Macroeconomics

The speed and path of the economic recovery are uncertain, conditional on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictive measures, as well as on the economy's response to fiscal and monetary stimuli, according to the minutes of a monetary policy meeting of the board of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) of August 5, 2020.

Turkey's current account balance posted a deficit of $2.93 billion in June, slightly down from the market expectation, according to the Turkish Central Bank data on Aug. 14.

The June figure widened by $2.8 billion from the same month last year, data showed.

The country's 12-month rolling deficit totaled at $11.1 billion, the bank said.

Economic output is predicted to fall by 9.7 per cent, while unemployment, which had fallen below 20 per cent, is expected to return to over 20 per cent once again.

Stress and insecurity - but also hope

Alexandra Banou. Photo: Courtesy of Alexandra Banou

Romania's annual inflation rate fell to 2.3% in May 2020, from 2.7% in April, given that food prices rose by 5.25% , services by 2.6%, and non-food goods by 0.15%, according to data released on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Consumer prices in May 2020 compared with April rose by 0.05%, and compared with December 2019 they advanced 1.47%.

Greece's annual EU-harmonised inflation stayed negative in May at -0.7% year-on-year from -0.9% in April, statistics service ELSTAT data showed on Wednesday.

The data also showed headline consumer price inflation at -1.1% from -1.4% in the previous month.

Prices were led lower by housing and transport costs, telecommunications and consumer durables, the data showed.

The Turkish economy is expected to bounce back to a record 5 percent growth next year after contracting 3.8 percent in 2020, the Work Bank said in the latest issue of Global Economic Prospects report.
"The economy is expected to return to growth in 2021, on the back of gradual improvement in domestic demand," the bank said on June 8.

Consumer prices in Turkey went up in May compared to the same month last year, the country's statistical authority announced on June 3. 

May's annual inflation rate was up 11.39% from 10.94% in April amid coronavirus, Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data showed.

London (CNN) - Is the damage caused by the lockdown worse than the virus itself? That's a question raised by some world leaders and commentators who claim that economic and social hardship caused by strict coronavirus restrictions places a heavier burden on society than the death rate caused by the disease.

The ranks of the jobless swelled from EUR 77,484 at the end of February to 88,648 by the end of April, according to Employment Service figures.

Growth slowed in May, but the jobless total has already exceeded 90,000 and many more are expected to be laid off in the coming months.

Budget revenues in May will not look very good, so fiscal and monetary policies need to be relaxed even more, so that revenues in June are very good, the Minister of Public Finance Florin Citu said on Friday to the private TV broadcaster Digi 24. "In April, in the midst of an overlapping crisis, both economic and health, we managed to collect more to the budget than last year.