Greece, creditors on verge of clinching debt deal

Greece, creditors on verge of clinching debt deal Greece and its private creditors said on Saturday they were piecing together the final elements of a debt swap and expected to have a deal ready next week, essential for sealing a new bailout and avoiding an uncontrolled default. After muddling through round after round of inconclusive talks, the negotiations are in their final phase - though it appeared unlikely that a preliminary deal would be secured in time for a European Union summit on Monday.uggs on clearance Greek bondholders said the two sides were finalising a deal along the lines of a proposal made by Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers. The bondholders' comments suggested creditors had accepted Juncker's demand for a coupon, or interest rate, of below 4 percent on new, longer-dated bonds that Athens will swap for existing debt.ugg boots clearance The coupon had been the main stumbling block in the talks, with euro zone ministers rejecting private creditors' demand for a coupon of at least 4 percent - above the 3.5 percent level Greece and its European partners had been holding out for. "Next week we will be in a position to complete the debt swap," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said, citing significant progress at Saturday's talks. "We are really one step away from the final deal."clearance ugg He confirmed that the two sides were working along the "exact framework" provided by euro zone finance ministers. Charles Dallara, chief of the Institute of International Finance that negotiates on behalf of banks and insurers, is due to leave Athens on Sunday but will remain in contact with Greek authorities, the IIF said. Still, for Athens, progress on the debt swap is at risk of being overshadowed by increasingly problematic talks with its foreign lenders, whose inspectors are in town demanding unpopular reforms that no politician wants to be linked to. ugg boots outlet DENSE, DIFFICULT AND CRUCIAL Crushed by 350 billion euros of debt and running out of cash quickly, Greece is scrambling to appease the "troika" of its official lenders - the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund - and stitch up a deal with private creditors simultaneously. Unimpressed with Athens dragging its feet on reforms, the troika has said they could hold up aid if more is not done to make the Greek economy more efficient. ugg outlet store "It's all very dense, difficult and crucial," a Greek finance ministry official said. European paymaster Germany is pushing for Athens to relinquish control over its budget policy to European institutions as part of discussions over a second rescue package, a European source told Reuters. With many Greeks blaming Germans for the austerity medicine their country has been forced to swallow, officials in Athens dismissed the idea as out of the question. "The government stresses that this responsibility belongs exclusively to the Greek government," said government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis. cheap ugg boots clearance "The government has made a series of steps to improve the effectiveness of the public administration and a closer monitoring of the efforts to achieve fiscal targets.." The European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-country bloc, said it wanted the Greek government to maintain autonomy. "The Commission is committed to further reinforcing its monitoring capacity and is currently developing its capacity on the ground," a spokesman said. "But executive tasks must remain the full responsibility of the Greek Government, which is accountable before its citizens and its institutions. That responsibility lies on their shoulders and it must remain so." cheap ugg boots clearance A government source in Berlin said Germany's proposal was aimed not just at Greece but also at other struggling euro zone members which receive aid and are unable to make good on their obligations. "All options can obviously be introduced only with the agreement of, for example, the Greeks themselves," he added. NEW BONDS FOR OLD The debt swap, in which private creditors take a 50 percent cut in the nominal value of their Greek holdings in exchange for cash and new bonds, is also a prerequisite for the country to secure a 130-billion-euro rescue plan drawn up last year.