Athens To Receive 1 Billion Euro Tranche

Greek Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis is attending his second Eurogroup meeting in Brussels today. The Eurogroup is scheduled to discuss the progress of the Greek economic program. The go-ahead for the release of the 1 billion euro tranche of economic aid to Greece. Last Friday, the Euroworking group gave the green light for the release of the first tranche of Greece's loan, as the six prior actions linked to this tranche were completed.

Among the preconditions of the already received previous tranche which have not yet been fulfilled are 11,500 public employees layoffs, the bill for the open markets, steps against corruption in public administration, steps towards collection of debt to the state and the decrease of pharmacists profits.

Deputy Director of the IMF’s European Department, Poul Thomsen, and economist for the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, Declan Costello, are expected to talk at the meeting. They will continue to monitor the release of the next 1 billion euro tranche and 1.8 billion euros from Greek bonds from the European Central Bank.

Right after his return from Brussels, Hardouvelis will have to prepare for his first meeting with the Troika of lenders, who are coming back to Athens on July 8 for 7-10 days.