For creditors, it's lower repayment and a lower interest rate. For Greece itself, it's cutting jobs, spending and pensions. And for the holders of Greece's next bailout purse strings, it's resisting pressure by Greece to reduce its strenuous insistence on so much austerity.
That tough situation surrounds Greece on all sides as negotiations continue with its debt holders and its rescuers. Reuters reported Friday that the European Union and International Monetary Fund are pressuring Greece to implement still more austerity measures that include replacing only one out of every five civil servants who depart the workforce and making additional cuts in defense and health care spending.
Both bodies want to see these measures enacted before they decide to open their coffers for the troubled country's next bailout. Greek politicians, however, are hesitant to push through such draconian measures prior to elections that could see irate citizens vote them from office.
Greece is not the only one in the hot seat, however. Bloomberg reported that Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, is keeping the heat on Greece's creditors to make further concessions on how much they will accept in repayment for the sovereign debt they hold. Private creditors have been holding out for a higher interest rate on new bonds to be swapped for old, but Lagarde and others say that their current offer means Greece's debt will continue to be unsustainable even after cuts in repayment are made.
