Greece
avoided another financial crisis by paying about €500m (£360m) in wages to
public sector workers, but suffered another downgrade of its credit rating.
The payment
came as Greece remained locked in talks with its creditors in an effort to
release €7.2bn of bailout funds to avoid a default and exit from the eurozone.
In a sign
the leftist Syriza government was preparing to compromise over some of the
reforms demanded by Brussels and the International Monetary Fund, it said it
would push ahead with privatisation of its biggest port, Piraeus. It is in
talks with China’s Cosco Group, which manages two container piers at the port,
about selling a majority stake.
“We are in
very advanced talks to expand this cooperation very soon in relation with the
inclusion of a railway network as well,” the Defence minister, Panos Kammenos,
told an economic conference in Athens.
The Greek
prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, said his country was “very close” to reaching a
vital deal with bailout lenders, but insisted there was “no possibility” of
giving in to key demands including further cuts to pensions and wages.
Tsipras
said the government had not abandoned its goal to try to persuade lenders to
restructure Greece’s debt.
“It appears
that we have reached common ground with the institutions on a number of issues,
and that makes us optimistic that we are really very close to an agreement,”
Tsipras said, noting convergence on harmonised sales tax rates and tax
administration reforms.
“But
several issues remain open ... I want to reassure the Greek people that there
is no chance or possibility for the Greek government to retreat on the issue of
wages and pensions. Wage earners and pensioners have suffered enough.”
Earlier in
the week, Greece paid $750m due to the IMF, albeit by using a reserve account
held at the IMF itself, while the European Central Bank raised the level of
emergency funding for Greek banks by €1.1bn to €80bn.
Athens has
also called for its embassies and consulates to forward any cash reserves in an
effort to avoid running out of funds before a deal with creditors is reached.
But it ran into a setback when the parliamentary speaker refused to transfer
Hellenic parliament cash to the state.
Meanwhile,
DBRS ratings agency downgraded Greece further into junk status, cutting it from
B to CCC with a negative outlook.
“The
current downgrade is due to a further increase in uncertainty over whether
Greece and its creditors will reach an agreement on a programme that restores
macroeconomic stability and improves Greece’s cash position,” it said. “In the
absence of an agreement, financing sources appear to be insufficient to meet
Greece’s financing needs over the foreseeable future.”
Tsipras
reportedly plans to press fellow European leaders about the bailout deadlock on
the sidelines of a summit in Latvia next week.
(Πηγή: theguardian.com)
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