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LISBON, May 13 (Reuters) - Portugal’s central bank chief said on Thursday he was confident that the end of loan moratoriums in September would not cause problems for the banking sector after the first instalment of repayments went through in April without significant issues.
Repayments on loans worth 3.7 billion euros ($4.47 billion), a small portion of the 44 billion euros in loans frozen since last March to help individuals and businesses weather the impact of the pandemic, began being paid in April. All the loans must be repaid in full by Sept. 30.
The repayment freeze was aimed at avoiding a jump in bad loans.
By Reuters Staff
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MILAN, May 13 (Reuters) - Italian infrastructure group Atlantia on Thursday confirmed its 2021 guidance after reporting a 67 million euro ($81 million) net loss for the first quarter as the pandemic continued to bite.
The group controlled by Italy’s Benetton family recorded an 8% fall in sales between January and March due to the prolonged impact of the healthcare crisis on motorway and airport traffic.
Atlantia owns Italy’s biggest toll-road operator, Autostrade per l’Italia. It is due to decide by June 11 whether to accept an offer for its 88% stake in Autostrade it has received from state lender CDP and other investors. ($1 = 0.8289 euros) (Reporting by Francesca Landini; editing by Valentina Za)
Mexico's central bank on Thursday kept its key interest rate steady at 4.0%, as expected, in a unanimous decision by its five-member board, saying that a highly uncertain environment poses major challenges for monetary policy. (Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel and Anthony.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
BANGKOK, May 13 (Reuters) - Thailand’s central bank said it will announce new measures on Friday to help households and small businesses during the pandemic and could provide further monetary and credit support if needed as the country deals with a third wave of coronavirus infections.
Thailand is suffering its biggest outbreak so far, with overall cases tripling to 93,794 and deaths increasing fivefold to 518 in the past six weeks, after a year of success in containment.
The central bank said it would hold a briefing on Friday to unveil details of new support measures for indebted households and businesses and will give an update on the outbreak’s impact on Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, which is heavily reliant on tourism.
By Reuters Staff
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ATHENS, May 13 (Reuters) - The head of the euro zone’s bailout fund said Greece should be able to manage its soaring public debt as economies recover from the coronavirus pandemic but would need to focus on strengthening productivity and labour markets.
Greece’s public debt has jumped to more than 200% of gross domestic product, the highest level in the European Union, as the government has pumped in money during the crisis.
But despite its junk credit ratings, Greece is included in the European Central Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme and its 10-year borrowing costs have fallen below 1%.