Greece, creditors converge in talks but still room to cover: minister

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece and its international creditors have converged on key points on a cash-for-reforms deal but talks still have some room to cover before an agreement is clinched, the country's economy minister said on Thursday.

"Right now negotiations are continuing, ... there have been big points of convergence," George Stathakis told Mega TV's On Line show. "There is still room to cover in the negotiations."

Greece's leftist-led government said on Wednesday it is starting to draft an agreement with its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund that would pave the way for aid, but European officials dismissed this as wishful thinking.

But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said there was not much progress in the debt talks and he was surprised by the upbeat tone from some Greek government officials.

Stathakis said Athens has no "plan B" despite recent threats by some ministers that the cash-strapped government may default on loan repayments to the IMF next month without aid.

"I think (reaching) a deal is a one-way street, otherwise we would be entering uncharted waters," the minister said.

Greece and its EU/IMF lenders have been locked in tortuous negotiations on a reforms agreement for four months without a breakthrough in sight. Without a deal, Athens risks default or bankruptcy in weeks.

Stathakis said there will be one complete agreement and no partial deals.

"The agreement will cover the set of measures for this year and 2016 and the way that the funding gap will be covered in combination with the debt issue," he said.

Asked how much funding Greece would need, the minister said:

"If one leaves the debt as is, there may be a need for 30 billion euros, If the debt issue is tackled, the (funding) need may be 10 billion euros."

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos and Lefteris Papadimas)