Greek Debt Deal on Final Stretch

Greece and international creditors sought to put final touches to a multi-billion euro bailout accord on Monday to keep the country financially afloat and meet an important debt repayment to the European Central Bank within days.

Germany set out “strict” conditions for further aid and said it would be sensible to link the size of the first tranche to Greece’s progress in carrying out reforms, a reflection of worry around the euro zone that Athens might not do as promised.

Greek ministers and representatives of European institutions and the International Monetary Fund resumed talks on Monday morning after a marathon Sunday session that ended in the pre-dawn hours.

An accord for up to 86 billion euros ($94 billion) in fresh loans to the debt-stricken nation must be in place by Aug. 20, when the repayment to the ECB is due. Greek bond yields fell as hopes grew of a speedy end to talks. [GVD/EUR]

An agreement would mark the end of a painful chapter on bailout talks for Greece, which fought against austerity terms demanded by creditors for much of the year before accepting a deal under the threat of being bounced out of the euro zone.

“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.

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.