Word of the year

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis appealed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in an article published in Franktfurter Allgemeine, entitled “The Choice is Hers”.

Even as the ECB’s governing council continued its “drip-feed” method of incrementally raising a ceiling for Emergency Liquidity Assistance towards Greece – by 1.1 billion euros on Tuesday for a total of 80 billion euros – media assessments remained negative in the absence of a bailout deal extension.

Greece and the European Union could reach a deal as early as this week to allow the release of badly needed aid funds for Athens, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said Tuesday.

Greece and its international creditors were to begin fiscal talks in Athens on March 12, a government source said, breaking a six-week impasse over attempts to overhaul the country's unpopular bailout.
      
"Talks are scheduled to begin on fiscal issues today," a finance ministry source told AFP, adding that discussions on structural reforms and banks would be held next week.

A review of the European banking sector due to be released on Oct. 26 should bring clarity on Greece's funding needs, the head of the monetary union's bailout fund said on Monday.

Klaus Regling, head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), also said the euro zone should keep the funds it is allocating for crisis resolution for future use rather than invest them in the economy now.

Greek 10-year bond yields rose by one percentage point on Thursday, on mounting worries over the likelihood of early elections next year and a risky plan to leave the bailout program a year ahead of time.

Ten-year Greek yields last stood at 8.86 percent. Yields for the three- and five-year bonds rose above 7 percent. [Reuters]

The Expert Consultative Council on KTB has drafted a bailout plan for the bank that requires no use of public funds, a prominent Bulgarian economist and financier has said.

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The Expert Consultative Council on KTB, a Bulgarian business representatives' group, has proposed a list of measures to rescue the troubled lender without burden to taxpayers.

Marcus Bensasson, Nikos Chrysoloras & Christos Ziotis

Greece is unlikely to have to inject more money into its banks during the European bank stress tests this year, helping to boost the nation’s public finances, top executives at the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund said.

Cyprus's Central Bank governor on Wednesday said this year's recession on the bailed-out island could be shallower than the 4.2 percent decline anticipated by its international lenders.