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Greece bailout: Eurozone deal unlocks €10.3bn | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Greece has agreed a deal to unlock a further 10.3bn euros ($11.5bn; £7.8bn) in loans from its international creditors, after talks in Brussels. | |
Eurozone finance ministers also agreed to potentially offer Greece debt relief - a concession that was necessary to keep IMF on board. | |
The 19 ministers said the deal had been made possible by Greece's economic reforms and called it a breakthrough. | |
Greece needed this tranche of cash to meet debt repayments due in July. | |
Offering debt relief to Greece had been a key demand from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has been at odds with the Eurogroup (the 19 eurozone finance ministers) for months over the issue. | |
Germany in particular has been opposed to the idea of reducing debt - a so-called "haircut". | |
Greece's debt jargon explained | |
Is Germany dragging down the eurozone? | |
How bad are things for the people of Greece? | |
How has austerity worked out for eurozone countries? | |
"We achieved a major breakthrough on Greece which enables us to enter a new phase in the Greek financial assistance programme," Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters early on Wednesday. | "We achieved a major breakthrough on Greece which enables us to enter a new phase in the Greek financial assistance programme," Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters early on Wednesday. |
He said a package of debt measures would be "phased in progressively". | |
This review was the first under Greece's third eurozone bailout, secured in August last year, after which Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a snap election. | |
The move came two days after the Greek parliament approved another round of spending cuts and tax increases demanded by its international creditors. | |
The bill also created a state privatisation fund requested by eurozone finance ministers. | The bill also created a state privatisation fund requested by eurozone finance ministers. |
Opponents of the measures demonstrated outside parliament on Sunday. | Opponents of the measures demonstrated outside parliament on Sunday. |
The Greek government, led by the leftist Syriza coalition, agreed to a third bailout worth €86bn (£67bn; $96bn) last year. | |
The Washington-based IMF will still have to give final approval at board level to the fund's continued participation in the Greek bailout. | |
The organisation says Greek public debt is unsustainable at current levels of about 180% of Greece's gross domestic product. | |
Spokesman Poul M Thomsen said: "We welcome that it is recognised that Greece needs debt relief to make that debt sustainable and it can't do it on its own." |