Greece’s Prime minister Alexis Tsipras takes his seat to attend a gathering at the Agriculture ministry in Athens, Greece, on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. Tsipras said his country was at the “final stage” of talks for a new bailout, as his left-wing government on Wednesday rejected the idea of an extension in negotiations. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s talks with its creditors on a vital third bailout are making “satisfactory progress,” the European Union executive said Thursday in its most upbeat assessment so far, as Athens stocks rebounded three days after their worst plunge in decades.
A European Commission spokeswoman, Mina Andreeva, said the lenders are hoping to finalize the 85-billion euro ($92.5 billion) agreement in time for a major Greek debt repayment in two weeks.
“We believe this is an ambitious yet possible timetable,” she said. “Our teams (have been) on the ground (for) almost two weeks, and they report satisfactory progress.”
The radical left government on Wednesday said Athens was hoping to avoid extending negotiations and having to seek an interim loan to cover the Aug. 20 payment, worth more than 3 billion euros ($3.27 billion) to the European Central Bank.
Greece has already received nearly 240 billion euros in rescue loans since it was drummed out of international markets in 2010. But although it tamed budget deficits through severe spending and income cuts, tax hikes and market reforms, the country still requires a third bailout.
The terms of the new loan are being worked out in Athens in talks between government officials and lead negotiators from the European Commission, ECB and International Monetary Fund.
The Athens stock exchange gained 3.65 percent Thursday, three days after its disastrous opening — when a sixth of listed companies’ value went up in smoke — following a forced five-week closure. Banks, which saw huge losses over the past three days, gained a collective 18 percent.
But state budget execution figures released Thursday showed that last year’s modest primary surplus — which excludes debt costs — has been all but wiped out in the first half of 2015. The January-June surplus was 238 million euros, compared to 1.8 billion a year earlier.
It was the latest in a string of gloomy figures this week, which reflected the damage wrought by the government’s forced decision to close Greek banks at the end of June, to stop depositors emptying their accounts.
Many Greeks feared that talks with creditors were heading for collapse, which would bankrupt the recession-plagued country and force it out of the euro currency union, rendering their savings worthless.
As a result of the capital controls, which remain in place although banks have reopened for limited business, manufacturing, as well as business and consumer sentiment, plummeted, while small businesses’ turnover halved in July.
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Greece’s Prime minister Alexis Tsipras takes his seat to attend a gathering at the Agriculture ministry in Athens, Greece, on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. Tsipras said his country was at the “final stage” of talks for a new bailout, as his left-wing government on Wednesday rejected the idea of an extension in negotiations. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) 
