The prospect of an upcoming Greek government requesting an extension to the bailout program is deemed more certain than ever, as a source at the European Commission on Friday underlined that a review of the Greek program will not be completed by the end of February.

The same source said an extension to the Greek program is a “statistical certainty”, but declining to cite the extent of this, in terms of time. The general view, however, is that the extension will be of a longer duration than just a few weeks.

The same source said a precondition for an extension of the bailout program that ends next month is for the new Greek government to make a formal request.