From the White House, German Chancellor Angela Merkel then made her way to the World Bank... where she dealt with the economic questions facing the European bloc.
For more on that, we join Eunice Kim, at the NewsCenter, where she′s following developments for us.
So Eunice... Chancellor Merkel has been the staunchest champion of austerity policies.. and with a defiant anti-austerity Greek prime minister at the helm in Athens... she has her work cut out for her?
EUNICE: Right. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of course on Sunday had publicly denounced EU′s bailout program and refused to apply for an extension... as had been urged by European leaders.
And that sparked a plunge in Greek financial markets on Monday... banking stocks nosediving by almost 10 percent, nearly reaching record-lows... and the main index also fell to near-record-lows since the country′s debt restructuring in 2012.
Meanwhile... Chancellor Angela Merkel... held meetings with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim... ahead of a G-7 summit her country will host in June.
Earlier, at the White House... Merkel had said she would wait on Athens to make a sustainable proposal for debt remittance and reforms... before making the next move.
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Tsipras said he had not given up hope that a compromise could be reached with his European counterparts.
"I am confident there will be a deal with our partners on the basis of our plan. We haven′t yet heard any specific and viable alternative proposal. I don′t believe there is any serious reason for a deal not to exist between Greece and its partners - only political reasons."
Greek officials are expected to meet with its creditors in Brussels tomorrow... in an emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers.
According to a source cited by the New York Times, they′ll bring with them a detailed compromise plan... that keeps about 70% of the current bailout terms.
If a deal is not reached by the end of the month... renegotiation or not... it could significantly raise the possibility of a "Grexit"... or a Greek exit out of the eurozone.
