Back in Athens, the Greek government has announced €50 million of savings achieved from cutting ministerial advisers “and other privileges.”

The Guardian’s Helena Smith reports:

One official explained: “The government is putting an end to the hiring of unnecessary advisers who very often were used for the purpose of patronage politics. At a time when Greek society has experienced such a hard policy of austerity, it was provocative to allow a regime of tens of advisers to continue.”

The finance minister Yanis Varoufakis also says he has scaled back on advisers dramatically - along with ministerial cars and guards seconded to protect him from the police force.

The leftist-led administration said the €50 million would go towards relief measures aimed at alleviating the humanitarian crisis that has hit poorer Greeks as a result of relentless cutbacks and recession.

“In this way we are supporting weaker strata of society while at the same contributing to the restoration of a sense of justice,” the official added.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem has issued a fresh warning on Greece following the meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels.

The Greek situation was not on the agenda at today’s Ecofin meeting, but it was impossible for ministers to escape the subject while agreement on Greek reforms has yet to be reached.

Dijsselbloem, eurogroup president and Dutch finance minister, said the markets will lose confidence in Greece if it doesn’t come up with acceptable reforms proposals.

Reuters snaps:

• 10-Mar-2015 14:21 - EUROGROUP’S DIJSSELBLOEM: IF GREECE DOESN’T ACT ON REFORMS, MARKETS WILL LOSE CONFIDENCE

• 10-Mar-2015 14:23 - EUROGROUP’S DIJSSELBLOEM: GREECE WON’T RECEIVE MONEY UNLESS IT MAKES EFFORT

The price of copper has fallen amid concerns over China.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 1.9% to $5,756 a tonne, following the publication of Chinese inflation data and a strengthening dollar.

Annual consumer inflation in China picked up in February to 1.4% from a five-year low of 0.8% in January. Economists polled by Reuters were expecting a smaller rebound in prices last month, with inflation at 0.9%.

However, producer prices fell by 4.8% on an annual basis, following a 4.3% fall in January. It was the fastest rate of factory price deflation in almost five-and-a-half years, reminding investors of the slowdown in China’s economy.

Helena Smith, the Guardian’s correspondent in Athens, brings us this report on the situation in Greece:

Over in Greece local media are making much of revelations that Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was strong-armed into allowing inspectors representing the deeply unpopular troika to return to Athens.

Greek officials are keeping mum but EU sources in Brussels have revealed in no uncertain terms that Athens was posed with an ultimatum: either it allowed auditors to examine its books, in situ, or emergency funds would be stopped.

The ultimatum was made by no less than ECB president Mario Draghi, according to officials cited in a Bloomberg report. Greece is fast approaching the day of reckoning with room for manoeuvre becoming ever narrower as it races against the clock - and a mountain of maturing debt repayments - to avoid a credit crunch. Athens must repay €300 million to the IMF by the end of the week.

Economists are saying the situation is becoming desperate. Liquidity fears are such that the leftist-led government has reportedly beseeched the Greek subsidiaries of multinational firms for short-term loans.

The General Accounting office, it was revealed today, has also stopped payments on any state expenditure not related to pensions or salaries - and fears are growing of an “internal default” which could see the government making reduced payments to pensioners and public employees.

Markets found no cheer from the latest data to come out of Italy, which showed a surprise fall in industrial production in January.

Production fell 0.7% over the month, dampening hopes of a recovery from recession. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted a 0.2% rise.

It was the first drop in industrial production since September. In Italy production tends to show a strong correlation with GDP, which was flat in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The Italian economy is mired in a three-year recession, with industrial production down by almost a quarter since its 2008 peak.

The picture for production looked slightly better over a three-month period, up 0.1% according to Italy’s statistics agency, ISTAT.

The figures were at odds with the equivalent numbers out of France this morning. French industrial production grew by o.4% in January, beating expectations of a 0.3% fall.

