Greece was holding tightrope talks on Monday with its creditors and debt holders on details of a new eurozone bailout to enable the country to repay debt.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was meeting senior auditors from the eurozone, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, his office said, ahead of talks with a bank lobby group which has agreed in principle to take a big cut in debt repayments.
“There will be negotiations on the new programme,” a finance ministry source said, referring to the eurozone lifeline accorded to Greece in late October which includes a 50-percent writedown on the country’s short and medium-term debt in agreement with banks.
Venizelos was then scheduled at 1200 GMT to meet Institute of International Finance chief Charles Dallara, who represents global banks on the writedown, or so-called “haircut”, talks.
The minister has warned of “a hard battle ahead” under “very difficult conditions in Europe and the world.”
“It would be desirable if the (debt restructuring or “PSI”) talks starting today led to an initial agreement by the end of the week, otherwise we will be running short of time,” a Greek banker told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
“If there is no initial deal by the end of the week, then it will be difficult to complete the PSI (private sector involvement) in January and it could delay the election.”
The talks with bankers might continue on Tuesday, while the meetings with the EU, IMF and ECB officials — dubbed the troika — are scheduled to wrap up by the end of the week before resuming in January.
Delays on a plan to put 30,000 state workers on the road to redundancy this year will also be discussed, the official said, adding that state organizations and public services had so far only notified about 6,500 people.
(source: Reuters, Economic Times)
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
