Eurozone crisis

Inflation in the eurozone rose to 1.5% in February, down from 1.4% in January, while unemployment in the common currency remained stable at 7.8%, Eurostat said.

Temporary inflation is in line with analysts' expectations, but the figure for unemployment is better than the consensus forecast of 7.9%.

Greece has until the Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers on March 11 to complete all of the pending prior actions it needs to secure the disbursement of 1-billion-euro from creditors, the Euro Working Group decided in Brussels on Friday.

Who remembers Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's speech on the island of Ithaca last summer, when he said that Greece's bailout odyssey was over?

Greece's creditors urged Athens on Wednesday to speed up the agreed reforms, otherwise it may miss out on measures adding up to 1 billion euros. Meanwhile, experts told Xinhua it is unlikely that pressure on Greece will increase this year.

Bond supply is expected from the periphery of the eurozone, with Greece considering a bond sale next month, its second since emerging from international bailout programs last August.
Greek 10-year government bond yields fell to new one-year lows on Wednesday and were down nearly three basis points at 3.70 percent later in the day.
[Reuters]

Greek private sector bank deposits dropped in January after a rise in the previous month, central bank data showed on Wednesday.
Businesses and household deposits declined to 132.93 billion euros from 134.49 billion in December, Bank of Greece data showed.

Greek bond yields eased significantly on Tuesday, in line with other eurozone peripheral bonds, remaining on the positive course set in mid-January, right after the issue of the five-year note. This is paving the way for the Public Debt Management Agency to implement the plan to issue a benchmark 10-year bond next month.

''In the next 3-4 years there will be no new economic crisis in Bulgaria.''

This is what Bulgaria's Deputy Economy Minister Lachezar Borissov said at a roundtable in Sofia, quoted by BGNES. He specified that the forecast was made on the condition that no extraordinary events which occur around the world.

Greece may attempt a second bond sale next month, its second since it emerged from an international bailout program last August, sources close to the matter said on Tuesday.
Athens aims to raise 5 billion to 7 billion euros from bond markets this year to finance part of its debt needs, according to its first annual borrowing programme since a debt crisis in 2010.

After the government took the negotiations on the framework for protecting the homes of debtors to their limit timewise, imposing a partial solution and leaving the hard part for later, the ball is now in the creditors' court.
On Wednesday the European Commission will issue Greece's compliance report for the second post-bailout assessment.