The EU Commission is aiming to present a new, more ambitious circular economy strategy late in 2015, to transform Europe into a more competitive resource-efficient economy, addressing a range of economic sectors, including waste. The strategy will be fully aligned with the priorities of the new Commission. It will comprise a revised legislative proposal on waste and a Communication setting out an action plan on the circular economy for the rest of this Commission’s term of office. The action...

Good evening and welcome to this press conference. We have just finished the Eurogroup meeting and we've come to a positive conclusion on the proposals by the institutions. All the intense work of the last week has paid off and let me here also extend my thanks to the teams of the institutions and the team of the Greek government that had worked so hard these last months to reach an agreement. We also have reached agreement at the...

The first estimate for euro area (EA19) exports of goods to the rest of the world in June 2015 was €182.7 billion, an increase of 12% compared with June 2014 (€162.7 bn). Imports from the rest of the world stood at €156.4 bn, a rise of 7% compared with June 2014 (€146.7 bn). As a result, the euro area recorded a €26.4 bn surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in June 2015, compared with +€16.0...

On 14 August 2015, the Eurogroup issued a statement welcoming the agreement reached between Greece and the European institutions, with input from the IMF, on the policy conditionality underlying the new European Stability Mechanism (ESM) programme for Greece. The ESM financial assistance facility agreement will cover an amount of up to €86 billion. This includes a buffer of up to €25 billion for the banking sector in order to address potential bank recapitalisation and resolution costs. The Eurogroup considers that the necessary...

Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made the following statement today: “The policy package specified in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently agreed between the Greek authorities and European institutions, with input from Fund staff, is a very important step forward. It not only reverses much of the policy backtracking that caused the previous program to run seriously off track, but puts in place wide-ranging policies to restore fiscal sustainability, financial sector stability, and a...

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...