Greek coffers running empty bring 'accident' threat closer

By Marcus Bensasson & Nikos Chrysoloras

With Greece?s coffers emptying and payments looming, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras?s government is coming ever closer to a financial day of reckoning.

While Tsipras may have bought some time after Thursday?s European Union summit in Brussels, he still isn?t saying what?s left in the bank and acknowledges Greece is facing ?liquidity pressure.? The country?s cash shortfall is projected to hit 3.5 billion euros ($3.7 billion) in March, according to Bloomberg calculations based on 2015 budget figures.

As time runs out and Tsipras prepares for another meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday, Greek bonds slightly recovered Friday, while the Athens Stock Exchange index opened more than 3 percent higher. The yield on three-year bonds fell 50 basis points to 23.25 percent at 10:46 a.m. in Athens on Friday, after reaching Thursday the highest level since July, when the notes were first issued.

After nearly four hours of talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders Thursday, Tsipras received no guarantees that creditors would unlock cash from a 240 billion-euro bailout package. The EU chiefs warned him time is running out to overcome a standoff over the aid and that the Greek government needed to submit a new list of reform measures rapidly.

?We avoided a rupture which could lead to a depositors panic next week,? George Pagoulatos, a professor of European politics and economy at the Athens University said. ?On a more substantial level, we saw that neither side wants to push things to the edge. The fact remains though, that Greeece needs to deliver on concrete reform commitments, and it couldn?t have been otherwise.?

Accident prone

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