Greece and lenders still debating changes to secure next bailout tranche
A teleconference between Greek officials and representatives of the country’s lenders failed on Sunday to result in an agreement on the changes that need to be made to legislation so that Athens can receive 7.5 billion euros in bailout loans.
Sources said that the two biggest obstacles to an agreement are the sale of non-performing loans backed by state guarantees and the government having to recover from low-income pensioners the EKAS subsidy payments they have received this year.
One the issue of the NPLs, the government fears that the sale of state-guaranteed loans could end up creating a fiscal shortfall, requiring new measures in the future.
However, the Greek side has made its displeasure known to the creditors about the number of changes (15 in total) that they are asking for. Athens considers some of the amendments to be of minor importance.
The government had initially hoped to complete all the necessary changes before the European Central Bank’s governing council meets on Wednesday but this now looks unlikely. The new target is to complete the necessary actions by Friday.
A new conference call between Greek officials and the institutions has been schedule for this Monday.
