The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has
approved a 2.2-billion euro ($2.9 billion) instalment of international financial aid to keep the Greek economy afloat, the global financial organisation said.
Standard & Poor's puts EU nations on downgrade watch The Greek authorities earlier said they needed to receive cash before Christmas in order to avoid a looming default. On November 30 finance ministers from 17 eurozone countries (Eurogroup) agreed at a meeting to provide Greece with an 8 billion euro ($10.7 billion) bailout loan instalment.
"The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today (Monday) completed the fifth review of Greece's economic performance under a program supported by a three-year Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Greece," IMF said in a statement posted on its website.
FULL COVERAGE EURO CRISIS The completion of the review enables the immediate disbursement of an amount equivalent to about 2.2 billion euro.
The instalment would bring total disbursements from IMF under the SBA to about 20.3 billion euro ($27 billion).
The current instalment is sixth under a 110-billion euro ($150 billion) bailout package from Eurozone nations and the International Monetary Fund, approved in May 2010.
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EURO CRISIS At the end of October, eurozone leaders clinched a deal with private banks and insurers to write off 50 percent of Greece's debt, which currently stands at over 360 billion euros or 160 per cent of the country's GDP, in exchange for a new austerity program, which Greece must implement in the next few years to get financial aid and prevent a default.
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