ATHENS - Greece and its EU/IMF inspectors have broadly completed negotiations about a further bailout tranche for the debt-laden country, a government minister said on Monday, indicating the basis of an agreement had been reached.
Deputy Finance Minister Pantelis Oikonomou expressed the opinion that Greece managed to convince its lenders that fiscal slippages were mainly due to a deeper-than-expected recession."To the extent that they were convinced that... the recession is indeed deeper, I think that we have figured things out," deputy finance minister Pantelis Oikonomou told television station Mega.
Asked whether the negotiations with the "troika" of EU/IMF inspectors have come to a successful conclusion, Oikonomou said: "I believe we have essentially concluded... we have covered all the main topics."
