single currency

Christopher Gothard, head of foreign exchange at Brown Brothers Harriman Ltd., talks about his forecast for the euro.A European leaders return to work this week seeking to buy time for the Spanish and Italian governments to wrest control over their debt and rescue the single currency from fragmentation in its 10th anniversary year.

Germany's recent moves to help stabilize the euro and motivate financial-market reform have sparked criticism from Washington to Warsaw.

Can Germany save the single currency and still keep its friends in Europe?

The euro soared on Monday morning as investors reacted with initial relief at the €750bn (£655bn) plan to defend the single currency and European Monetary Union from potential collapse.

The European Union plans to create a European Monetary Fund to better coordinate the economies of the 16 countries that use the euro and prevent financial debacles such as the Greek debt crisis from undermining the credibility of Europe's single currency.

Official figures show that the 16 countries that use the euro barely grew in the last three months of 2009, a further sign that the single currency bloc's recovery from recession is being constrained by the performance of some of its weakest members.

China should allow its currency to strengthen against the euro and other major currencies, for its own sake as well as that of the global economy, top finance officials of the single-currency euro zone said Sunday.

China should allow its currency to strengthen against the euro and other major currencies, for its own sake as well as that of the global economy, top finance officials of the single-currency euro zone said Sunday.