Thu Feb 5, 2015/Reuters The European Central Bank abruptly canceled its acceptance of Greek bonds in return for funding on Wednesday, shifting the burden onto Athens’ central bank to finance its lenders and isolating Greece unless it strikes a new reform deal. The move, which means the Greek central bank […]

Wed Feb 4, 2015/Reuters Standard & Poor’s downgraded Afren Plc on Wednesday, becoming the second major ratings agency to warn of the oil producer’s imminent default. Afren has lost more than 90 percent of its market value, or about 1.5 billion pounds ($2.3 billion), since the end of July, hit […]

February 2, 2015/iMFdirect By Plamen Iossifov and Jiri Podpiera Inflation has been falling sharply across Europe since 2012 (see Charts 1 and 2). Across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), inflation expectations have also drifted down especially among countries who peg their currencies to the euro (Bulgaria, Croatia, as well as Lithuania, which adopted […]