Eurozone crisis

Greece has launched a 5-year bond auction, the first time the country has tapped international capital markets for financing since it emerged from its bailout programs in August.

Greek government bond yields fell on Tuesday, outpacing eurozone peers, as Greece began selling a five-year bond for the first time since emerging from an international bailout five months ago.

Almost six months after Greece's exit from the bailout program and one year after the issue of a seven-year bond, the government has finally decided to return to the markets, under the most conservative and safest conditions possible, with the announcement of the issue of a new five-year bond.

Greek private sector bank deposits rose in December by about 3 billion euros, central bank data showed on Monday, reversing a fall in the two previous months.

Private sector bank deposits had risen for eight straight months before a dip in October and November.

Greece is set to issue a new five-year bond, a government official told Reuters, in the country's first attempt to tap financial markets since it emerged from an international bailout program last August.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the issue was expected to take place "soon," without elaborating on the timing or the amount sought.

The eurozone's top banks shed some 30 billion euros' worth of unpaid loans in the three months to September, in a new sign that European Central Bank pressure to clean up their balance sheets is bearing fruit.

The International Monetary Fund is optimistic on Greece's growth and employment prospects for this year, but is urging the government to stick to reforms to maintain the momentum.

In a report published Friday following five-day talks with officials in Athens, IMF officials say that the battered Greek economy is set to grow 2.4 percent this year, up from 2.1 percent in 2018.

Representatives of Greeces bailout creditors are in Athens to review progress on measures demanded in return for relief on the country's massive national debt.

According to Eurostat, in the third quarter of 2018, Bulgaria kept its third position among the EU Member States with the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio.

For the period July-September it reached 23.1%. Over the same period of the previous year, the ratio was higher than 26.0%.

European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici is on Wednesday expected to convey to Athens the growing concern in Brussels, as Greece's creditors see no progress in the implementation of the country's post-bailout commitments.