Greece, lenders agree on key elements of reforms, Eurogroup chief says

Greece and its eurozone creditors agreed on key elements of reforms needed to unlock new loans, with a total of 2 percent of gross domestic product of measures to be implemented in 2019 and 2020, the head of eurozone finance ministers said on Friday.

"We have an agreement on the overarching elements of policy, in terms of size, timings and sequencing of reforms, and on that basis further work will continue in the coming days," Jeroen Dijsselbloem told a news conference after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Malta.

Dijsselbloem said that progress made would allow a mission of negotiators to return to Greece "as soon as possible," although no date has been fixed yet.

The return of the mission would mean that negotiators are close to reach a technical deal, called a staff level agreement, that would then need a political backing by ministers. Once...