Greece has requested a new two-year bailout program from its European partners as the country approached a default hours away.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras asked for the aid from the European Stability Mechanism, according to the Prime Minister's Office.
The request is to cover all of Greece's financial needs for the
next two years, along with a debt-restructuring plan, Bloomberg reports.
It wouldn’t include the International Monetary Fund.
In a statement from Alexis Tsipras’s office, cited by Reuters, Greece says it is still at the negotiating table, and seeking “a viable solution, under the end, aimed at staying in the euro.”
No word has been said on how large this program would be.
This would not be an extension of the current bailout (which was made under the EFSF and expires at midnight) but a whole new program which means a discussion of debt relief would be an option.
The Greek government said, announcing the news:
“From the first moment, we made clear that the decision to hold a referendum is not the end but the continuation of negotiations for better terms for the Greek people."
"The Greek government will until the end seek a viable agreement within the euro.”
In the markets, EUR/USD was last at 1.1200 losing 0.30%.
Top euro zone stocks were higher 0.2 percent at 1148 GMT after Greece's finance minister said Athens would not repay the International Monetary Fund debts due on Tuesday but added he hoped for a deal with international creditors, says Reuters.
The MSCI All-Country World equity index was flat.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.1 percent but stayed near a five-month low hit on Monday. Japan's stock index rose 0.6 percent.
Wall Street opened higher recovering from Monday's losses.
At 9:54 a.m. EDT (1354 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 76.34 points, or 0.43 percent, at 17,672.69, the S&P 500 was up 10.86 points, or 0.53 percent, at 2,068.5.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 31.45 points, or 0.63 percent, at 4,989.92.
