Athens is starting to race again in view of tomorrow's visit by the Troika (EU, ECB and IMF) which will decide whether or not to grant the second tranche of 130 billion euro aid to the Greek country. The International Monetary Fund is ready to grant new loans to Greece, Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said this morning. "We were given a green card yesterday after an informal meeting with the IMF board in Washington," Venizelos said. "Approval has been granted to begin negotiations with Greece on new auto programmes", continued the minister.
Does the green light from the Monetary Fund perhaps mean that an agreement with private individuals is close? Could be. Yesterday the prime minister Lucas Papademos said he was confident that an agreement could be reached. Venizelos today announced that it expects 100% participation from banks and private funds in thegovernment bond swap agreement, which should bring 100 billion euros to Greek homes.
But negotiations are still ongoing. The private sector is trying to get new bonds of at least 4% on new 30-year bonds traded at a loss of around 68%, the Financial Times reported today.
