Eurozone finance ministers concluded their Monday's meeting in Luxembourg with no specific mention about how to fix the funding gap in Greece's fiscal adjustment program, but promised more meaningful discussion on the topic by the end of the year.
While speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem declined to comment on the size of the financing gap, saying it is "too early" to give an exact figure as the Troika is yet to complete its review mission.
"The present EU mission has not been finalized," Dijsselbloem was quoted as saying "So for me it's too early to say and I could certainly not pin any number on it."
Ahead of the meeting on Monday, European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen rejected any kind of rolling over of Greek government bonds, saying the ECB is banned from financing governments in such way.
"There is absolutely no way that it can be done in a way of rollover bond or whatsoever which results in monetary financing," Asmussen was quoted as saying in Luxembourg.
Earlier, Greece's Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras reportedly said in an interview that the government is planning rolling over about EUR 4.5 billion of bonds due next March to cover the financing gap.
According to ECB's Asmussen, the funding gap is between EUR 5-6 billion for next year. While the European Commission projects a financing gap of EUR 3.8 billion for 2014, the International Monetary Fund puts it at EUR 4.4 billion.
European Monetary and Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said that the EU will continue its discussion on how to bridge the gap, in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Dijsselbloem said that any decision on Greece can be made only by December this year or January next year after examining the troika's assessment of the bailout program.
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