ATHENS/BRUSSELS: Greece and its euro zone creditors reached a preliminary deal on Saturday on reforms Athens needs to roll out under its bailout program, a move that could pave the way for the country to leave the aid plan in August.
The agreement on a range of often politically sensitive measures — covering fiscal issues, energy and labor market reforms, bad loans and privatizations — could open up fresh loans and push Greece further along the path toward a return to full market financing.
“The institutions’ visit is completed, we closed the staff level agreement,” Greece’s Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told reporters on Saturday.
“The European institutions have reached a staff level agreement with the Greek authorities on the policy package supporting the ESM (European Stability Programme) program,” an EU statement said later on Saturday.
The agreement between Greek officials and EU and IMF representatives on the country’s compliance with reforms and future commitments must be approved by euro zone finance ministers, scheduled to meet on December 4.
Under the deal, Athens will need to implement a broad set of reforms as part of the so-called third review of its bailout program.
Once concluded, the review is expected to release about €5 billion in loans from the current €86 billion bailout program, its third since 2010. EU officials said this could be done before the end of January, if all proceeded smoothly.
At least another review of agreed reforms will be necessary before the end of the program in August.
Athens and its lenders had been exchanging drafts on agreed and proposed reforms for days. After seven years of austerity and rescue loans amounting to about €270 billion, Greece hopes its third bailout will be its last.
The government has been keen to swiftly conclude the review, which started in October, to begin talks on debt relief and the terms of the country’s exit from the bailout program.
“The speed with which this deal was reached is a signal that Greece is fully committed to conclude the program,” an EU official said.
The IMF’s full participation to the bailout program is still subject to the IMF assessment of the agreed reforms.
On Friday Greece’s energy minister finalized a deal with creditors on the coal-fired plants the country will sell to comply with an EU court ruling.
Greece, lenders reach deal on reforms under bailout review
Greece, lenders reach deal on reforms under bailout review
Closing Bell: Saudi main index closes in red at 11,183
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index dipped on Monday, losing 44.79 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 11,183.85.
The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR4.05 billion ($1.08 billion), as 69 of the listed stocks advanced, while 191 retreated.
The MSCI Tadawul Index decreased, down 6.63 points or 0.44 percent, to close at 1,504.73.
The Kingdom’s parallel market Nomu lost 328.20 points, or 1.36 percent, to close at 23,764.92. This comes as 22 of the listed stocks advanced, while 49 retreated.
The best-performing stock was Maharah Human Resources Co., with its share price surging by 7.26 percent to SR6.50.
Other top performers included Arabian Cement Co., which saw its share price rise by 6.27 percent to SR22.71, and Saudi Research and Media Group, which saw a 4.3 percent increase to SR104.30.
On the downside, the worst performer of the day was Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co., whose share price fell by 8.01 percent to SR207.80.
Jahez International Co. for Information System Technology and Al-Rajhi Co. for Cooperative Insurance also saw declines, with their shares dropping by 5.61 percent and 4.46 percent to SR12.79 and SR75, respectively.
On the announcement front, Etihad Etisalat Co. announced its financial results for 2025 with a 7.9 percent year-on-year growth in its revenues, to reach SR19.6 billion.
In a Tadawul statement, Mobily said that this growth is attributed to “the expansion of all revenue streams, with a healthy growth in the overall subscriber base.”
Mobily delivered an 11.6 percent increase in net profit, reaching SR3.4 billion in 2025 compared to SR3.1 billion in 2024.
The company’s share price reached SR67.85, marking a 0.37 percent increase on the main market.
