All EU eyes firmly on Greece

Greece remains the focal point for European markets on Wednesday, June 3rd, as both sides have now delivered proposals ahead of Friday’s scheduled repayment.

Meanwhile, a Greek government spokesman warned that Greece won’t pay the International Monetary Fund (IMF) unless a deal is close to being brokered. Greece is due to repay the IMF €305 million on Friday.

In addition, the Greek debt crisis is being blamed for slowing growth in Europe. Markit’s eurozone composite output index in May declined to 53.6 from 53.9 in April. A sign that confidence was sapped by deadlocks in negotiations, according to experts.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said that the “heightened uncertainty” is acting as a “brake on growth”. He added that high unemployment continues to limit spending on goods and services, which led to three-month lows in growth of output and new orders.

A deal is unlikely to be reached today, but optimism appears to be building that there might finally be a breakthrough. Markets now await news of how the respective proposals have been received by Greece and its European creditors.