The euro zone ended nearly a decade of financial assistance and austerity in Greece early on Friday. After a marathon meeting that culminated with an agreement on debt relief, euro zone members have congratulated Greece for legislating hundreds of measures over the last three years and restoring economic growth. Greece is now due to successfully […]

The ongoing tensions over international trade are the biggest economic risk to the euro zone, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday. Though the euro area enjoyed an economic expansion “above potential” in 2017, “the momentum is slowing down a bit at the moment, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF told […]

Euro zone finance ministers agreed in the early hours of Friday a debt relief package for Greece and a new disbursement of 15 billion euros as part of its current 86-billion-euro bailout program, the head of euro zone finance ministers said. The deal involves a 10-year extension of maturities on loans from the European Financial […]

French President Emmanuel Macron overcame a key hurdle in his plan to reform the euro area earlier this week, but there are more obstacles in the way, including the Netherlands. Macron had managed to get German Chancellor Angela Merkel on board to create a common budget to help reduce the economic divergences across the euro […]

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has said it is prepared to intervene in currency markets if it deems that the Swiss franc has gained too much strength. The central bank kept its main borrowing rate in negative territory Thursday as it acknowledged the risks of global trade friction and political change in Italy. Since April, […]

De-facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia is pushing for the 14-member oil cartel to increase crude production by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) this week. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said Thursday that as the world is likely to face a large oil supply deficit in the second half of 2018, a substantial production […]

The Greek government is hoping to secure one its most important campaign pledges this Thursday – a deal to make its huge debt pile more sustainable – after years of austerity and bailout programs. Euro zone finance ministers are gathering in Luxembourg Thursday to prepare the end of the third financial rescue deal to Greece, […]

The Bank of England may lay some groundwork on Thursday for an August interest rate rise, if it judges the economy is now turning a corner after an unusually weak start to the year. No economists polled by Reuters expect the BoE to raise rates when it announces its June policy decision at 1100 GMT, […]

The Swiss National Bank maintained its ultra loose monetary policy on Thursday, citing the “fragile” exchange rate situation. The SNB kept its target range for the three-month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) at -1.25 to -0.25 percent, as unanimously forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. The central bank also held the negative interest rate […]

European markets are set to open higher Thursday morning amid growing tensions in the oil market ahead of an OPEC meeting that could expand crude production. The FTSE 100 is seen 23 points higher at 7,659; the CAC is expected to open up around 12 points at 5,390 while the DAX is poised to start […]