Europe is awaiting debt-ridden Greece's latest bailout plan, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras racing to produce a package of reforms to keep Athens from being ousted from the 19-nation euro currency bloc.
Greece has until midnight Thursday in Brussels to produce an economic plan in exchange for a new three-year bailout to replenish the dwindling reserves in Greek banks and keep the country from going bankrupt.
The country's international creditors, the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and Greece's European neighbors, plan to review the proposal before European leaders consider it Sunday at an emergency summit.
European stock exchanges posted sharp gains Thursday amid hopes Greece's fractious relationship with the rest of Europe might be salvaged before the Sunday deadline to reach a deal the other 18 eurozone countries imposed on Athens.
On one contentious point in the Greek debt crisis, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he agrees with the IMF that Athens needs some kind of relief from its massive, $265 billion bailout debt load in order for its moribund economy to regain a solid footing.
Germany opposes an outright cut in the debt, but Schaeuble said there is a "very small" window to restructure the debt, such as by allowing Athens more time to pay it back.
Tsipras has promised new tax hikes, likely on corporations, hotels and luxury goods, and pension reforms that he would "immediately implement" on Monday. He told the European Parliament Wednesday that Greece would produce "concrete proposals, credible reforms."
The Greek leader met with Finance Ministry officials to work on details of the proposal. Some European leaders voiced cautious optimism about the apparent Greek effort to reach a deal.
"The tune has changed," said Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy. "It is not what we were hearing until now, and that is positive."
Greece has amassed its debt in two bailouts during the past five years, but its economy is in sharp decline, with a quarter of its workforce unemployed.
Greece defaulted on its $1.8 billion loan payment to the International Monetary Fund last week when European finance ministers refused to extend the bailout that would have allowed Greece to pay the IMF.
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