Policy reactions to the Eurozone crisis

Buoyed by falling inflation, the European Central Bank is expected to keep borrowing costs on hold one last time on April 11 while laying the ground for a first interest rate cut in June.

The Frankfurt-based institution has left its key rates unchanged since October 2023, following an unprecedented streak of hikes to tame red-hot inflation.

The yield of the Greek 10-year bond, the benchmark of the Greek debt market, has now dropped below 3%, at the lowest levels since April 2022, when the main interest rate of the European Central Bank was still at negative levels.

Not much progress is expected on the reform of European Union debt rules at EU finance ministers' talks on Friday, officials said, as Germany and France remain at odds over whether there should be a minimum annual debt reduction obligatory for all.

It didn't take long for the housing loan installments to "soar" up by 100 euros, while at the same time, the prices of apartments for sale constantly grow, affecting rents to increase by up to 50 percent.

The European Central Bank confirmed on Thursday that it would end a long-running scheme to pour billions of euros into the Eurozone economy on July 1st by buying bonds and signaled a series of interest rate hikes as early as next month as it fights persistently high inflation.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is set to draw a line under its massive bond-buying stimulus program at a meeting on June 9, as inflation in the eurozone soars to all-time highs.

The European Central Bank will take its time to assess new data before tightening its monetary policy any faster, its president said on Feb. 7, amid fierce speculation that the bank would raise rates sooner than previously expected.

Next week marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) on 2 February 2012.

The ESM is a child of the euro crisis, it was directly connected to the biggest debt crisis that Greece went through after the war and it reminds the Greeks of the most difficult moments of the last decade.

It is expected that the pandemic emergency buying program of the European Central Bank will be expanded by another € 500 billion. This should happen at the last for the year sitting of the Managing Board of the ECB.

Greece's central banker said on Monday he will advise the government to make use of the cheap, long-term credit lines that will be made available by the Pandemic Crisis Support fund of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).