Greece running out of time on euro deal

Photo:Eisenrah

Greece has been bailed out twice by the EU and International Monetary Fund since the financial crisis in 2010: a total sum of €250 billion,

Friday 24th April marks a deadline for negotiations on a third bailot (of €7.2 billion), following the election of a left-leaning Syriza government, which refuses to agree to austerity measures and is instead attempting to agree on new repayments terms.

Greece is running out of time to finalise a deal, though, as repayment deadlines loom.

On 20th April, an €80 million payment is owed to the European Central Bank, while 1st May Sees a €200 million bill owed to the International Monetary Fund. Later that month, on 12th May, a further sum of €760 million is owed to the IMF.

This week, reports are circulating that the country has informally requested an extension on its loans from the IMF, while other rumours suggest that the country has used reserves from its health service to help make April's payments.

"Greece's future in the euro is looking so shaky that UK bookmaker William Hill has stopped taking bets on the chances of a Grexit," reports the BBC. Opinion polls quoted by Bloomberg say that between two thirds and three quarters of the Greek population want to stay in the Euro "at any cost".

The ongoing talks continue to undermine the weakness of the single currency, which has already seen the dollar and pound strengthen considerably against it since the ECB introduced a quantitative easing programme.

ECB President Mario Draghi has been reportedly surprised by speculation that the scheme could be ended early, only one month in.

His comments this week were "negative for the euro because Draghi reaffirmed the QE (quantitative easing) program, despite some talk that the ECB might need to curb it in reaction to stronger data," Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist at BNP Paribas in New York, told Reuters.