All the latest economic and financial news, including reaction to the deadlock over Greece’s bailout programme.Introduction: After the Eurogroup meeting... FT: Athens vetoed the statementAnalyst: Neither side gave ground 8.36am GMT Sweden’s central bank just surprised the markets by cutting interest rates into negative territory, from 0% to -0.1%.The Riksbank also announced it will buy 10bn krona of government bonds, to further ease monetary policy.Swedish QE! 8.32am GMT Back in Brussels, Christine Lagarde has just announced a new bailout facility for Ukraine, and a four-year reform programme.Lagarde is telling reporters that the International Monetary Fund has provisionally agreed a $17.5bn extended fund facility, three weeks after president Petro Poroshenko made the request at Davos.The European summit in Brussels is due to start in three hours but the leaders of France and Germany are still in Minsk. 8.23am GMT Greek journalist Katerina Paraschou of euro2day confirms that Alexis Tsipras’s government blocked last night’s eurogroup draft statement because it referred to an “extension”.Lost in translation... Varoufakis and Dragasakis signed the draft and the Government vetoed. It mentioned the hated word "extension"After last night's uproarious Eurogroup, it's obious that Tsipras needs to deal with all the components of his party..Last week President Holllande urged Tsipras to meet Merkel asap. Yet Tsipras won't even have formal meeting at Brussels summit. #gametheoryIrreconcilable breakdown? Greece and eurogroup need a mediator and shrink http://t.co/Kxjwi8mNKG 8.14am GMT Last night’s talks failed because neither side would give ground, says Gary Jenkins of LNG Capital. That’s why the prepared statement was seemingly torpedoed by Athens: ‘Extending and successfully concluding the present programme...’ Is not the deal that Mr Tsipras has been telling the people of Greece he would achieve.The real agreement would appear to be that the EU will reduce the level of the primary surplus required and allow Greece to spend the money saved as they wish. There might well be some kind of side agreement that if the Greek government does exactly what it says it will do regarding tax collection etc. and sticks to the terms of the deal then maybe the EU will revisit the idea of linking all or some of the debt to growth. 8.08am GMT Finland’s prime minister, Alex Stubb, is maintaining a hard line on Greece, according to quotes hitting the news wires.Stubb has warned that Greece faces a “dirty exit’ unless it continues its bailout programme, which expires in under three weeks:*STUBB: GREEK `DIRTY EXIT' WOULD CAUSE MAYHEM, RIPPLE EFFECTSHe has elections in April RT @lemasabachthani: *FINNISH PM: GREECE CONTINUES PROGRAM OR FACES `DIRTY EXIT' 8.05am GMT 8.00am GMT Now this is fascinating. The eurogroup ministers did apparently agree a statement last night... only for the Athens government to reject it at the last minute.Today the Eurogroup took stock of the current situation in Greece and the state of the current adjustment programme. In this context, the Eurogroup has engaged in an intensive dialogue with the new Greek authorities.The Greek authorities have expressed their commitment to a broader and stronger reform process aimed at durably improving growth prospects. At the same time, the Greek authorities reiterated their unequivocal commitment to the financial obligations to all their creditors.@SpiegelPeter @ftbrussels Might I suggest that you refrain from dubious claims based on even more dubious leaks? It's rather unseemly 7.45am GMT Nervous investors have driven the price of Germany’s two-year bonds to a record high. That means they are paying even more for the privilege of holding German debt; the yields on its two, three and five-year bonds are already negative.#German two-year yield drops to record-low (to -0.225%) after Greek Talks, CPI pic.twitter.com/Xuck70KVEz 7.40am GMT Last night’s debacle is a reminder that Greece could be forced to implement capital controls if a deal isn’t reached, warns Robin Bew of the Economist Intelligence Unit:#EU and #Greece can’t even agree talks about talks. Real risk of bank runs forcing capital controls. We rate exit chances at 40% 7.34am GMT Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the Greek bailout crisis, and other key events across the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.The Greek crisis has taken a disappointing turn overnight, after yesterday’s eurogroup meeting in Brussels failed to agree a blueprint for future talks.Will people be starting work in Athens or elsewhere? Not between now and Monday, because we need to have common ground on the process forward.”I was given a wonderful opportunity and a very warm welcome to present our views, our analysis, our proposals both regarding the substance and regarding the road map.”#Greece spokesperson: No Scheduled Meeting Between Greek PM Tsipras & German Chancellor Merkel Scheduled Today, Informal Meet Possible ~RTRSToday's economic news: Bank of England publishes Inflation Report - its outlook for UK economy - at 10.30am Continue reading...
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