Greece agrees to more spending cuts and to sell off €50bn of state assets

GREECE has agreed to make further spending cuts, raise more revenue and sell off €50 billion worth of state assets with the aid of European Union and International Monetary Fund technical experts and through an independent privatisation agency.

The agreement was reached after more than a month of discussions with the EU, IMF and European Central Bank “troika” in Athens, where they examined how much progress Greece was making on its programme to get its finances back in order.

Having missed several deadlines, the IMF warned it could not contribute its one-third share to the next tranche of €12bn due to be paid out to Greece this month as the fifth installment in its €110bn rescue package. IMF rules state it can only lend to countries that will not default in the next 12 months.