European Central Bank | featured news

The European Central Bank said on Thursday it opposed forcing private creditors to take part in debt relief for Greece, pushing back against Germany, which has demanded a bond swap to lengthen Greek debt maturities.

The European Central Bank is poised to raise interest rates from a record low 1.0 percent on Thursday and more is likely to follow but, fearful of heaping more pain on the euro zone's stragglers, it will give few clues about when the next move will come.

It would make sense for Portugal to seek aid from the European Union bailout fund, although such a decision will be caught up in domestic politics, European Central Bank Governing Board member Ewald Nowotny said.

European Central Bank policymakers underscored the case for an April rate hike on Thursday as Portugal's political crisis raised the prospect of another spell of reluctant ECB bond market intervention.