Greece Completes All Requirements for New Tranche – Eurogroup Head

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Greece has completed all the measures needed to receive a new tranche of bailout from its international creditors, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters on Thursday.

"They seem to have done all the work on the prior actions, so I think there are four very small issued that will be dealt with later," Dijsselbloem said ahead of the Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg, when asked whether Greece has completed all the necessary requirements.

He noted that the decision on the transfer of funds to Greece will have to be made by the Board of Directors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The Eurogroup head said that the decision would be made "later this week." ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling swiftly added that it would be made on Friday.

Earlier this week, Regling said that the financial tranche for Greece could be approved at the Eurogroup meeting on Thursday.

Greece's international creditors, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) and some Eurozone nations, signed an agreement with Athens in 2015, approving a third bailout package in exchange for highly unpopular austerity reforms such as pension cuts and tax hikes as well as other changes to the Greek legislation.

The new tranche of financial aid amounts to 10.3 billion euros ($11.7 billion). Its first part worth 7.5 billion euros is set to be disbursed in late June.