Eurogroup to decide on return of Greek bond profits in March

Eurozone finance ministers will decide at their meeting in March whether Greece has fulfilled the requirements to receive the first tranche of ECB profit returns on Greek bond holdings, an EU official told journalists in Brussels on Wednesday.

The official, cited by state-run news agency ANA-MPA, said Greece will not be in the agenda of the February 11 Eurogroup which will instead focus on making progress on the issue of a eurozone budget.

The ECB and other eurozone central banks are holding about 4.8 billion euros of profits from Greek bonds, which they are expected to return to Athens by June 2022 in semi-annual tranches.