Serbia-Turkish loan.

flash estimate showed eurozone consumer morale was 0.1 points, the same as in February. Economists polled by Reuters had on average expected a figure of 0.0. In the European Union as a whole, sentiment was also unchanged, at -0.3 points. Uncertainty about possible eurozone reforms, a potential trade war and Italian elections have so far taken a back seat to improved economic factors with unemployment in the eurozone at nine-year lows.

Serbia is negotiating a $400 million loan from Turkey’s Exim Bank to develop infrastructure it needs to spur investments and growth, Serbia’s trade minister said yesterday. Serbia, which is seeking to join the European Union, wants to foster close ties with Turkey, and last October Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged investments and support, in an apparent bid to expand influence in a region frustrated by the slow pace of talks to join the EU. After meeting Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Fikri Isik in Belgrade, Rasim Ljajic, Serbia’s trade minister, said Turkey’s Exim Bank had allocated a loan worth $400 million for various infrastructure projects. “We are still negotiating conditions for the use of these funds and I am hoping... these conditions would be favorable for us,” Ljajic told reporters. Some 70 Turkish companies do business in Serbia and bilateral trade is expected to reach $1.2 billion this year. Ljajic said he hoped the two countries’ parliaments would soon ratify a 2017 free trade deal that would boost bilateral trade to around $2 billion.