BELGIUM: Eurogroup's head Jeroen Dijsselbloem says inspectors representing Greece's international backers will return to review the country's reform progress

Record ID: 861214

  • Title: BELGIUM: Eurogroup's head Jeroen Dijsselbloem says inspectors representing Greece's international backers will return to review the country's reform progress
  • Date: 9th December 2013
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (DECEMBER 9, 2013) (REUTERS) NIGHT SHOT OF EU FLAG AND LITHUANIAN PRESIDENCY BANNER ON EU COUNCIL BUILDING FACADE
  • Embargoed: 24th December 2013 12:00
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  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: International Relations,Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6EL1KYEGI9ZZZH32FRCFPID8U
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  • Story Text: Inspectors representing Greece's international backers will return to review the country's reform progress on Tuesday (December 10), the head of the euro zone finance ministers said on Monday.
    "On the current review, the Troika institutions informed us that they will return to Athens tomorrow to continue work with the Greek authorities to sort out as many points as possible to be legislated by year-end, but realistically is going to be very very hard if not impossible to finalise this review before this year's end so the final work will have to be done on that in January," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the gatherings of euro zone ministers, told reporters.
    International inspectors visit Athens regularly to check its progress before payments of aid are made. They represent the so-called troika of the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.
    Euro zone countries also agreed to pay Cyprus another instalment of financial aid as the country progresses with its economic reforms.
    "We were also glad to hear that all prior actions have been completed and there is a firm commitment to strengthen the government's privatisation strategy, which was one of the last outstanding issues. The completion of the review will unlock a disbursement of 100 million euros from the ESM and 86 million from the IMF for Cyprus."
    The European Stability Mechanism, the euro zone's rescue fund, is set to pay 100 million euros ($137 million) to Cyprus by the end of the year while the International Monetary Fund is due to sign off on a further 86 million euros in December.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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