No deal between Greece and lenders seen on Friday: Eurogroup head

Fri Apr 22, 2016 3:29am EDT

Reuters

Greece and its international lenders are unlikely to reach an agreement on Friday that would unlock further loans and pave the way for debt relief talks, despite some progress made in talks on reforms, euro zone officials said on Friday.



"I'm hearing good news from Athens, so let's see where we are," the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters.

"If we make progress on the content of the program and the next steps then we need to start the discussion on debt. We're only at the beginning of that discussion, so don't expect any deals today," he said on entering a meeting with euro zone ministers.

"Debt is a discussion we've not had before. The only thing we had was a promise that if the Greeks would commit fully and deliver on the program we would look at, if necessary, further debt measures," he said.



(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski, Francesco Guarascio; additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels)