Bailout

Greek private sector bank deposits rose in March for the second month in a row, central bank data showed on Wednesday.

Business and household deposits increased to 145.08 billion euros ($157.44 billion) from 142.24 billion in February, Bank of Greece data showed.

Memories of Greece's bailout years are returning as a result of the macroeconomic shocks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the International Monetary Fund, which however is also predicting a return to growth in 2021.

A messy compromise to unlock €500bn (£438bn) of EU support for countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic has been struck after Italy's prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, warned that the existence of the bloc was at stake.

The wealthy states of Northern Europe and especially Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland continue to stubbornly refuse to adopt bold economic measures in the midst of a deadly pandemic.

Eurozone states that need aid from the bloc's bailout fund to tackle the coronavirus should get it quickly and be first subjected to visits from officials proposing policies like during the eurozone crisis, Germany's finance minister said.

A new mechanism to enable the issuance of joint eurozone debt to counter economic fallout from the coronavirus epidemic - as recommended by nine European leaders - could take up to three years to set up, the head of the bloc's bailout fund said.

A rise in borrowing costs caused by the coronavirus has halted Greek plans to tap bond markets again this year, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Friday.

Greece emerged from bailouts in 2018 after a decade-long debt crisis that locked it out of bond markets for years. It has since had several successful issues, including a 15-year bond in January.

Greek private sector bank deposits rose in February after a drop in the previous month, central bank data showed on Thursday.

Business and household deposits increased to 142.24 billion euros ($155.62 billion) from 141.15 billion in January, Bank of Greece data showed.

Greek private sector bank deposits fell in January after a rise in December, central bank data showed on Thursday.

Businesses and household deposits dropped to 141.15 billion euros from 143.14 billion in December, Bank of Greece data showed.

Greek banks have seen deposit inflows over the space of more than two years.

US President John F. Kennedy once observed that "When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity."