HELSINKI: EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Saturday he expected Greece's government to agree on needed savings in the coming days since the lengthy talks between the troubled euro country and lenders had advanced.
"The negotiations have moved on. I assume Greece will agree, first within the government, on the required savings in the coming days," Rehn said in an interview with Finnish broadcaster YLE on Saturday.
After weeks of talks, Athens has struggled to clinch an agreement on nearly 12 billion euros ($15.67 billion) of cuts with the "troika" of European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund lenders.
Europe is awaiting the final troika report on Greece's financial status before making further decisions on the country. Athens recently announced it would run out of money at the end of November without fresh international aid.
Talks have been hampered by serious differences among the creditors over the long-term sustainability of Greece's debt, with the IMF arguing that bondholders will have to take further writedowns, sources on both sides said. European governments and the European Central Bank are now the biggest creditors.
Euro zone and IMF creditors have held back some 31.5 billion euros ($41 billion) in urgently needed loans to Greece.
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