Greek PM confident about progress on debt relief this year

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appeared confident Wednesday there would soon be positive news on the country's debt relief issue.

When addressing parliament after the approval of the latest round of actions requested by international lenders to unlock further bailout aid for the country, Tsipras said: "We expect positive news by the end of this year".

"The second program review will be concluded on time and the debt issue will be discussed for the first time at a European level," he said, although creditors expressed conflicting views on the progress of dialogue surrounding debt relief.

Greece's government insists that a quick resolution of the issue to make the Greek debt load sustainable is the only way to ensure the successful outcome of all efforts made so far to deal with the Greek debt crisis.

The Greek leader also stressed that the ailing economy has stabilized in recent months, returned to growth after seven years of steep recession, and will post a growth rate of 3.0 percent of GDP next year.

The remarks were made after members of parliament approved with 152 votes on Tuesday night a bill on the prior actions that are requested by creditors to complete the first review of the program and unlock the next 2.8-billion-euro (3.14 billion U.S. dollars) tranche of loan aid. All deputies of the two-parties ruling coalition voted in favor while all the other parties voted against with 141 votes.

The bill contained a dozen provisions regarding pension reforms, the appointment of a supervisory board for the new privatization fund, and the transfer of several public organizations into this new fund.

Following the ratification of the bill, Athens expects that on October 10, the Eurogroup meeting will give the green light for the release of the tranche and the second review of the third Greek bailout program since 2010 will start later in October. Endit