ATHENS: Greece may need a third extension of its bailout to get funds remaining in the program, euro zone officials told a representative of the Greek government in a conference call.
Greece’s international bailout, under which it received almost 240 billion euros in loans, expires at the end of June following an extension agreed by EU creditors in late February. But before it does, Athens can still get some 3.6 billion euros from the euro zone and the same amount from the International Monetary Fund if it implements agreed reforms.
But negotiations on the Greek reforms have been dragging on since end-January and talks between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, penciled in for Friday, have been canceled as Greece did not send in promised proposals to bridge negotiation gaps.
In the call, euro zone deputy finance ministers said the situation was getting serious: “Concerns were expressed a third extension of the current program could be needed,” a euro zone official familiar with the call said.