This reaction from Jennifer McKeown, senior European economist at Capital Economics:

January’s French industrial data support the message from the German and Spanish releases that activity was expanding slowly at the start of the year. But the fall in Italian production suggests that the three-year recession there has continued.

Today’s data, together with earlier figures from Germany and Spain, suggest that Thursday’s eurozone release will show that industrial production stagnated in January.

So despite signs of improvement in some of the business surveys, there is little hard evidence to suggest that the slow recovery in the region is gaining pace.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s says a Greek exit from the euro probably wouldn’t be a major deal for foreign banks, with ratings downgrades unlikely.

In a report called This Time, Foreign Banks Have Less To Fear About A Grexit, S&P argues:

Given the relatively limited scale of banks’ exposures to Greece, we do not currently expect that a Grexit would, in and of itself, lead to ratings changes for foreign banks, or that exposed foreign banks would require additional capital support.

We consider the direct impact on foreign banks from a Grexit or from continuing uncertainty about it as limited because they have relatively limited direct exposure to Greek banks or to Greece’s public and private sector, having significantly reduced their lending since the restructuring of Greek government debt in 2012.

According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), foreign banks’ direct exposures against Greek entities amounted to $46 billion (£30.5 billion) as of September 2014, with further potential exposures in the form of derivatives, guarantees, and commitments amounting to $22.8 billion. Those levels are markedly lower than recent highs of $138 billion in early 2011.

Banks in three countries account for over 80% of total foreign banks’ direct Greek exposures as of September 2014: Germany ($13.5 billion), the UK. ($13.5 billion), and the US ($10.6 billion). However, these amounts represent a very small proportion of each country’s total banking sector foreign direct exposures, at 0.56% for Germany, 0.36% for the UK, and 0.34% for the US.

Judging by the smiles, there appears to be a fair amount of cheer in Brussels this morning, despite the lack of progress made on Greece at yesterday’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

The meeting might offer Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, brief respite from the spotlight. Ministers at the Ecofin meeting are planning to focus their attention on other, EU-wide, issues today.

Greek reform proposals presented by Varoufakis were rejected yesterday by euro finance minister as inadequate and generally a bit vague.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister and eurogroup president, expressed frustration yesterday at the lack of progress so far.

We have spent the last two weeks discussing who will meet who, where and in what configuration.

It’s been a complete waste of time.

He then confirmed that the three institutions behind Greece’s bailout - the European commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank – will hold “technical talks” on the Greek proposals on Wednesday.

Figures published earlier showed a surprise rise in French industrial production.

Production increased 0.4% in January, beating expectations of 0.3% fall. It followed a 1.4% increase in December.

Elsewhere in Europe, investors appear a little underwhelmed this morning as they consider the inconclusive outcome from yesterday’s eurogroup meeting on Greece and What It All Means.

• German DAX: -0.1 at 11,574.17

• France’s CAC 40: +0.1% at 4,940.38

• Italy’s FTSE MIB: -0.1 at 22,550.73

• Spain’s IBEX: +0.2% at 11,072.5

The Pru has yet to announce a replacement for Thiam, but chairman Paul Manduca said a successor has been identified and will be announced “once the regulatory approval process has been completed”.

Lots of speculation that Mike Wells, the head of the Pru’s US business, is the chosen one.

More on the Pru’s announcement this morning.

Paul Manduca, the insurer’s chairman, piled on the praise for Thiam:

Tidjane has been one of the most exceptional leaders in Prudential’s long and illustrious history.

From leading the group through the financial crisis at the end of the last decade, first as CFO and then as CEO, to shaping an Asia-focused strategy that has seen Prudential grow into an ever more successful UK-based financial services business, he has been a great servant to the company and all its stakeholders in his seven years on our board.

Although the Board will be sorry to see him go, we understand his desire to take on a new challenge with another global leader in a different part of the financial services sector, headquartered in Switzerland, and we wish him every success in his new role.

On a call with journalists this morning , Thiam said he was leaving on a high.