Money

In response to a question tabled in Parliament by Golden Dawn MP Georgios Galeos over the management of Greece’s state-run pension funds, Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas said funds would be able to manage better their cash reserves by depositing them in the Bank of Greece.

Bulgaria is marketing euro bonds in three lots maturing respectively in seven, 12 and 20 years, Reuters reported on Thursday.

"The seven-year bond is being offered to investors at mid-swaps plus 195bp area, the 12-year tranche at mid-swaps plus 225bp area while the longest tranche is being offered to investors at mid-swaps plus 260bp area," the newswire said.

 Social security funds reluctant to help out

By Sotiris Nikas & Roula Salourou

The government has called on major public corporations, including utilities, to invest their cash reserves in state debt, along the lines of the proposal made to social security funds and other state entities.

In a letter to the country?s local authorities, the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) has proposed that citizens who are over 67 percent disabled should be exempt from municipal charges.

The letter followed an appeal by disability groups for an exemption and cited the impact of years of austerity, chiefly cuts to pensions and salaries, on their income.

Turkey's main stock exchange, Borsa Istanbul, and the London Metal Exchange (LME) will work with to develop products for the steel market, Borsa Istanbul said in a written statement on March 18.

Borsa Istanbul will also acquire LME's stake in clearing house LCH.Clearnet, the statement added.

Turkey's leading indicators did not signal any economic recovery in the first quarter as high food prices worsened the inflation outlook, the Central Bank said March 18.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday at a news conference that time was running out for Greece, which is trying to achieve a better deal with its international creditors.

Sticking to his hard line on Greece, Schaeuble said that Greece has stated time and again that it doesn't want a third bailout program.

Following in the footsteps of their older colleagues in universities who successfully rebelled against government plans for state-run "external" tests, high school pupils in Macedonia, united in a movement called "High School Plenum", announced their own protest in Thursday in Skopje.

Greece's leftist government has said that future proceeds from privatizations would be diverted to pension funds instead of debt repayment ? a move the country's creditors are likely to oppose.

Turkey?s Central Bank left interest rates on hold on March 17 as the lira?s slide to record lows risked stoking inflation, resisting pressure from political circles to cut rates ahead of a June election.