An eyebrow-raising dispatch by the German mass daily "Bild" on Tuesday claimed the Tsipras government is considering an option to skip a coming bailout payment unless creditors extend debt relief at a June 15 Eurogroup meeting.
An eyebrow-raising dispatch by the German mass daily "Bild" on Tuesday claimed the Tsipras government is considering an option to skip a coming bailout payment unless creditors extend debt relief at a June 15 Eurogroup meeting.
The report, which did not cite sources, caused the euro to buckle in early trading the same day. Greece must pay back roughly seven billion euros in maturing debt in July, with an overall bailout tranche worth more than 10 billion euros still stalled over delays in concluding the second review of the current Greek program.
Trading of Europe's single currency subsequently stabilized.
Bild essentially pointed to a "default" in case the increasingly bewildered leftist-rightist coalition government fails to get some type of agreement from Euro zone finance ministers.
Conversely, another "scenario" making the rounds among the local press in Athens on Tuesday morning is that the Tsipras government has set aside cash reserves over the recent period for just an occurrence, i.e. failing to receive the next loan disbursement in a timely fashion.
Critics in the opposition claim the government is failing to pay off private sector arrears and freezing reserves managed by pension funds and other state-controlled entities in order to build up a contingency fund.