The European Central Bank is resisting the Greek new government’s latest bailout plan, according to the Financial Times.
The Greek Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis proposed that Athens to increase its earnings by 10billion euro from having short-term Treasury bills as a “financing bridge” in order for the country to take a breather over the next three months, until a new deal with lenders is made.
However, as the Financial Times report indicates, ECB is not willing to approve the sale of the debt. Will not increase the limit to 15 billion euro to issue government bonds, according to two officials involved in the negotiations. “The Greek plan is fully based on ECB. The ECB will keep a hard line,” said another official to the newspaper.
Without the financing of government bonds, Athens will exit its bailout program without access to emergency funding for the first time since the first Greek bailout began in May of 2010.
ECB watches closely the “battle” between the anti-austerity government in Athens and its international creditors, which if unresolved, would leave Greece running out of cash within weeks.
Yet, Varoufakis has asked for the 1.9 billion euro profits of the ECB and Eurozone Central Banks which was earned by holding Greek bonds to maturity, as a possible source of income.
Under a 2012 deal, the cash was to be returned to Athens, but never was.
However, according to FT, officials said that Eurozone ministers are unlikely to allow those funds to be released without a broader agreement, complete with tough conditions.
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