Greece Faces 24 Hour Deadline To Clinch Deal

The next couple of days should be really interesting. Courtesy of Reuters:

(Reuters) - Greece has just one day left to strike a deal with impatient lenders and reluctant political party leaders on a 130 billion rescue plan before the country is pushed towards a chaotic default, its finance minister warned on Saturday.

In an apparent warning to Greek political leaders opposing key reforms, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the patience of European partners and the International Monetary Fund footing the bill for Greece's bailout was wearing thin.

"There is great impatience and great pressure not only from the three institutions that make up the troika but also from euro zone member states," Venizelos said after what he called a "very difficult" conference call with euro zone counterparts.

"The moment is very crucial. Everything should be concluded by tomorrow night. We are on a knife-edge," he told reporters.

Athens had made progress by agreeing a plan to recapitalize Greek banks and details on privatization, he said. A senior banker told Reuters the recapitalization would occur mainly via common shares with restricted voting rights.

I’ve made this point before. Despite what the people in charge may think, any deals that sees creditors accept less than what is owing to them is technically, a default. Whether this is just more posturing in the hopes of scaring parties into a deal is yet to be seen. We will know more in the next couple of days for sure.