German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Greece's Alexis Tsiprasit's time to back up his good intentions with the policy actionrequired to release aid.

During two hours of talks in Brussels that began late onWednesday and also included French President Francois Hollande,Tsipras said his government will work with “higher intensity” tofind a deal, a German government spokesman said in an e- mailedstatement. The discussions took place in a “constructiveatmosphere,” the spokesman said.

“The willingness is there to cooperate with the threeinstitutions, it's now a matter of acting on that,” Merkel toldreporters on Thursday. “There was absolute unity that Greece willcontinue to work emphatically and resolutely with the threeinstitutions in the coming days to clear up all open questions asfar as possible.”

With the country's banking system on the brink and Tsipras'srearguard action running out of road, Greece's creditors areleaning on the prime minister to deliver a package of economicreforms and budget fixes to get the country's finances on track.Tsipras has until the end of the month to release a payment of asmuch as 7.2 billion euros ($8.2 billion) from the country's rescuepackage before the agreement expires.

Greek stocks, which have lost 23 percent since Tsipras began toclose in on government in December, jumped as much as 5.8 percentin Athens on Thursday, the biggest gain since February.

Tsipras will meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Thursday where both men are attendinga European Union summit with Latin American countries, a Greekgovernment official said. The encounter will be a chance for thetwo leaders to build bridges after exchanging barbs over the pastweek.

“I hope this brings about the necessary progress,” Merkel said.“Every day counts.”

Greece wants a nine-month extension to the bailout to allow moretime to work out its reform program, an official from theadministration in Athens said Wednesday. It's difficult for Tsiprasto concede more ground to the country's creditors, the officialadded.

Actually, most Greeks may be ready for Tsipras to bow to thecreditors' demands, according to a Marc poll of 1,001 peopleconducted this week for Alpha TV. In the survey, 50.2 percent ofrespondents said Greece should accept the creditors' plan comparedwith 37.4 percent who said the prime minister should standfirm.

Syriza leads the main opposition party, New Democracy, by 34percent to 20 percent and 77 percent said they wanted Greece tostay in the euro. The pollster gave no margin of error.

ECB Action

The European Central Bank already handed Greece a boost,authorizing the biggest increase in emergency funding for thecountry's banking system in almost four months during ateleconference on Wednesday.

The Governing Council increased the limit on Emergency LiquidityAssistance by 2.3 billion euros ($2.6 billion) to 83 billion eurosto replace deposit outflows. Before the ECB stepped in, banks' cashreserves were down to about 700 million euros, a person familiarwith the data said.

“Policy makers are losing control of the situation on theground,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz SE anda Bloomberg View columnist, said in a television interview. “Evenif you come up with another band aid, this is not a situationthat's going to be solved any time soon.”

Bloomberg News

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.