16/04/2015 12:25
Greek officials have made an informal approach to the International Monetary Fund to delay repayments of loans to the international lender, but were told that no rescheduling was possible, Financial Times report.
The next chapter of the greek thriller is expected to take place in Washington as international players of the greek negotiations are attending the spring meeting of the IMF.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is due to hold talks with both President Barack Obama and ECB chief Mario Draghi.
The euro zone is doubtful that a deal will be struck with Greece next week on economic reforms for bailout funds.
Both the Greek government and its creditors have expressed the need for an agreement, at least in outline, to be reached when euro zone finance ministers meet in the Latvian capital Riga on April 24.
However, Athens has yet to produce a program of reforms that is deemed acceptable.
At the same time, the recent credit downgrade from S&P is also helping to drive Greece’s bond yields higher.
The yield on 10-year Greek bonds has jumped to 12.5%, having closed at 11.9% last night and the two-year bond yield has also spiked, up to 25.2% from 23.8% last night.
That suggests a high, and growing, risk of default, according to The Guardian which also notes reports that a referendum could be called.
Germany's finance minister said yesterday that there was no prospect of the eurozone reaching a deal with Athens next week on economic reforms that would unlock bailout funds.
"No one has a clue how we can reach agreement on an ambitious program," he said, adding that Greece's new leftist-led government had "destroyed" all the economic improvements achieved by Athens since 2011.
The minister appeared to suggest that the eurozone could cope with a Greek default, saying markets had "priced in" all possible outcomes to Greece's debt woes and that there was no contagion to other eurozone sovereign borrowers.
The next chapter of the greek thriller is expected to take place in Washington as international players of the greek negotiations are attending the spring meeting of the IMF.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is due to hold talks with both President Barack Obama and ECB chief Mario Draghi.
The euro zone is doubtful that a deal will be struck with Greece next week on economic reforms for bailout funds.
Both the Greek government and its creditors have expressed the need for an agreement, at least in outline, to be reached when euro zone finance ministers meet in the Latvian capital Riga on April 24.
However, Athens has yet to produce a program of reforms that is deemed acceptable.
At the same time, the recent credit downgrade from S&P is also helping to drive Greece’s bond yields higher.
The yield on 10-year Greek bonds has jumped to 12.5%, having closed at 11.9% last night and the two-year bond yield has also spiked, up to 25.2% from 23.8% last night.
That suggests a high, and growing, risk of default, according to The Guardian which also notes reports that a referendum could be called.
Germany's finance minister said yesterday that there was no prospect of the eurozone reaching a deal with Athens next week on economic reforms that would unlock bailout funds.
"No one has a clue how we can reach agreement on an ambitious program," he said, adding that Greece's new leftist-led government had "destroyed" all the economic improvements achieved by Athens since 2011.
The minister appeared to suggest that the eurozone could cope with a Greek default, saying markets had "priced in" all possible outcomes to Greece's debt woes and that there was no contagion to other eurozone sovereign borrowers.
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