REPORTERNET.COM

There are growing indications that an agreement on the Private Sector Involvement (PSI) in the rescheduling of Greek bond debt is very likely by Sunday evening.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Friday described the negotiations as particularly “hard” but said they were are one step before conclusion.

Earlier, a government source told Reuters that Athens aims to reach a PSI deal “on principles” by Sunday afternoon.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has scheduled a meeting with the leaders of the three parties that participate in his coalition government, Antonis Samaras of New Democracy, George Papandreou of PASOK and Giorgos Karatzaferis of LAOS, on Saturday afternoon to discuss developments and the demands by the country’s international creditors, the EU, the IMF and the ECB –the so-called troika- for the signing of the €130-billion bailout loan package.

The Cabinet is due to meet with the same agenda on Sunday morning.

 According to sources, even though it has not been decided whether the ECB will participate in the “haircut” of Greek bonds, the government and its private creditors are converging on a rate of 3.75% for the new, longer-duration bonds that will replace old ones, while the European Commission is considering providing Greece with an additional €15 billion bailout loan.

European Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters on Friday that an agreement on PSI is close.

“We are indeed quite close to an agreement between the Greek government and the private sector. I would expect it to be completed in the next few days, preferably within January, not February,” he said.