Greece

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and French President Francois Hollande agreed on Thursday that a new bailout for Greece could and should be agreed soon after August 15, Reuters reported. The two men were speaking in Egypt on the sidelines of a ceremony to inaugurate the New Suez Canal, the Greek prime minister's office in Athens said. Hollande, speaking to reporters at the inauguration, said: “The objective is for the negotiations on the program … to be concluded at the end of August. We know it’s difficult but we must make sure that the conditions are met, in a good spirit.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday that Greece was close to concluding a deal with lenders on a multi-billion-euro bailout, which he said would end doubts over its place in the euro zone, Reuters reported. The comments were the latest in a series of unusually upbeat assessments by Greek and European officials of progress in talks towards up to 86 billion euros ($93.6 billion) in fresh loans to stave off the country's financial ruin and economic collapse. "We are in the final stretch," Tsipras said.

After the Greek government imposed capital controls to prevent the country’s banks from collapsing, businessman Athanassios Savvakis feared exports of apricots, peaches and tomatoes would be the country’s next economic casualty, the Financial Times reported. “I was seriously worried,” said the chief executive of National Can Hellas, a private company that makes 300m cans a year for local fruit and vegetable processors.

Investors issued a vote of no confidence in Greece’s economy on Monday, dumping stocks as trading on the Athens exchange resumed for the first time in five weeks, the International New York Times reported. A plunge of more than 16 percent for the main Greek index and a 30 percent sell-off for bank stocks were the latest signs of Greece’s shattered economy. But the resumption of trading was a necessary step as Greece tries to emerge from controls on financial activity that the government, confronted with a bank run, imposed at the end of June.

Attention will be focused on Greece's embattled banks on Monday when the Athens stock exchange reopens after an absence of nearly a month because of the country's debt crisis, The Telegraph reported. The banks are in a vulnerable position owing to outflows of billions of euros (dollars) from deposits over the past six months. Some €40bn (£28bn) has been withdrawn from Greek banks since December according to the bank association.

The International Monetary Fund’s board has been told Athens’ high debt levels and poor record of implementing reforms disqualify Greece from a third IMF bailout of the country, raising new questions over whether the fund will join the EU’s latest financial rescue, the Financial Times reported. The determination, presented by IMF staff at a two-hour board meeting on Wednesday, means that while IMF staff will participate in bailout negotiations currently under way in Athens, the fund will not decide whether to agree a new programme for months — potentially into next year.

As representatives of Greece’s international creditors started arriving on Wednesday in the Greek capital for a new round of tough negotiations, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the country would get relief from its huge debt burden as early as November. He also hit out at dissenters within his party, saying that securing a new bailout deal was a priority, the International New York Times reported. Amid growing opposition within his leftist Syriza party over the prospect of fresh austerity required under Greece’s third financial rescue in five years, Mr.

Yanis Varoufakis has insisted he did nothing improper as part of a five-month clandestine project he ran as Greek finance minister that prepared for his country’s possible exit from the euro, the Financial Times reported. The scheme, which was almost completed but not fully implemented, involved hacking into Greece’s independent tax service to set up a parallel payment system — accessing individuals’ private identification numbers and copying them on to a computer controlled by a “childhood friend” of Mr Varoufakis.

Some members of Greece’s leftist-led government wanted to raid central bank reserves and hack taxpayer accounts to prepare a return to the drachma, according to reports that highlighted the chaos in the ruling Syriza party, The Guardian reported. It is not clear how seriously the government considered the plans, attributed to former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. Both ministers were sacked this month. However, the revelations have been seized on by opposition parties who are demanding an explanation.

Negotiators from Greece’s bailout monitors will fly to Athens on Monday to formally begin talks on a €86bn rescue after days of delays over whether the Greek government would allow creditors to have full access to staff and facilities, the Financial Times reported. Despite an agreement that gives teams from the EU and the International Monetary Fund access to some ministries and data, officials said only middle-ranking technical teams — and not mission chiefs — would participate for now.