French President Francois Hollande (right) and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meet on the occasion of the inauguration of a new Suez Canal waterway, in Ismailia, Egypt last week. – Reuters
Greece and international creditors sought to put final touches on a multi-billion euro bailout accord yesterday to keep the country financially afloat and meet an important debt repayment to the European Central Bank within days.
Greek ministers and representatives of European institutions and the International Monetary Fund resumed talks yesterday morning after a marathon session that ended in the pre-dawn hours.
An accord for up to $94,22 billion in fresh loans to the debt-stricken nation must be in place by August 20, when the repayment to the European Central Bank is due.
“From 12 midnight the two sides started the final stretch, discussing the final stretch – combing through the final text, sentence by sentence, word by word,” a Greek finance ministry official said.
Greek officials earlier said they hoped to conclude negotiations with creditors by early today at the latest.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said yesterday a swift conclusion to the negotiations would be desirable although a thorough agreement was more important than a quick deal.
Greek officials have previously said they expect the bailout accord to be vetted by the eurogroup – finance ministers of the euro zone – on Friday, and be approved by the Greek parliament by August 18.
“When the new bailout comes to parliament for a vote it will be one bill with two articles – one article will be the loan agreement and the MoU (memorandum of understanding), and the second article will be the prior actions,” another Greek official said, referring to measures Greece needs to take for the bailout accord to take effect.
The negotiations began on July 20.
In Berlin, a German finance ministry spokesman said it would be sensible to link the size of the first tranche of aid to Athens’ progress in implementing reforms.
Greek media reported that some of the prior actions included scrapping tax breaks for farmers who now receive subsidised fuel, tighter regulations on individuals owing back taxes to the state, and a gradual increase in a “prepaid” income tax mechanism that asks taxpayers ranging from self-employed to small businesses to cough up lump tax sums on forecast income. – Reuters.