Late-2000s financial crisis

 Timing will depend on the spread between Greek and Portuguese yields

By Sotiris Nikas

The government is moving ahead with its plan for emancipation from its international creditors through the issue of new sovereign debt, with the Finance Ministry speeding up its efforts so that the bonds can be successfully issued at the end of April.

The International Monetary Fund said on Friday it had reviewed Cyprus’s economy under a bailout program and approved a loan disbursement for about $115 million.

The international lender said the disbursement brings total lending to date under the IMF’s $1.4 billion program with Cyprus to about $459 million.

Greek bank deposits dropped in February for a second month in a row and private sector lending continued to shrink, central bank data showed on Thursday, with no sign of the credit expansion needed to spur economic recovery this year.

BY Jan Strupczewski & Martin Santa

The eurozone is not making any preparations for a third bailout for Greece and will consider it only if expressly asked by Athens, which has not happened so far, a senior eurozone official said on Thursday.

 Trial bond issue will likely come after the European elections, while needs are covered up to May 2015

By Sotiris Nikas

Greek bank deposits dropped in February for a second month in a row to their lowest level since October, central bank data showed on Thursday.

By Rainer Buergin & Patrick Donahue

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that European nations looking to throw Ukraine a financial lifeline could use Greece’s bailout as a blueprint.

Further evidence emerged on Monday that the economic recovery across the 18-country eurozone is accelerating and, perhaps more importantly, spreading to the bloc’s debt-laden laggards.

Moody's, one of leading rating agencies, has reassessed the outlook of Cyprus to positive.

The agency cited an unexpected fiscal and economic performance over the past year as a reason, Deutsche Welle has reported.

Standard & Poor's affirmed Greece's sovereign credit rating on Friday and gave it a stable outlook, saying it believed the country's economy was gradually rebalancing.