Greece Still ‘hopeful’ for Positive Statement

Greece’s government remains hopeful that a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday will note progress in talks with lenders on a cash-for-reforms deal and pave the way for an easing of Greece’s cash crunch, a government official said on Sunday.

The Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers have ruled out clinching a deal to unlock aid for Greece at Monday’s meeting, saying that too many issues remain unresolved. Officials have said any statement they make is unlikely to be enough to allow the European Central Bank to raise the limit on short-term Treasury bills that Greek banks can buy, a move that would help avert a Greek national bankruptcy.

“We hope that the significant progress made will be recorded in the Eurogroup statement, which will be a positive sign regarding the prospect of reaching a final deal soon,” said a Greek government official, who declined to be named.  “What is important is to get a signal for the funding strangulation to end.”  Greece and its EU and IMF lenders remain at odds on budget, labor and pension issues but government ministers at a cabinet meeting on Sunday remained hopeful of such a statement, the official said.

Reuters

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.