Germany rejects Greek request to extend loan agreement

Germany Thursday rejected a request from Greece to extend its loan agreement with eurozone creditors, saying the Greek proposal did not meet previously agreed criteria decided by the Eurogroup Monday.

"The letter from Athens is not a substantial solution proposal," said German finance ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger in a statement.

"In truth, it aims at a bridge financing, without meeting the requirements of the program," Xinhua quoted Jaeger as saying.

Earlier in the day, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the Eurogroup finance ministers, said that he received Greece's request to extend the existing bailout agreement for another six months, EFE reported.

"Received Greek request for six months extension," Dijsselbloem posted on his official Twitter account but did not provide further information on the terms set out in the request by the government of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

The deadline for repayment of the European portion of the vital bailout funds that Greek banks received in 2012 is set to expire at midnight Feb 28.

The newly-elected Left-wing government in Greece rejected the current bailout programme and its, to them, harmful austerity clauses and asked for fresh debt relief. Greece's eurozone creditors, led by Germany, requested Athens to respect commitments and stick to the fiscal adjustment and reform path.