June 3, 2011
Greece has agreed to speed its sale of state-owned property and cut billions of dollars more from its budget to satisfy requirements for promised loans from the International Monetary Fund and other European countries.
The additional steps in a year-old economic overhaul come as the government in Athens copes with a public hit hard by recession and previous government cuts while trying to satisfy demands by the IMF and European officials to meet the budget targets established last year in return for a $160 billion financial bailout.
That program has slipped behind schedule, and Greece needs perhaps $40 billion or more in additional loans to pay its bills and avoid defaulting on payments to its bondholders. The IMF and European authorities are hoping to avoid a Greek default for fear of the shock it would deliver to world financial markets.
In separate statements, Greek, IMF and European officials said that after initial talks they had agreed on the additional steps Greece would take to meet the budget and economic targets established last year.
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