Markets

German, Greek finance ministers divided at first meeting

/ AP

BERLIN - Germany's finance minister says he and his Greek counterpart have "agreed to disagree" at their first meeting as Athens seeks a compromise deal with bailout creditors.

Wolfgang Schaeuble met Greece's Yanis Varoufakis on Thursday, a day after the European Central Bank tightened the screws on the country's banking system -- prompting jittery investors to dump Greek shares.

Schaeuble said a debt writedown for Greece is "not of current significance." He renewed offers to help Greece strengthen its tax system and said some things the new government have announced go in the right direction - -such as getting the rich to pay tax and combating corruption.

But he said that "some of the measures that have been announced ... don't necessarily go in the right direction."

First published on February 5, 2015 / 7:58 AM EST

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