German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced optimism that the eurozone’s bailout of Greece was moving in the right direction in a television interview on Sunday. “One cannot yet speak of certainty,” Ms. Merkel told ZDF public television. But, she added, there was a “certain amount of hope,” in part because the Greek government had been performing better in recent weeks than it had in previous months. Ms.

The European institutions overseeing Greece’s bailout have expressed “serious concerns” over the sustainability of the country’s debt, bringing them into line with the more pessimistic assessment of the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Times reported. Both the European Commission and the European Central Bank argue in a new analysis that debt relief measures, including extending repayment periods, would allow Athens to achieve debt sustainability, a solution advocated by the IMF. They say such moves would avoid the need for a full-scale debt haircut.

Germany softened its resistance to a third bailout package for Greece on Wednesday, raising the chances for speedy approval of the draft plan in time for the country to make a crucial debt payment next week, the International New York Times reported. While a political obstacle course still lies ahead, officials in Berlin and Brussels spoke of a markedly improved negotiating climate. Eurozone finance ministers scheduled a meeting on Friday in Brussels at which they could give their imprimatur to the bailout deal.

Greece and its creditors agreed on terms of a new bailout for the country, which, if ratified by other eurozone governments, could unlock up to €86 billion ($94.76 billion) in financing over the next three years, The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal would still leave Greece grasping for economic and political stability. More than six months of often-turbulent negotiations on the country’s future in the eurozone have dragged its economy back into recession. Its banks remain subject to severe capital controls.

Eurozone creditor governments raised fresh concerns about the viability of a new Greek rescue package on Monday despite hopes from Athens that an agreement to unlock vital rescue funds was inching ever closer, The Telegraph reported. Greece's benchmark stock exchange closed up 2pc on Monday, at 690.24, while the banking index, comprising the four major lenders, rose 8.3pc to 299.08. Shares rose amid reports that negotiators were on course to secure an agreeement by the end of the week and the country's beleaguered banks could receive a capital injection later this month.

Negotiations to secure a third bailout deal in time to prevent Greece from defaulting this month on bonds owned by the European Central Bank appeared to advance after weekend-long meetings between officials from Athens and the country’s creditors, The Wall Street Journal reported. Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Economy Minister George Stathakis met Sunday for several hours with representatives from the four institutions overseeing the rescue program, the European Commission, International Monetary Fund, ECB and the eurozone’s own bailout fund.

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.