Euro Zone Official

Euro zone unemployment fell to a near five-year low in May, official data said today, in a rare positive sign for a sluggish European economy struggling to return to solid growth.

Greece is likely to qualify for recapitalisation funds for its banks by a Nov. 15 deadline because the payment depends mainly on financial sector reforms that it can implement by then, euro zone officials said on Friday.

Greece and its international lenders clinched a multi-billion-euro bailout agreement today after marathon talks through the night, officials said, raising hopes aid can be disbursed in time for a major debt repayment falling due in days.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that a cash-for-reform deal to keep Greece in the euro zone would need the commitment of all sides, a Greek official said, ahead of a crucial summit of euro zone leaders on Sunday.

With the risk of Greece's exit from the euro zone increasing after voters of the European country rejected the terms of the bailout offer, the Indian government on Monday said it is closely monitoring the situation.

The fuse may be lit for a Greek exit from the euro zone but the fallout in the United States is expected to be modest and not enough to throw the Federal Reserve's likely September rate hike off course, said former Fed officials and outside analysts watching the latest turn in Greece's crisis.

Greece and its creditors hardened their stances on Monday after the collapse of talks aimed at preventing a default and possible euro exit, prompting Germany's EU commissioner to say the time had come to prepare for a 'state of emergency'.

Greece bought time in debt crisis negotiations with official creditors Thursday when it moved to bundle four looming International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan payments into one, to be paid by the end of June.

Officials from Greece and the lenders are meeting in Brussels on Saturday for a new round of negotiations ahead of a key euro zone finance ministers' meeting in Riga on April 24.

European Central Bank officials are considering ways to ensure weak countries that stand to gain most from a fresh round of money printing bear more of the risk and cost.

A series of Reuters interviews with officials, bankers and others involved in the European Central Bank's financial inspection of the euro zone's biggest banks shows that in the seven months since it began, the ECB has had to shoot down countless pleas from banks and national supervisors for special treatment.

The following are highlights of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington, where finance ministers, central bankers and other top officials are gathering this week.

The proposal, prepared by Lithuania which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, will be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of senior EU officials on Monday, December 16.

Gone are the heady days of 2008 and 2009 when leaders at G20 summits hashed out major deals on fiscal stimulus and trade policy to counter a global financial crisis that threatened worldwide depression. In 2010 and 2011, the group was a forum for prodding European officials to come up with a plan to keep the euro zone from breaking up.

The lenders are unhappy with progress Greece has made towards reforming its public sector, a senior euro zone official involved in the negotiations said, while another said they might suspend an inspection visit they resumed on Monday.

Euro zone unemployment fell to a near five-year low in May, official data said today, in a rare positive sign for a sluggish European economy struggling to return to solid growth.

Greece is likely to qualify for recapitalisation funds for its banks by a Nov. 15 deadline because the payment depends mainly on financial sector reforms that it can implement by then, euro zone officials said on Friday.

Greece and its international lenders clinched a multi-billion-euro bailout agreement today after marathon talks through the night, officials said, raising hopes aid can be disbursed in time for a major debt repayment falling due in days.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that a cash-for-reform deal to keep Greece in the euro zone would need the commitment of all sides, a Greek official said, ahead of a crucial summit of euro zone leaders on Sunday.

With the risk of Greece's exit from the euro zone increasing after voters of the European country rejected the terms of the bailout offer, the Indian government on Monday said it is closely monitoring the situation.

The fuse may be lit for a Greek exit from the euro zone but the fallout in the United States is expected to be modest and not enough to throw the Federal Reserve's likely September rate hike off course, said former Fed officials and outside analysts watching the latest turn in Greece's crisis.

Greece and its creditors hardened their stances on Monday after the collapse of talks aimed at preventing a default and possible euro exit, prompting Germany's EU commissioner to say the time had come to prepare for a 'state of emergency'.

Greece bought time in debt crisis negotiations with official creditors Thursday when it moved to bundle four looming International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan payments into one, to be paid by the end of June.

Officials from Greece and the lenders are meeting in Brussels on Saturday for a new round of negotiations ahead of a key euro zone finance ministers' meeting in Riga on April 24.

European Central Bank officials are considering ways to ensure weak countries that stand to gain most from a fresh round of money printing bear more of the risk and cost.

A series of Reuters interviews with officials, bankers and others involved in the European Central Bank's financial inspection of the euro zone's biggest banks shows that in the seven months since it began, the ECB has had to shoot down countless pleas from banks and national supervisors for special treatment.

The following are highlights of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington, where finance ministers, central bankers and other top officials are gathering this week.

The proposal, prepared by Lithuania which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, will be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of senior EU officials on Monday, December 16.

Gone are the heady days of 2008 and 2009 when leaders at G20 summits hashed out major deals on fiscal stimulus and trade policy to counter a global financial crisis that threatened worldwide depression. In 2010 and 2011, the group was a forum for prodding European officials to come up with a plan to keep the euro zone from breaking up.

The lenders are unhappy with progress Greece has made towards reforming its public sector, a senior euro zone official involved in the negotiations said, while another said they might suspend an inspection visit they resumed on Monday.