 executive directors of the largest firms in Bulgaria as well as foreign investors have confirmed their participation at the conference, electronic daily Dnevnik reports.

The International Monetary Fund on Jan. 20 sharply cut its 2015-2016 world growth forecast of only six months ago, saying lower oil prices did not offset pervasive weaknesses around the globe.
      
The IMF said poorer prospects in China, Russia, the euro area and Japan will hold world growth to just 3.5 percent this year and 3.7 percent in 2016.
      

The head of the International Monetary Fund warned Greece that there would be consequences to restructuring its debt after elections where opponents of the country 240 billion euro bailout lead in the polls.

Greece's central government posted a primary budget surplus of 1.92 billion euros ($2.25 billion) in 2014, the finance ministry said on Wednesday, falling short of the government's projection.

Greece was aiming at a central government primary budget surplus of 4.9 billion euros in its latest budget.

Greece's leftist opposition Syriza party will need EU/IMF approval to issue short-term debt to cover funding needs in the first quarter if it takes power after a Jan. 25 election, the finance ministry said on Monday.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Thursday said Romania could negotiate a new type of arrangement with the International Monetary Fund once its standby aid deal expires this year.

"First of all, we want to conclude the current agreement. After that, there are two options: to have no arrangement, or to agree on a flexible credit line, as Poland has," Ponta said.

Romania may negotiate a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) similar to the one in Poland, of a flexible line type or no longer close a new deal, with a decision to be made after the current agreement is finalised, Prime Minister Victor Ponta told a conference hosted by the Public Finances Ministry on Thursday.

Photo credit: (c) Cristian NISTOR / AGERPRES PHOTO