ECB

IMF Chief Christine Lagarde and Greek PM Alexis Tsipras held a telephone conference on Monday in the late afternoon, Athens time.

According to an IMF spokesman in Washington, the two discussed the course of negotiations between Tsipras’ cash-strapped government and the “Institutions” – EC, ECB and the IMF.

The spokesman cited “priorities” that must be promoted.

Greece is the focus of the international community for the third time in five years over the same matter. In 2010, and 2012, the country was pulled back from the cliff of payments suspension, receiving two huge aid packages from the EU, the ECB and the IMF. Now, the country has to face the possibility of not being able to pay the tranches and the debt of about 320 billion euros.

A majority of Parliament MPs late on Friday approved the leftist government's urgently tabled legislative act ordering roughly 1,500 state-run entities - local governments, universities etc. - to transfer their cash reserves to the Bank of Greece - a decision linked directly to dwindling money in state coffers.

It had been a while since Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis last blogged, but he came back with a vengeance in Thursday's on the eve of the Eurogroup meeting. His entrance disappointed journalists expecting one of his usual "titillating" comments, but his lengthy blog post describes exactly how he feels about the negotiations between Greece and its international creditors so far.

Investors seek to be less exposed to the fluctuations of the Eurozone, by restructuring their portfolios, while, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Euro is being pressured, propping up the value of the US dollar.

 Time is not on Greece?s side as the threat of a credit crunch looms and real economy conditions worsen

By Dimitris Kontogiannis

Greece and the OECD group of industrialized nations signed on Thursday a cooperation deal aimed at helping the crisis-hit eurozone country carry out reforms, officials said on Thursday.

"The OECD will provide Greece with the know-how regarding the design and the implementation of reforms which are the priorities of the Greek government," a Greek official said.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble insisted Tuesday that urgent technical talks on extending Greeces bailout would involve the "troika" of creditors, despite claims by Athens that the much-loathed group would play no part.

The negotiations between the Greek side and the country's creditors that begun yesterday in Brussels were once again interrupted by the sudden departure of Greek finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.

Representatives of the “institutions” — the way the new leftist government wants to refer to EC, ECB and IMF officials — will carry out inspections in Athens as well, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem emphasized after a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on Monday.