Greece bailout deal stalls as talks bog down

The latest disagreement weighed on the Athens Stock Exchange, which earlier closed down 1.8 percent after big gains the previous two days. Government bond yields in Greece, Spain and Portugal rose, an indication of investor concern.

Elected on an anti-bailout platform in January, Tsipras’ left-wing Syriza party had promised to scrap all austerity measures and demand forgiveness on a chunk of the country’s bailout debt. Tsipras has had to backtrack partly on those pledges and now could have trouble persuading party lawmakers to back a new deal, which would have to be approved by Monday night.

Athens was forced into concessions by a punishing debt repayment schedule and an economy hammered by uncertainty: A return to mild recession, ratings downgrades and dramatic outflow of bank deposits that threatened to crash the country’s financial system.

Greek Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis said that so far, all sides had made concessions.

He said Greece had convinced creditors to lower their demands for a primary surplus — the surplus when not counting interest payments on debt. As a result, that should help the Greek economy grow between 1 percent and 1.5 percent this year.

Meanwhile, Greece’s banks remained under pressure as Greeks continued to withdraw money amid concerns over the country’s financial future.

The European Central Bank had to increase again on Wednesday the amount of emergency credit that Greek banks can draw. The move is meant to help the banks cope with the outflows of cash.

The ECB has increased its support to Greek banks every working day since Friday, a sign of how big a strain the uncertainty is having on the financial system.