Greece on Tuesday will ask the European Union and International Monetary Fund for a first tranche of debt aid worth 20 billion euros (26 billion dollars), a finance ministry source told AFP.
A first instalment of the emergency loan package amounting to 14.5 billion euros from the EU and 5.5 billion euros from the IMF “should be available, possibly within the day,” the ministry source said.
The ministry will send a letter later Tuesday to the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund formally requesting the activation of the bailout, the source added.
Debt-hit Athens was recently extended a safety net worth 110 billion euros (140 billion dollars) in exchange for draconian austerity cuts that have angered unions and sparked three general strikes and street protests.
Greece needs nine billion euros by May 19 to meet debt repayments and its access to debt markets has effectively been cut off for weeks because of forbiddingly high rates demanded by buyers of Greek government bonds.
The austerity measures planned by the government would reduce a public deficit that reached some 14 percent of gross domestic product last year to below the EU-mandated three percent limit by 2014.
