Greece has agreed a bailout deal in principle with its creditors, the European Commission reports.
This comes after the Greek Finance Minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, said there were a few issues with their lenders which needed to be agreed before the deal could be finalised. If this deal works Greece will not have to leave the Eurozone or announce bankruptcy.
The Greek government is looking to push through a 3-year agreement of €86bn.
It is important to note that this is a technical deal which has been achieved between Greece, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. A spokeswoman said that there were still agreements to be made.
A Greek official had said earlier that it needed to agree the function of a new independent privatisation fund and decide how non-performing bank loans will be administered.
It is reported that both these issues were sticking points for officials in the overnight discussions.
The Eurogroup of finance ministers are to meet on Friday to discuss the approval of this deal. The Finnish Finance Minister, Alexander Stubb, has already noted that more work needed to be done in terms of finalising the details of the agreement.
Robert Peston, BBC economics editor, has provided his analysis of the situation, warning that it is now that the hard negotiations will begin. He comments that the massive debts can only be resolved if they are written off; threatening that Greece may never return to prosperity otherwise and this would greatly affect the Euro.
There are warnings that this agreement could see a change in the political landscape with populist parties promising voters not to be scared to reject the mainstream parties so they can reassert national sovereign rights.
Peston warns that today’s announcement of a deal shouldn’t be seen as a happy ending for Greece just yet.