The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point Thursday to a record low 0.75% to try to help ease Europe’s financial crisis, boost its sagging economy and restore confidence.
Greece must not lose time trying to renegotiate its foreign bailout but focus on reforms instead, European Central Bank policymaker Joerg Asmussen said on Monday, in a blow to Greek hopes of winning quick concessions from its lenders.
European leaders will discuss specific steps towards a cross-border banking union, closer fiscal integration and the possibility of a debt redemption fund at a summit on June 28-29, according to a document prepared for the meeting.
The Euro area crisis has reached a “critical stage” and member nations must make a “strong commitment” to the shared currency to stop the plunge in investor confidence, the IMF said in a report that recommends issuing common debt as one solution.
Spain's medium-term borrowing costs spiralled to a Euro-era record on Thursday and independent auditors said Spanish banks may need up to 62 billion Euros in extra capital, to be filled mostly by a Euro zone bailout.
The Euro zone economy faces serious risks and no inflation threat, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Friday in comments that heightened expectations the ECB could cut interest rates or take other policy action soon.
The future of the Euro may be determined in the coming weeks, as Greek voters decide whether to honour the country’s international bailout and create a first test for Spain’s newly built 100 billion-Euro banking firewall.
The Bank of England has resisted injecting further emergency liquidity to the UK economy as optimism over finding a solution to the Euro zone debt crisis grew.
European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi said on Tuesday that risks to the Euro zone economy have increased and warned of heightened uncertainty weighing on confidence and sentiment.
When former European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet called last June for the creation of a European finance ministry with power over national budgets the idea seemed fanciful, a distant dream that would take years or even decades to realize, if it ever came to be.