The euro zone is doubtful that a deal will be struck with Greece next week on economic reforms for bailout funds, potentially leaving the country perilously short of money.
Both the Greek government and its creditors have expressed the need for an agreement, at least in outline, to be reached when euro zone finance ministers meet in the Latvian capital Riga on April 24. But Athens has yet to produce a program of reforms that is deemed acceptable.
The German government said on Wednesday it was unrealistic to expect euro zone countries to be able to pay out a new tranche of aid to Greece this month.
“We are negotiating with Greece at the moment. If there is a reform list, then the next step is a so-called Staff Level Agreement to make formal changes to the conditions of the aid program. This is a complex process and no one in the Eurogroup expects this to be concluded by April 24,” a finance ministry spokeswoman said.
Berlin is not alone. Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazimir also doubted the chances of a breakthrough next week.
“Given that we have lost a lot of time, I am skeptical,” Kazimir told reporters after a Slovak cabinet meeting.
via Reuters
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Alfonso Esparza
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
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