RIGA, Latvia (AP) – When is a deadline not really a deadline and a deal not really a deal?
When it’s to do with Greece’s bailout, apparently.
The country had an end-of-April date to agree to more reforms in exchange for rescue money its creditors had set aside. But as the country prepares to confront its European creditors on Friday at a meeting in the Latvian capital of Riga, all sides say an agreement is a long way off.
The lack of a plan that might protect Greece from defaulting and even falling out of the euro is darkening the clouds of uncertainty over the country, destabilizing its banks and threatening a long dreamed-of economic recovery.
Global financial officials gathered in Washington D.C. last week said Greece remains one of the biggest risks to the world economy even though the 19-country eurozone has done a lot over the past five years to insulate itself.