Greece concedes to the austerity it has already rejected

In an 11th-hour bid to stay in the euro, the Greek government has conceded to most of the demands made by creditors.

In return, it is looking for a bailout the equivalent of R742.5 billion.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has effectively submitted to a package of spending cuts, pension savings and tax increases that almost match the creditors’ demands of June 26. And this ‘austerity plan’ was what the Greeks voted against in the July 5 referendum.

Bloomberg Business said that, though Tsipras ceded ground, “he insists long-term debt needs to be made more manageable to allow Greece to recover from a crisis that has erased a quarter of its economy.”

It also pointed out that Tsipras has a growing support base that includes the US, European Union (EU) President Donald Tusk and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

And Bloomberg added that the Greek government said it would use the loan from the European Stability Mechanism to cover debt repayments between 2015 and 2018, mostly to the IMF and the European Central Bank. It will then be left with debt owed only to EU institutions.