International Monetary Fund

Ireland had a rather gruelling year in 2011 with the Minister for Finance, Fine Gael's Michael Noonan, capping it in early December 2011 with the country's fourth austerity Budget in a row. Aiding Mr Noonan in this somewhat unpleasant if necessary task, was his Labour, Coalition partner, Brendan Howlin.

Greece must speed up its debt restructure or risk getting no more bailout cash, warns senior European leaders.

Mario Draghi warns MEPs that debt contagion could spread worldwide as banks face major funding constraint in new year with €750bn in eurobonds called in.

Once again the credit rating agencies are sending shivers down the markets, as they continue to cast doubt over European economies and banks.

The Liberal Democrats are warning the Chancellor as Britain refuses to contribute to a new IMF loan to save the euro.

The prime minister, David Cameron, looks set to take advantage of the emerging divisions among some EU member states, amid the fallout of the European Summit in Brussels last week.

French leaders lashed out against Britain calling for the UK to lose its AAA credit rating and claiming that London faced larger national debts, higher inflation and slower growth than Paris.

The prime minister, David Cameron, intends to “safeguard” the interests of Britain at the EU Summit which begins tomorrow but risks upsetting allies at home and abroad.

A new book giving Dominique Strauss-Kahn's version of the Diallo scandal says the maid who accused him of sexual assault actually propositioned him.

Average incomes will fall by three percent, taking into account the inflation, this year and in 2012.

The estimate also predicts the borrowing target may go up to £34 billion in 2013-14 and £42 billion in 2014-15

Asia will have to wage a dual battle to contain the aftershocks of the eurozone turmoil and the ongoing unrest in the Middle East.

China's public sector banks, once considered immune from the global crisis, now face mounting risks.

Despite trying to keep a low profile, Dominique Strass-Kahn continues to be in the spotlight after the ex-IMF chief was hit by a new scandal, with sources saying it is all becoming too much for his wife, Anne Sinclair.

It is time Karl Marx's classic opening statement of the Communist Manifesto is reworded into something on the lines of: "A spectre is haunting Europe ­- the spectre of a double dip. All the powers of Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre."

A mobile phone is now at the centre of a new scandal for ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn after "embarrassing" texts from him were recovered in a mobile phone thought to belong to Fabrice Pazskowski, a businessman under investigation in a prostitution ring.

The deepening crisis in the Eurozone has given rise to a lot of speculation about the future of the region in its present shape.

Lucas Papademos, a respected economist and former European Central Bank vice-president has been named as Greece's new Prime Minister, after days of tense negotiations.

The German government is not pursuing the idea of a smaller and more integrated Europe, according to Steffen Seiber, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman.

The Eurozone is greeted by worsening news each day as Germany and France try to save the currency and the concept. The latest to join the league of bail-out seekers is Italy as the country’s 10-year bond yields reached more than 7 percent on Wednesday.

As the final twilight of George Papandreou’s premiership dims for good, The IBTimes reveals in an exclusive interview with a source close to the former prime minister, what life was like for the Pasok leader.

The prime minister, David Cameron, confirmed to the Commons that he would be using British taxpayers money to invest into the IMF - a fund used to help ailing economies.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denied media reports that he could resign within hours.

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni declared Sunday that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition "has no majority in Parliament" as the government faces a key confidence vote Tuesday on emergency economic measures.

After 48 hours of political deadlock, Greece will name its new prime minster by the end of the day after the outgoing premier, George Papandreou, and opposition leader, Antonis Samaras, reached a consensus with the country’s president Carolos Papoulias yesterday evening.

Eurozone finance ministers will meet in Brussels Monday, as they seek to persuade Greece to accept the terms of the next installment of its bailout package, proceed with reforms, and refrain from antagonizing donor nations.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has confessed that there is no deal on the table to fund the IMF or a Eurozone firewall which has sent markets tumbling across the world.

IMF is monitoring Italy over its long delayed plan of reforms of pensions, labour markets and privatisation, EU Commission President Josè Manuel Barroso said on Friday. Under pressure from financial markets and European peers, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi agreed to allow International Monetary Fund to oversight the country's progress to overhaul its debt crisis.

The prime minister, David Cameron, faces yet another rebellion in the Commons – this time over the use British taxpayers’ money to boost the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a fiscal reserve that supports ailing economies such as Greece.

European and world leaders at the G20 will discuss the prospect of an EU without Greece having come to terms for the first time that a Greek default is a real possibility.