Greece to Submit Reform Proposals to Creditors

The Greek government will present its reform program to the lenders on Thursday, which, if approved, will allow Athens to get a third bailout package needed to avoid bankruptcy.

ATHENS (Sputnik) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday that Athens has come up with specific proposals that aim to achieve a sustainable agreement with Greece’s creditors, at the same time ensuring that the planned reforms are fair.

On Tuesday, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said that Athens has until Friday morning to present proposals to its lenders. The final deadline for achieving an agreement on Geek bailout is set for Sunday.

Greece's overall debt currently stands at about $350 billion, of which $270 billion is owed to the European Central Bank (ECB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union. The lenders have issued two bailouts for Greece since 2010.

On Sunday, more than 61 percent of Greeks voted against a new bailout plan proposed by the lenders that envisaged unpopular austerity measures such as pension cuts and tax increases in exchange for another loan.

The referendum was preceded by several rounds of talks, which failed to end in an agreement between the sides before the expiration of the previous bailout program.

Greek banks have been shut down since its last bailout program expired on June 30th and it failed to make its June repayment to the IMF. On Monday, Greece is due to pay over $3 billion to the ECB.