Greek parliament expected to pass rescue package

Thursday, Aug 13 2015

Greece’s parliament is meeting in emergency session on Thursday to ratify a new bailout deal, but it is unclear whether the multibillion euro agreement had the vital backing of Germany. Despite rebellion in the ranks of prime minister Alexis Tsipras’s leftist Syriza party, the 400-page text is thought likely to pass through the Athens legislature with the support of opposition parties in a vote not expected until the early hours of Friday.

But the rescue package, worth up to €85bn (£60bn) over three years and urgently needed to prevent the debt-stricken country defaulting and to keep it in the euro, must still be approved by the other eurozone member states at a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels on Friday afternoon. The deal, which surrenders powers over huge areas of economic and social policymaking to Greece’s international creditors, also has to be ratified by a number of national parliaments, including Germany’s – a process Athens wants completed in time for it to make a major €3.2bn payment to the European Central Bank on 20 August.

The German finance ministry said it had “questions” about the package and suggested Berlin may yet push for bridge financing to allow Athens to meet its ECB payment rather than ratify Greece’s third full-blown bailout in five years. “Bridge financing is not off the table,” finance ministry spokesman Jürg Weißgerber said on Wednesday. “We’re still taking bridge financing into consideration if it’s not possible to pay out a first tranche in August to meet the outstanding obligations.”

Euro is currently being traded few points above 1.1110 level. Pair is likely to find support at 1.1050 handle and resistance above 1.1180 area. Later today, in the US session, Retail Sales and Unemployment Claims figures are scheduled for a release.

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