Bailout

Greek banks may soon be allowed to purchase more sovereign bonds issued by the country, its finance minister said on Thursday, a step which would boost demand and push country's yields even lower.

The new bankruptcy law that the government is working on will offer incentives for the merger of companies that have nonperforming corporate loans entering a restructuring process, according to sources. The aim is to have the bill voted into law by the end of April, in line with the country's pledges in the process of the post-bailout enhanced surveillance.

Greece's 10-year government bond yield touched a new record low on Thursday, a move analysts put down to news that the eurozone bailout fund had waived Cyprus' mandatory repayment obligation of loans.

The European Union's new economy commissioner says Greece's bailout lenders are willing to discuss a request by Athens to ease strict budget targets that would help speed up the country's recovery.

Companies making plans for investments could look forward to a reduction of taxation by 30 percent from 2021 if Greece's creditors approve a government proposal for utilizing the profits of eurozone central banks from Greek bonds (SMPs and ANFAs) for investment purposes.

Greek private sector bank deposits fell slightly in November after a rise in the previous month, central bank data showed on Friday.

Businesses and household deposits dropped to 139.57 billion euros ($155.34 billion) from 139.69 billion in October, Bank of Greece data showed.

Greece's creditors are sending their technical team to Athens starting on January 13, with the mission chiefs following on January 20 in the context of the fifth post-bailout assessment of the country's economy.

Lawmakers in Greece are preparing to vote on a series of one-off benefits that the new conservative government is justifying in terms of the country's better than expected budget performance.

Vasle believes the situation is totally different than in 2013, when the state came to rescue the banks in a massive bailout: lending practices are better, there is no manager buyouts financed by loans and bank oversight is different.

Greece's fourth post-bailout assessment by the European Commission, which was published Wednesday, is seen as paving the way for the disbursement of 767 million euros in eurozone central banks' profits from Greek bond holdings (SMPs and ANFAs).