Have negotiations between Greece and creditor institutions been put on hold?  Over in Athens officials have told us that it now looks as if they will be delayed by a few days.  Few things are ever assured in the ever-changing debt crisis engulfing Greece but of one thing officials are now certain: negotiations on a third, three-year bailout plan will not begin, as planned, today. Mission chiefs representing the EU, ECB and IMF were due to fly into Athens this morning and hit the ground running.  One well-placed finance ministry official says:  “They haven’t arrived yet. There’s been a delay. We don’t know when talks will start but what we do know is that they will definitely start.”  Insiders say it is almost sure negotiations will now begin on Monday partly because of ongoing behind-the-scenes wrangling over where, exactly, the talks will take place.  The top-level auditors want access to ministries and files – just as they had had before the radical left Syriza assumed power in January.  “A lot of trust has been lost and the big issue is who they are going to see, what ministries they are going to be let into, what files are going to be made available,” said Anna Asimakopoulou, a shadow finance minister with the main opposition New Democracy party.  “That of course will be a big defeat for the government given that negotiations have moved to Brussels for the past six months but that is what they want, due diligence at a deeper level. Holding talks in a hotel is just not practical.”  Government officials confirmed that talks had also been delayed because of the IMF’s unexpected demand that Greece formally request its participation in a new bailout programme.  The Washington-based body’s top spokesman, Gerry Rice, took many by surprise late Thursday with the announcement that the IMF could only consider a third bailout for the debt-stricken country if Athens submitted a formal application.  There remains some uncertainty over whether the fund will extend its current financing program with Greece –which ends in March 2016 – or do away with that and move ahead with a new package. “The IMF wanted a formal request and that is what we have been working on,” the finance ministry official said.  “I don’t know if it is in the post, so to speak, but if it isn’t already, it is going to be very, very soon.”
All the latest financial news, as Athens prepares to welcome the Troika back and mining giants cut thousands of jobs as prices slide again