Economic policy

Greece has been effectively locked out of the secondary bond markets since January 31, as the yield on its bonds frequently rises above 8 percent - deemed the high-risk line - and the situation is not improving.

Athens is hoping that its European lenders come up with a way to overcome the impasse in its bailout review after a meeting of the International Monetary Fund's executive board on Monday left little room for encouragement about a swift conclusion.

Greece wants a bailout review conclusion with its foreign lenders to take part in the ECB's bond buying scheme but will not concede to "illogical" demands by the IMF for more austerity after its program ends in 2018, the government spokesman said.

Iran has imposed no restrictions on U.S. oil firms willing to participate in energy projects in the country but American sanctions make such cooperation impossible, Iran's deputy oil minister said on Feb. 6.

The delay in the completion of Greece's second bailout review will inflict a blow on economic growth this year, which will underperform the government's expectations, the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) argues in its quarterly report released on Thursday.

Greece's entry into the European Central Bank's quantitative easing (QE) program keeps getting put off, just as criticism is mounting over the effectiveness of the bond-buying program and the potential legal hazards for Frankfurt - concerns that are doing nothing to make it easier for the country to get on board.

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos on Thursday insisted that a dragging bailout review would be completed in the coming weeks without any need for Greece to impose further austerity measures.

"Illogical demands and demands that fall outside the existing agreement will not be accepted," Tzanakopoulos told reporters at a weekly briefing.

Rising income inequality is seen as the top risk for the global economy in 2017, with reforms to market capitalism increasingly viewed as necessary to ward off a populist backlash, the World Economic Forum said on Jan. 11.

Two statements, one after the other, came on the day the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the "Syria Summit" to be held together with Turkey and Iran. 

The first one was from the United States, which said economic sanctions applied to Russia after the Ukraine crisis were expanded, adding seven more Russian citizens and eight companies to the U.S. Treasury's list. 

Greece's leading power utility Public Power Corporation (PPC) reported a sharp rise in nine-month net profit on Wednesday due to a sharp drop in provisions to cover the cost of bills left unpaid by customers hit by years of economic crisis.