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The European Commission has proposed to set up a new microfinance facility providing microcredit to small businesses and to people who have lost their jobs and want to start their own small businesses. It will have an initial budget of €100 million, which could leverage more than €500 million in a joint initiative with international financial institutions, in particular the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group.

In May 2009 compared with April 2009, the industrial producer price index fell by 0.2% in the euro area (EA16) and by 0.4% in the EU27. In April, prices decreased by 0.9% and 1.0% respectively.

The World Bank Group committed $58.8 billion in fiscal year 2009 to help countries struggling amid the global economic crisis, a 54 percent increase over the previous fiscal year and a record high for the global development institution.