Charles Dallara, the managing director of the Institute of International Finance, said the group may have something to announce on talks with the Greek government on a debt swap later today. “It’s possible we’ll have something to say later tonight,” Dallara said in Athens today after meeting with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. He declined to comment further. Greece is set to resume talks with private sector creditors over a debt deal later Friday, following a conference call with European officials, the country΄s finance minister said.
Speaking to reporters after a one-hour meeting between the two sides, Evangelos Venizelos said the talks would resume at around 1730 GMT.
"We will resume [late] afternoon, around 7:30 pm (local time)," he said. "In the meantime there will be a teleconference call of the euro working group. After that we will resume."
According to Dow Jones Newswires, Friday΄s meeting between Venizelos, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Institute for International Finance Managing Director Charles Dallara, is the third meeting this week since the talks resumed Wednesday after faltering last week over details of the debt deal.
In October, the IIF, which is leading the negotiations for the private creditors, agreed to a debt-reduction plan that would reduce Greece΄s total stock of debt by EUR100 billion and cut the amount of debt owed to private creditors in half.
The debt talks now appear to be edging towards a conclusion with an announcement possibly coming as early as today. Greece hopes to reach an agreement with its creditors--under which it would swap old bonds for new--before a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers Monday.
A debt deal would open the way for Greece to receive a fresh, EUR130 billion bailout from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund.