The new Greek government of the leftist party SYRIZA wanted to take back austerity reforms in order to, for example, “gradually restore salaries and pensions so as to increase consumption and demand”. But it seems that the only thing accepted by the European Commission and eurozone finance ministers is 4-month extension of the bailout in return for presenting a list of reforms that Greece had committed to undertake.

Gold and silver are still in the correction phase. Switzerland is going to introduce a gold coin as official currency. Swiss army is prepared. Mario Draghi will kiss with everybody. Gold and silver were traded around $1737 and $32.7 per ounce at the beginning of the week. The story for this week is very similar as was for the previous one – correction. Both metals were smashed down on Monday but we could witness some…

The European Central Bank (ECB) published its Convergence Report(2012), in which it evaluates the progress of the members states that have committed themselves to joining the euro by following the convergence criteria, better known as the “Maastricht” criteria. At this point in time, Bulgaria has passed the requirements for deficit, debt, inflation and long-term interest rates, but this does not mean automatically that the road to the euro is open. What is more important, the…

As The Lithuania Tribune writes (quoting SEB’s Eastern Economic Outlook published in March 2012) Estonia’s growth fill fall to 1.5% in 2012 and increase again in 2013 reaching 2.5%. As a result of smaller demand in Sweden and Finland Estonian expansion is limited while high inflation continues. In 2011 Estonian GDP growth reached the level of 7.6% although a slowdon in the last quarter of the year was observed. Budget deficit is expected to reach…

According to The Lithuania Tribune Lithuanian foreign debt increased in the last quarter of the year 2011 by 1.4% (1.1 bln litas). Total foreign debt consists of both governmental debt and private enterprises’ debts. Throughout whole year 2011 foreign debt of Lithuania increased by 3.1% and reached 85.7 bln litas. Ratio of debt to GDP in 2011 decreased from 87.4% (in 2010) to 80.8%. The biggest part of the foreign debt is constituted by government’s…