Greece

Determined to take Greek-Russian relations out of “the deep freeze”, a defiant Alexis Tsipras flew to Moscow yesterday for talks with president Vladimir Putin, ratcheting up the pressure on the western creditors keeping his debt-stricken country afloat, the Irish Times reported. Amid speculation that Mr Putin might make an offer of financial help that the Greek prime minister will find hard to turn down, officials said the controversial trip should be seen through the prism of Athens’s leftist-led government doing “what is best for Greece”.

Greece has two weeks to produce some red meat, the International New York Times reported in commentary. The prospect of a default is off the table for the time being after Yanis Varoufakis, the country’s finance minister, confirmed that Greece would meet a payment to the International Monetary Fund on Thursday. But, with more payments looming, the fear of bankruptcy will be back by the end of April if Greece doesn’t come up with some serious overhauls by then.

Greece has submitted a fresh list of economic reforms to euro zone authorities, estimating the measures could raise as much as €6 billion this year. It is the cash-strapped government’s most comprehensive effort so far to unlock €7.2 billion in bailout funds before it goes bankrupt. The 26-page document relies on plans to crack down on tax evasion and fraud to raise most of the revenues. These include €875 million from audits of offshore bank transfers and €600 million from a new lottery scheme aimed at compelling consumers to demand value-added tax receipts.

With the prospect of a default looming in Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is preparing to meet next week with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as a European deal to give more aid to Athens falters, the International New York Times reported. The timing has raised questions of whether the visit is an ordinary component of the new Greek government’s multipronged foreign policy, or a pivot toward Russia for financial aid in the event that Greece’s talks with European officials collapse.

Greek proposals for a revised bailout program don’t have enough detail to satisfy the government’s international creditors, eurozone officials said, making it more likely that Athens will need to go several more weeks without a new infusion of desperately-needed cash, The Wall Street Journal reported. Officials from Greece’s leftist government were in Brussels over the weekend to present the proposals to officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund—the trio of institutions representing the government’s creditors.

Greece is hurrying to compile a list of economic overhauls that satisfies its creditors and secures desperately need bailout aid, as it runs increasingly low on cash and debt payments loom, The Wall Street Journal reported. Key officials in Greece’s new government, led by the leftist Syriza party, were hunkered down in meetings Thursday to flesh out new economic policies with the aim of submitting a list of overhauls by Monday at the latest, senior officials said.

Greek bank deposits plunged to an almost 10-year low in February as some €8 billion ($8.7 billion) were withdrawn from lenders, amid rising political uncertainty and worries over the country’s possible exit from the eurozone, The Wall Street Journal reported. Total deposits fell to €152.4 billion euros in February, down from €160.3 billion in January, data from the country’s central bank showed Thursday. This is the lowest level since June 2005. During the last three month, Greeks have pulled some €25 billion from the banking system, fearing currency changes or capital controls.

Athens’ hope that it could alleviate a mounting cash crisis by seeking the return of €1.2bn in disputed funds from its bank rescue were dashed when the government was informed it had no legal claim on the money, the Financial Times reported. The funds were part of an original €48.2bn in bonds injected by eurozone creditors into a fund to recapitalise Greece’s stricken banks in 2012. Some €10.9bn was left unused, of which €1.2bn was in cash.

With the fight to keep Greece in the euro now in its sixth year, everyone is running out of patience. More importantly, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government in Athens is running out of money, Bloomberg News reported. While bond yields suggest investors expect Greece to stay in the euro, economists such as UniCredit Bank AG’s Erik Nielsen say it may be just a matter of time before he’s forced to print a new currency. Adopting the euro was always supposed to be a one-way ticket, so there is no legal precedent or political roadmap for an exit.

The European Central Bank has instructed Greece’s biggest banks to refrain from increasing their exposure to Greek government debt, according to people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move raises pressure on the cash-strapped government in Athens to find an agreement with its international creditors to unlock billions of euros in bailout funds. The new restriction from the ECB’s bank supervisors, which was approved by the central bank’s governing council, was conveyed to the Greek banks in a letter on Tuesday.