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Negotiations on Greek bailout program to resume after summer lull

Xinhua, August 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

A new round of talks between the Greek government and international creditors will resume on Aug. 29 in Brussels during the first Euro Working Group meeting after the summer lull.

Greece's ministers of finance and economy Euclid Tsakalotos and Yorgos Stathakis will meet with European Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici in Brussels to prepare for the Euro Group meeting on Sept. 9, according to an e-mailed press release from the Greek Finance Ministry.

The aim is to make some progress by Sept. 9 on the issues which will be on the key issues on the agenda, such as the prior actions for the disbursement of the next 2.8 billion euros (3.1 billion U.S. dollars) tranche and the completion of the second review of Greece's third bailout since 2010.

The lenders' envoys are expected to return to Athens in September to discuss the remaining steps that need to be taken to unlock further rescue loans to the debt laden economy.

"The difficult measures are now behind us," Greek government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassilis assured in an interview printed on "Agora" (Market) newspaper on Saturday.

However, financial analysts in articles written in "Vima" (Tribune) and "Naftemporiki" (Shipping Trade news) commented that the government was "racing against time" and "it is no easy task to meet imminent targets."

Greece needs to implement some 20 prior actions in September and a further 15 by the end of October, Naftemporiki noted.

Among them in September the government will have to pass its fiscal policy program for 2017-2020 through the parliament and in October to make further progress on the privatization program by transferring more utilities to the new privatization fund. Endit