Greece’s central bank has warned that new taxes introduced by the leftwing Syriza government in return for more bailout aid could derail the country’s chances of ending a seven-year-long economic contraction amid rising discontent with government policies, the Financial Times reported. The central bank warned on Wednesday that “the greatest risk [to future growth] relates to an excessive emphasis on tax increases” introduced as part of a €5.4bn austerity package approved by parliament last month.

Britain is a week away from its historic economic decision on EU membership. Economists have never been more united in supporting a vote to remain, yet the profession increasingly appears incapable of persuading the public of Britain’s national interest, the Financial Times reported. Economic history is clear. The UK’s growth of national income per head has been the fastest in the G7 since joining in 1973, having been the slowest between 1950 and 1973. EU membership has served Britain well and has not prevented domestic economic renewal.

Retail tycoon Philip Green admitted to British lawmakers on Wednesday he had erred in selling BHS to a former bankrupt and promised to help fix a gaping hole in the pension scheme of the collapsed department store chain he owned for 15 years, Reuters reported. The loss-making BHS fell into administration in April, little more than a year after Green sold it to Dominic Chappell's Retail Acquisitions Ltd for a nominal sum, resulting in the likely loss of 11,000 jobs as it is wound down. Chappell was a serial bankrupt with no retail experience.

The Central Bank’s new head of credit institutions supervision Ed Sibley said banks face “high levels of scrutiny and challenge” as they seek to free up money previously set aside for bad loans, the Irish Times reported. In his first speech his appointment to the role in April, Mr Sibley said that following the crisis “the patient is still weak and vulnerable” and banks still have much to do to address soured loans and risks posed by the “astonishing pace” of technological change.

A vote in favor of a British exit from the European Union could require the U.K. government to implement emergency tax increases and fresh cuts to public spending, Treasury chief George Osborne will say Wednesday, as polls show support for exiting the EU is gaining ground, The Wall Street Journal reported. In a speech in southern England, Mr.

Retail tycoon Philip Green faces tough questions on Wednesday from British lawmakers when they hope to get to the bottom of why he sold department store chain BHS to Dominic Chappell, a serial bankrupt with no retail experience, Reuters reported. After more than a month of hearings into the demise of BHS, which put 11,000 jobs at risk and left a gaping pensions' deficit, the star witness is finally due to appear before a joint session of parliament's Business, and Work and Pensions select committees.

Greece’s central bank governor has urged the country’s creditors to rework a core element of Athens’ new bailout, saying ambitious budget surplus targets agreed with the leftwing Syriza government are “unrealistic and socially unattainable.” Yannis Stournaras called for “a new deal” that would reduce the fiscal surplus, before debt payments, Athens must achieve — from 3.5 per cent to 2 per cent of national output — beginning in 2018.

Receivers appointed over the assets of family members of businessman Seán Quinn say their living expenses should first be paid out of their personal accounts before any expenses are paid out of accounts frozen four years ago, the Irish Times reported. Lawyers for the Quinns said the receivers’ Commercial Court application was a “punitive” attempt to stop them getting on with their lives when they had been waiting years for legal proceedings to be heard.

The European Central Bank should consider making a clear commitment not to raise its key interest rates over the coming two years even if the annual rate of inflation were to exceed its target of just under 2%, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. A weak recovery from its government debt and banking crisis, along with lower prices for oil and other commodities, has kept the inflation rate below the ECB’s target for the past three years.

British retail tycoon Philip Green has called for the resignation of the chair of a lawmakers' committee probing the collapse of the BHS department store chain he used to own, accusing him of seeking to destroy the billionaire's reputation, Reuters reported. In March last year, TopShop-owner Green sold BHS to an investor group led by Dominic Chappell, a former bankrupt with no retail experience, for one pound. The 88-year-old business went into administration in April and is being wound down after administrators failed to find a buyer, threatening 11,000 jobs.