Greece’s creditors to return to Athens on Tuesday

Greece hopes to close a deal before ECB board of directors meets on January 17

Greece’s creditors are scheduled to return to Athens on Tuesday to continue talks on the second review of the Greek program. The matters on the agenda of discussions will be the non performing loans, labour reforms, regulations for businesses with excessive loans, and the examination of the budget and fiscal matters. The decision was reached after low-level staff on the lenders’ side, who had remained in Athens, gave the green light after acknowledging that the conditions were appropriate for talks to resume. Athens is hoping to wrap up a deal by January 19 of next year, when the European Central Bank’s (ECB) director’s board is scheduled to meet and examine whether Greece is ready to be included in the bank’s cheap funding scheme.