Athens, creditors offer conflicting views on negotiations

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Wednesday that a deal with creditors was ?close? and government officials said an agreement was being drafted but representatives of the country?s creditors made it quite clear that they do not share such optimism.

In comments after a meeting at the Finance Ministry, Tsipras said a deal with creditors was ?close? and that ?very soon we will be able to present more details.? He stressed the need for ?calm and determination,? noting that Greece would come under additional pressure in the final stretch of negotiations. He also referred to ?conflicting views between institutions? and to ?countries with different approaches.? Tsipras added that there is ?absolutely no risk to salaries and pensions, nor to bank deposits.?

According to sources, Tsipras was advised to make the statement by aides fearing that jitters were creeping back into the markets and could prompt a new wave of deposit outflows. Tsipras chose to make the statement flanked by Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis to underline the government?s backing for the latter, who has come under fire over his confusing statements about the content of a potential deal.

Earlier in the day, the European Central Bank decided not to raise the ceiling on emergency liquidity to Greece. A Greek government official commented that the Bank of Greece had not requested an increase to emergency liquidity as the current ceiling of 80.2 billion euros is regarded as adequate ?following a stabilization of deposit outflows.?

In an interview with Die Zeit on Wednesday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said it was down to Greece to decide on whether to introduce capital controls. He defended the decision by Greece?s creditors to link loans to further reforms,...