IANS | 03 Jul, 2015
Italian President Sergio Mattarella said on Thursday he
hoped a "balanced" deal could be found allowing Greece to solve its
economic crisis without leaving the single European currency or the European
Union.
"We hope that Greece might quickly find a balanced agreement for resuming
a path of stability and growth within the fold of the European Union, to which
Athens belongs," Matarella said.
Higher interest rates could cost Italy an extra 11 billion euros (around 12.2
billion euros) to service its debt -- the most in the eurozone -- should Greece
leave the eurozone, ratings agency Standard & Poor's forecast on Thursday.
A Grexit could cost the eurozone as a whole an additional 30 billion euros in
2015-2016, Standard & Poor's said.
Greece's leftwing Syriza government, elected on an anti-austerity platform, has
been in deadlock with its creditors for months over the terms of a third
bailout of the debt-laden country.
On Sunday, Greek voters are being invited to say yes or no to the terms of a
third bailout in a referendum.
The previous eurozone bailout expired on Tuesday denying Greece access to
billions of euros in funds, and Athens missed a $1.7-billion repayment to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The country's banks have been closed to all but pensioners for the past four
days and the country's media are reporting growing pressure on businesses.