Greek government-debt crisis

Berlin does not see any basis for Greece to get the next tranche of its bailout immediately to prevent it from becoming insolvent but if Athens implements its reforms sooner than expected, it could get paid early, a German finance ministry spokesman said.

In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras warned that if the European Central Bank objects to the issuance of short-term debt such as Treasury bills, it will have grave responsibility for what will follow.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Friday sent a new letter to the Eurogroup essentially fleshing out the six reform proposals that Greece is expected to present at Monday's meeting of eurozone finance ministers, sources in Brussels indicated.

Fitch rating agency released a statement of Friday according to which Greece's exit from the eurozone is still possible. However, this development is unlikely to cause a systemic crisis like the one in 2012, Fitch notes.

Greece needs to pay back all the money it received from its euro zone partners rather than asking for debt relief, the head of the euro zone's rescue fund was quoted as saying on Friday.

Greece repaid the first 310 million euro installment of a loan from the International Monetary Fund that falls due this month, as it scrambles to cover its funding needs, a government source said on Friday.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' newly elected government must pay a total of 1.5 billion euros to the IMF this month over two weeks starting on Friday.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras visited Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday to brief him on discussions at the meeting of the European Central Bank's governing council in Nicosia and on decisions relating to Greece taken there.

A meeting between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras is underway at Maximos Mansion following Thursday's European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council at Nicosia, Cyprus. Present at the meeting are Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis and Finance Minister Yianis Varoufakis.

German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung reports that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras asked European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for a meeting. The newspaper, citing government sources in Athens, states that Tsipras asked for a quick meeting during a telephone conversation on Thursday and that this request had been rejected.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has begun a series of contacts with European leaders and officials aimed at breaking down the wall of distrust against Greece, evident by the European Central Bank's (ECB) refusal to include Greece in its  funding scheme.