During the regular bi-weekly press briefing, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said that “an IMF staff team will start discussion in Athens with the Greek authorities, the EC and the ECB in late February. The purpose of the mission is to assess progress on the implementation of measures in the program. The visit is expected to conclude around mid-March”. Asked on current situation in Greece he noted that “I think we should give some time now for implementation to take place”.

On PIMCO report on Cypriot banks he said that “we expect the PIMCO study to be finalised very soon. The timing of its publication would be at the discretion of the Cypriot authorities”