The Greek government submitted a three-page budget proposal to its creditors in Brussels in a bid to unlock bailout funds, two international officials with direct knowledge of the discussions said.
The document covered only fiscal targets, one of the people said. Greece gave its creditors a separate note, also three pages long, on how to address the country’s financing needs, in which the government asked to use funds from the European Stability Mechanism to repay about 6.7 billions euros ($7.6 billion) of bonds held by the European Central Bank that come due in July and August, the people said.
One of the officials said the revised Greek plan is a vague rehash of earlier proposals and is still not considered credible. The second official said the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are assessing the plan, which was received this morning. Both asked not to be named, as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis didn’t respond to two phone calls and one text message seeking comment.
With three weeks to go before the bailout agreement expires, the standoff between Greece’s creditors and the anti-austerity coalition in Athens risks leaving Europe’s most-indebted state unable to meet debt payments this summer.
Brussels Talks
A delegation headed by the Greek Minister of State Nikos Pappas and Deputy Foreign Minister Euclid Tsakalotos is in Brussels negotiating with officials from the euro area and the IMF over the conditions attached to Greece’s emergency loans.Greek stocks opened higher, with the benchmark Athens Stock Exchange gaining 1.8 percent at 11:55 a.m local time. Yields on two-year notes fell 67 basis points to 25.24 percent.
The Greek government last week rejected a set of policy commitments hammered out by representatives of creditor institutions, while a separate plan put forward by Greece was rejected by creditors.
Under the new Greek plan, the government wants access to bailout funds left in the European Financial Stability Facility and for the country’s banks to be allowed to buy more of the state’s short-term debt, according to the note it submitted today.
