Greek bailout: Creditors lay ground for final meeting

BRUSSELS: Greece has begun negotiations with its creditors as hopes rise that a make-or-break meeting next week could reach a deal on the new government’s demands to overhaul its huge international bailout. The technical talks in Brussels on Friday came a day after Greece’s anti-austerity Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras laid out his plans to skeptical counterparts including German Chancellor Angela Merkel at his first European summit. World stocks and the euro both rose on Friday amid growing optimism that debt-stricken Athens could now thrash out a compromise with finance ministers from the 19-country eurozone at a critical meeting on Monday. But the clock is ticking as the €240-billion ($270-billion) EU-IMF bailout is due to expire at the end of February, and failure to reach a replacement agreement could trigger a Greek default and a chaotic exit from the euro. Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said he was “pessimistic” about any quick deal with Greece.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2015.

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