European banks remain saddled with almost €100bn of Greek government debt they can’t sell, hedge or ignore, after a number of recent deals to offload the exposure to reduce the impact of a possible default ended in failure, according to bankers involved, International Financing Review reported. The deals have been thwarted by a lack of willing buyers for the debt – even at record low prices – and that exposed lenders have been unable to buy protection because of the high costs, with top bankers advising their clients all they can now do is cross their fingers and hope for the best.

Fissures among Europe’s currency partners are becoming even deeper and more widespread than was previously evident, raising new doubts about whether the group can resolve the regional debt crisis that has simmered for more than a year, the International Herald Tribune reported. The markets seem to reflect the growing discord within the 17-member euro zone currency union, barely a year after European governments came together with a 750 billion euro ($1 trillion) safety net for debtor-nation members.

A senior International Monetary Fund official said Thursday that debt restructuring would provide no miracle cure for Greece's debt crisis, as a delegation of European and IMF officials continued to pore over the Greek government's finances in Athens, The Wall Street Journal reported. The delegation is in the Greek capital to examine whether the country's tough economic program is still on track and whether its financing plan is sustainable.

Greece expects that a June audit of its budgets will show that a new financial-aid package of nearly €60 billion ($86 billion) will be needed to cover its financial needs stretching into 2013, a senior Greek government official said Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The official, with knowledge of the talks between Greece and the European Union and International Monetary Fund, said the issue of extending current packages, or arranging new loans, will be discussed at a regularly-scheduled meeting of EU finance ministers next Monday and Tuesday.

Worries about Greece’s intractable debt problem deepened on Monday, stoking fears that the country remains on a path to fiscal disaster and that European leaders do not have a convincing plan to prevent a default, the International Herald Tribune reported. European political leaders as well as the European Central Bank have ruled out any kind of restructuring of Greek debt, saying it would undermine confidence in other countries like Portugal and Ireland and potentially create panic in financial markets.

European officials are preparing to revamp Greece’s bail-out package after concluding that Athens would be unable to raise money in the markets early next year, as envisaged under a €110bn ($158bn) rescue plan, the Financial Times reported. Eurozone ministers this weekend publicly acknowledged that Greece would probably need additional cash from the European Union or other international institutions. George Osborne, UK chancellor of the exchequer, said changes to the Greek bail-out programme were “inevitable”.

Greece and Portugal are deeper in debt than previously estimated, according to official figures that show attempts to contain their financial woes have so far failed, The Guardian reported. The statistics agency Eurostat said Greece's deficit hit 10.5% of economic output in 2010, well above the 9.6% the European commission expected last autumn. Portugal, which is negotiating a bailout similar to those for Greece and Ireland, saw its debts reach 9.1%, far ahead of the 7.3% the commission used as a benchmark until only a few months ago.

It’s an anniversary few are celebrating. A year ago Saturday, with its faltering economy days away from bankruptcy, Greece ended months of speculation and requested bailout loans, The Washington Post reported.

Greece's finance ministry asked a prosecutor to launch an investigation into debt restructuring rumours that helped drag Greek stocks down on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Greek bank stocks fell 4.58 percent on Wednesday and the broader Athens bourse index lost 2.62 percent, underperforming pan-European indices on what traders said where rumours, spread by email, that the country would soon restructure its debt. The Greek government has repeatedly said it would not restructure the country's debt, in defiance of market sentiment that such action was increasingly likely.

A year since Greece obtained a 110 billion euro ($158 billion) international bailout, politicians and members of the public, fed up with austerity, are pushing their government to restructure its debt, Reuters reported. The government is still strongly resisting the idea but a deep recession and rising unemployment, coupled with slow visible progress in reforming state finances, are prompting even members of the ruling socialist PASOK party to urge the leadership to reconsider.