THE GREEK GOVERNMENT has said it wants to see a final deal on its international bailout hammered out by August 20, as it presented parliament with more draft legislation on the cash-for-reforms agreement.
Lawmakers are due to vote on a second batch of reforms tomorrow in a fresh test of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ authority.
The recently-elected leader suffered a major rebellion in his radical-left party Syriza during a vote on a first tranche of bailout measures last week.
After parliament has voted on the second bill — which must pass if Greece is to receive the bailout worth up to €86 billion over three years — the government “will immediately resume negotiations with the (lender) institutions, EU, ECB and IMF, which should take until August 20 at the latest,” a government spokeswoman said.
August 20 is the deadline for debt-crippled Greece to pay €3.2 billion owed to the European Central Bank, ahead of a payment of €1.5 billion euros owed to the International Monetary Fund in September.
The Greek government received a boost today when Standard & Poor’s raised its credit rating by two notches to CCC+ from CCC-, still in junk territory but a step in the right direction.
- © AFP 2015.
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