-ECB accounts
Greece made a formal request to ask for a loan extension following two rounds of negotiation with its European creditors to ensure a financial lifeline to keep the country afloat in the coming months. Euro zone finance ministers will meet on Friday afternoon in Brussels to consider the request, the chairman of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem said. Athens had asked for an extension to its "Master Financial Assistance Facility Agreement" with the Euro zone. However, the Greek government was proposing different terms from its current bailout obligations. As a result, Germany has rejected the request, saying that this is not "a substantial proposal for a solution".
Meanwhile, the ECB has released its first ever accounts of the January 22 meeting. The minutes showed that the Governing Council "broadly shared" the opinion that further actions were needed when members were making a decision to launch a controversial quantitative easing. The main concern appeared to be low inflation in the currency bloc. The Governing Council, however, agreed that the Euro zone was not at imminent risk of deflation, even though inflation had fallen into negative territory for the first time since 2009. Annual inflation in the bloc stood at –0.6% in January. Bond purchases worth 60 billion euros will start in March and are intended to last until the end of September 2016
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