Banks in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) reduced the pace of deleveraging in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter, and the related capital outflows moderated. Credit growth continued to diverge across the CESEE region, according to the latest report from the Vienna Initiative Steering Committee. Banks reporting to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) reduced their exposure to the region by 0.3 percent of GDP in the first quarter of 2015, following a 0.7 percent...

A staff team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Delia Velculescu, visited Athens during July 30-August 12 to participate in technical discussions between the Greek authorities and the European Commission, European Central Bank and European Stability Mechanism (ESM) on an economic program that could be financially supported by the ESM. At the end of the visit, Ms. Velculescu made the following statement: “During our visit we worked closely with the Greek authorities and our European partners. The Memorandum of...

The contest is on! Apply now to get a chance to win one of the three prizes! With the EU Prize for Women Innovators, the European Commission wants to give public recognition to outstanding women entrepreneurs who brought their innovative ideas to the market. The aim is to inspire other women to follow in their footsteps. After two successful editions in 2011 and 2014, the European Commission has launched the third edition of the prize. Three prizes will be awarded in Spring...

Eurobarometer Survey on Autonomous Systems  Drones delivering packages, driverless cars, robots vacuuming your house: these high tech devices already exist. The question is whether all members of society are ready to live alongside them and their artificial intelligence. A recent Eurobarometer Survey on “Autonomous Systems” took a sampling of Europeans’ opinions on how they feel about these new technological developments…from a consumer’s perspective. A majority of respondents agreed that civil drones are an efficient way of transporting and delivering goods, but two-thirds...

The IMF today published for the first time the World Revenue Longitudinal Dataset (WoRLD), which provides data on tax and non-tax revenues for 186 countries over the period 1990-2013. The database includes broad country coverage and time periods, and it is the result of combining in a consistent manner data from two other IMF publications -- the IMF Government Finance Statistics and World Economic Outlook (WEO)-- and drawing on the OECD’s Revenue Statistics and Revenue Statistics in Latin America...

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...

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...

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...