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Greece close to new deal with Troika

The EU and the IMF have warned Greece to tighten its austerity measures
The EU and the IMF have warned Greece to tighten its austerity measures

A spokesperson for Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos has said the country is close to agreeing a deal with its international lenders.

A conference call between Greece and the Troika, which ended a short time ago, was described as both "productive and substantive".

World markets suffered sharp losses again today amid fears that Greece is close to defaulting on its debts.

However, Morgan Stanley today predicted that Greece will avoid bankruptcy for the rest of the year thanks to the release of fresh bailout funds.

But they also said that the more broad deterioration in economic conditions means Athens will face a longer and tougher struggle to get back on an even fiscal keel.

As markets continue to show deep worries over Greece's finances, Morgan Stanley's analysts said they strongly expected that the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund would release a new round of funding to Athens, helping it to avert a default.

They also said they expected the country's private bank creditors grouped together under the "private sector involvement" (PSI) plan to accept a restructuring of the debt they hold to lower Athens' interest costs.

"We think that the willingness of Greece to comply with austerity and go through with PSI, and Europe to disburse further loan tranches is high, as Greece still has a primary budget deficit, and Europe wants to avoid further contagion," they said.

"As long as contagion risks are high (ie, next six to nine months), Europe would want to avoid a disruptive event," it said.

Earlier today, the IMF and EU warned Greece to tighten austerity measures and ramp-up state asset sales before it gets a much-needed disbursement of funds from the joint €110bn bailout which would stave off bankruptcy early next month.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone today to discuss the need for action on the eurozone crisis.

A White House statement said the two leaders agreed that concerted action would be needed in the months ahead to address the current economic challenges and to assure global economic recovery.