Tsipras ‘confident’ on debt repayment deal

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that he is confident that Greece can reach an agreement with creditors over the repayment of the country’s debts.

He said that Greece would repay its debts to the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and reach a deal with the Eurozone nations that had funded most of its bailout package.

"The deliberation with our European partners has just begun," Tsipras said. "Despite the fact that there are differences in perspective, I am absolutely confident that we will soon manage to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, both for Greece and for Europe as a whole."

The chairman of the Eurozone finance ministers' group welcomed Tsipras' comments.

"It is now up to the Greek government to determine its position on how to move forward," Jeroen Dijsselbloem said. "Further decisions will be taken jointly in the Eurogroup in the coming weeks."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she still wants Greece to remain in the Eurozone but has ruled out “fresh debt cancellation”.

"There has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece's debt," she told Hamburger Abendblatt.

Tsipras' Syriza party won last weekend's general election with a pledge to have half of Greece’s debt written off.

Greece’s debt currently stands at €315 billion - about 175% of its gross domestic product - despite some creditors writing down debts in a renegotiation in 2012. The country’s current programme of loans ends on 28 February. A final bailout of €7.2 billion has to be negotiated but the new government has already begun to roll back austerity measures.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has refused to work with the "troika”- the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund)- of global institutions overseeing Greek debt, which had agreed a €240 billion bailout with the previous Greek government.