ATHENS: Greece on Tuesday announced it had reached the outline of a deal for an international bailout worth 85 billion euros ($94bn) that it hopes will save its economy from financial collapse.

The European Commission said Athens and its creditors had reached a technical agreement “in principle” on a bailout — the third since 2010 — after marathon talks stretching into the early hours.

“What we don’t have is a political agreement,” said Commission spokeswoman Annika Breidthardt, hours after Athens suggested the deal was all but done. Greece and its creditors — the EU, the European Central Bank, the eurozone bailout fund and the International Monetary Fund — are under pressure to finalise the deal by August 20 when Athens must repay some 3.4bn euros to the ECB.

The outline for the deal comes after months of acrimonious negotiations between the creditors and Greece’s radical-left government, which came to power promising an end to years of painful austerity demanded in exchange for the cash.

Investors reacted with relief to news of the outline deal, with shares in Athens rising 2.14 per cent after three straight days of gains.

Both sides said details remained to be hammered out, but a Greek government source said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was seeking an emergency session of parliament on Thursday — with all lawmakers required to attend — to ratify the deal.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2015

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