Greece is in negotiations again for next bailout payment
Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is to resume on Tuesday tough negotiations with troika envoys on several contentious issues, including a delayed overhaul of the civil service, in a bid to reach a consensus before Friday’s informal Eurogroup summit in Dublin.
Government and troika officials on Monday took a day off negotiations to prepare their arguments and to allow the dust to settle following the unexpected news of the suspension of a merger between National Bank of Greece and Eurobank. They are to resume talks at 4 p.m. on Tuesday and have a lot of ground to cover if they are to reach an agreement by Friday’s summit. Greece’s economic reform progress will be on the agenda of talks at the summit but a decision on the release of a 2.8-billion-euro loan installment that had been due last month is not expected until later in April while a decision on a subsequent tranche of 6 billion euros is likely in May. Unless the disbursement of the tranches is delayed until after May 20, when Greece must cover 5.6 billion euros in bonds that are set to expire, government officials say there will be no cash-flow problem.
More: ekathimerini.com