ATHENS/BRUSSELS — Greece stepped up diplomacy with eurozone partners on Tuesday to try to avert a potentially catastrophic funding crunch this month, when it must make a big debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as cash reserves dry up.Ministers were travelling to Frankfurt, Brussels and Paris to plead for a loosening of the financial stranglehold on Athens after leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke by telephone to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s pre-eminent leader."They discussed the course of the negotiations in Brussels and exchanged views on the issues of Greece’s deal with its lenders," a Greek government official said of the call on Monday night, without elaborating.Intensive talks continued with the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank (ECB) on a cash-for-reform deal but there was no sign of a breakthrough on key differences over pensions, labour reform and the minimum wage.In a goodwill gesture, a senior privatisation official...
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