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 Greek ministers and representatives of European institutions and the
International Monetary Fund resumed talks on Monday morning after a
marathon session that ended in the pre-dawn hours.
An accord for up to 86 billion euros ($94.22 billion) in fresh loans
to the debt-stricken nation must be in place by Aug. 20, when the
repayment to the European Central Bank is due.
"From 12 midnight the two sides started the final stretch,
discussing the final stretch - combing through the final text,
sentence by sentence, word by word," a Greek finance ministry
official said.
Greek officials earlier said they hoped to conclude negotiations
with creditors by early Tuesday at the latest.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday a swift
conclusion to the negotiations would be desirable although a
thorough agreement was more important than a quick deal.
Greek officials have previously said they expect the bailout accord
to be vetted by the eurogroup -- finance ministers of the euro zone
-- on Aug. 14, and be approved by the Greek parliament by Aug. 18.
"When the new bailout comes to parliament for a vote it will be one
bill with two articles - one article will be the loan agreement and
the MoU (memorandum of understanding), and the second article will
be the prior actions," another Greek official said, referring to
measures Greece needs to take for the bailout accord to take effect.
The negotiations began on July 20.
LINK INITIAL AID TO REFORM PROGRESS -GERMANY
In Berlin, a German finance ministry spokesman said that it would be
sensible to link the size of the first tranche of aid to Athens'
progress in implementing reforms.
Greek media reported that some of the prior actions included
scrapping tax breaks for farmers who now receive subsidized fuel,
tighter regulations on individuals owing backtaxes to the state, and
a gradual increase in a "prepaid" income tax mechanism that asks
taxpayers ranging from self-employed to small businesses to cough up
lump tax sums on forecast income.
After a period mired in acrimony, the talks are now characterized by
"outstanding cooperation" from the Greek side, a senior EU official
said, with Athens keen to lock up a deal as swiftly as possible.
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But the official said a major sticking point for some member states
remained the size of the overall bailout, which some want reduced
from the up to 86 billion agreed at the euro summit in July because
of a growing taxpayer backlash against pouring money into Greece to
keep it from tumbling out of the euro zone.
From the Greek side, Greek sources said a key issue of concern was
how to deal with a mountain of non-performing loans in the banking
sector, a factor likely to weigh on a potential recapitalization
bill for the banks.
The Greek side wants to set up a "bad bank" to handle this, while
creditors want non-performing loans bundled and sold to distressed
asset funds. Non-performing loans represented about 35 percent of
overall loan portfolios in the first quarter of 2015, a level likely
to increase because of the recent imposition of capital controls to
stop a run on Greek banks.
The size of the first tranche, which is likely to be at least 20
billion euros, was also a source of some concern among lenders. Of
that figure, Greece needs a 10 billion euro buffer for bank
recapitalization, 7 billion to reimburse the bridge loan for July
and more than 3 billion to pay the ECB in August.
($1 = 0.9127 euros)
(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski in Brussels, Paul Carrel
and Tina Bellon in Berlin; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by
Mark Heinrich)
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