ATHENS: Cash-strapped Greece is seeking a bridge loan from its foreign lenders to cover its financing needs through August, a finance ministry source said on Tuesday.
Athens is set to run out of money within weeks if it fails to access further funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, but the next tranche of its bailout funds is not expected to be released until September.
Greece's European partners - who want to see progress on the reform front before doling out that aid - have promised to cover the country's needs through August when a 3.3 billion euro bond falls due, but have yet to specify how that will be done.
"We are fighting to secure the bridge loan by September," a finance ministry official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, has sought to reassure investors and Greece itself and said last week that a solution to Greece's financing situation would be found in August.
A press report over the weekend suggested the European Central Bank could consider allowing Greece to delay the bond payment in August, but EU officials have said discussions on the funding needs can only start after a lenders' mission to Athens.
Inspectors from the so-called troika of lenders are due to return to Athens on July 24, and Greece's new conservative-led government has been readying proposals for spending cuts worth 11.7 billion euros in 2013 and 2014 required under the terms of its latest bailout package.
The finance ministry official acknowledged that pushing through the cuts as Greece muddles through its fifth year of recession would not be easy, but that the government was determined to come up with the austerity measures.
"It's difficult, but we will make it," the official said.
indiatimes.com
Athens is set to run out of money within weeks if it fails to access further funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, but the next tranche of its bailout funds is not expected to be released until September.
Greece's European partners - who want to see progress on the reform front before doling out that aid - have promised to cover the country's needs through August when a 3.3 billion euro bond falls due, but have yet to specify how that will be done.
"We are fighting to secure the bridge loan by September," a finance ministry official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, has sought to reassure investors and Greece itself and said last week that a solution to Greece's financing situation would be found in August.
A press report over the weekend suggested the European Central Bank could consider allowing Greece to delay the bond payment in August, but EU officials have said discussions on the funding needs can only start after a lenders' mission to Athens.
Inspectors from the so-called troika of lenders are due to return to Athens on July 24, and Greece's new conservative-led government has been readying proposals for spending cuts worth 11.7 billion euros in 2013 and 2014 required under the terms of its latest bailout package.
The finance ministry official acknowledged that pushing through the cuts as Greece muddles through its fifth year of recession would not be easy, but that the government was determined to come up with the austerity measures.
"It's difficult, but we will make it," the official said.
indiatimes.com
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