The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Second Post-Program Monitoring with Portugal,1 and endorsed the staff appraisal without a meeting on a lapse-of-time basis.2 Portugal’s economic recovery remains on track in 2015, boosted by rising exports and consumption, together with a recent upturn in investment. Real GDP expanded by 1.5 percent (year-on-year) in the first quarter, and is projected to increase 1.6 percent for the full year. Fiscal adjustment has slowed, meanwhile, with a structural loosening likely this...

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The European Commission has today adopted new rules that make it mandatory for certain over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivative contracts to be cleared through central counterparties. Mandatory central clearing is a vital part of the response to the financial crisis; it follows commitments made by world leaders at the G-20 Pittsburgh Summit in 2009, to improve transparency and mitigate risks. Jonathan Hill, EU Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, said: "Today we take a significant step...

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On 4 August 2015, the EU Council approved a regulation amending the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) in order to protect non-euro area member states from any risk arising from financial assistance given to a euro area country. This principle was endorsed on 17 July 2015 by a joint statement of the Commission and the Council. It was agreed along with a decision to grant €7.16bn in short term financial assistance to Greece under the EFSM. Specifically, the regulation ensures that...

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President Obama just announced America's Clean Power Plan -- the biggest and most important step our country has taken in the fight against climate change. Our power plants are responsible for about a third of America's carbon pollution -- more than our cars, airplanes, and homes combined -- and that pollution is fueling climate change. But until now, there have never been federal limits on how much carbon pollution existing power plants can generate. The Clean Power Plan sets the first-ever...

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The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Credito Emiliano SpA (“Credem”), assisted by Finanziaria Internazionale (“FinInt”), have signed the first COSME transaction in Italy benefitting from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) through which the Investment Plan for Europe is being deployed by the European Commission and the EIB Group. The COSME agreement will provide Credem with a guarantee allowing the organisation to increase its lending volumes over the next 2 years, by providing loans to SMEs...

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Aware that obtaining and analyzing Big Data is one of the greatest assets in an increasingly competitive and global market, NMusic defied a group of prestigious partners with know-how to take a part of the STREAMLINE project. This project intends to develop a tool that can make European companies and institutes more competitive by gathering, processing, optimizing data, and producing the most reliable analytics in real time. The challenge was raised by NMusic from a need identified a few years back...

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In the euro area, in real terms, household income per capita increased by 0.9% in the first quarter of 2015, after an increase of 0.1% in the previous quarter. Household real consumption per capita increased by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2015, after an increase of 0.2% in the previous quarter. Full text available on EUROSTAT website.

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Safety net measures for the European dairy, fruit and vegetables sectors will be extended into 2016. The European Commission is currently finalising the last details with a view to formally adopting the relevant legal decisions in the coming weeks as a matter of formality. The European Commission is aware of the challenges faced by European producers and to support them. For the fruit and vegetables sector, the foreseen measures may enter into force as of next week, while for the...

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Participants: Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF & Gerry Rice, Director, Communications Department, IMF MR. RICE: Good morning, everyone. And welcome to this Press Briefing here, at the International Monetary Fund. Delighted to welcome you this morning, and we looked at this as an opportunity to give you the chance to ask some questions to the Managing Director of the IMF, Madam Christine Lagarde. Good morning, Madam Lagarde. MS. LAGARDE: Good morning, Gerry. MR. RICE: Who with us this morning. And also it's...

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