Greece FM holds emergency call with creditors

The meeting was held hours after pledging to speed up reforms and civil-service staff cuts. Global markets were skeptical about his promises and stocks fell around the world.Greeces European eurozone partners and international creditors were stepping up the pressure at the start of a crucial week in Europes nearly two-year debt crisis. Out of patience with the Socialist governments delays on promised reforms, creditors were threatening to cut the countrys cash lifeline, which would force Greece to go bankrupt in less than a month.Despite pledges by Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, fears that Athens will default on its mountain of debt ruled the day. Stocks were hammered in the United States and Asia as well as Europe.Athens is struggling with a deepening recession that is eating away at the impact of its austerity measures while also causing unemployment to spike and public anger to grow.International debt inspectors started the phone conference with Venizelos late Monday, and the government said the call could last until early Tuesday, be continued later that day or even later.We expect the Greek authorities to explain, in particular, how they intend to close the fiscal gaps in 2011 and 2012 and how they plan to proceed with the structural reforms and privatizations, said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, a spokesman for the European Commission.When it became obvious earlier this month that there was a more than €2 billion ($2.75 billion) shortfall in the 2011 budget, Greeces creditors threatened to withhold the sixth installment of a €110 billion ($150 billion) rescue package agreed upon in May 2010.Without that installment, worth €8 billion ($11 billion), Greece faces defaulting on its debts by mid-October.A review by officials from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, collectively known as the troika, was suspended earlier this month amid talk of missed targets.Ahead of the discussions, Venizelos said the government still seeks to generate €3 billion ($4.1 billion) more revenue next year than it spends, before counting the cost of interest on existing debts.Greeces economy is expected to contract about 5.5 percent this year and a further 2.5 percent in 2012, according to new government and IMF estimates.