Greece and lenders on verge of bailout deal

ALL-NIGHT talks have resulted in agreement between Greece and its lenders on a multibillion-euro bailout, which should be in place by the country’s August 20 deadline to meet a €3.2 billion repayment to the European Central Bank.

“Finally, we have white smoke,” said a finance ministry official, as those involved in talks emerged bleary-eyed from an Athens hotel on Tuesday morning (August 11).

Although the Greek finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos said there were still one or two bumps of disagreement to be ironed out, it is expected the deal will go before the Greek Parliament to be agreed on Wednesday or Thursday, and then before Eurozone finance ministers for their approval on Friday.

The full sum of the bailout had not been confirmed at the time of writing, but is reported to be in the region of €86 billion. 

It’s believed Greece has accepted austerity measures which include privatisations of state assets and the deregulation of the country’s natural gas market.