Mardas

Chinese investors bought 100 million euros worth of short-term Greek Treasury bills in an auction on Wednesday, Greece's deputy finance minister said, in a boost for the cash-strapped country.

The deputy minister, Dimitris Mardas, did not give any further details.

German Economy Minister and Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel  wasn't too impressed with a calculation of German war reparations tallied by the Greek government, calling the demand a less than tactful "stupid".

Greece's defense minister has said the country has obtained "stunning evidence" to support its massive claims for World War II reparations from Germany.

Greek Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas said on Monday his country must be paid EUR 279 B in reparations over the occupation of its territory by Nazi Germany in World War Two.

No less than ? 278.7 billion euros is the sum cited by the Greek finance ministry in calculating war reparations dating to the German occupation of Greece during WWII (April 1941-October 1944).

Alternate FinMin Dimitris Mardas cited the figure a statement to a recently established Parliamentary committee of inquiry established to examine the country's external debt.

By Kevin Buckland & Netty Ismail

The euro strengthened for a fourth day against the dollar after Greece pledged to make a payment to the International Monetary Fund on time this week.

Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas said on Friday that the government was attempting to reach a deal in negotiations with its creditors but that, if one was not reachable, other solutions could be found.

Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas states that labor issues were the main area of discussion with the Brussels group. "We said 'no' to the mass layoffs, there is no disagreement as far as regards to pensions and VAT," said Mardas on Monday said in statements to private MEGA TV.

In response to a question tabled in Parliament by Golden Dawn MP Georgios Galeos over the management of Greece’s state-run pension funds, Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas said funds would be able to manage better their cash reserves by depositing them in the Bank of Greece.

Liquidity and the 2-billion euro “black hole” in the primary surplus were tabled in the meeting between Alexis Tsipras and Yanis Varoufakis in Maximos Mansion.

“There is absolutely no problem with liquidity” stated the PM right after his meeting with the FinMin, Euclid Tsakalotos and Gabriel Sakellarides.