Eurozone and IMF ready to approve tranches of 11.9 bln

 Decision hinges on Greek Parliament’s voting on the multi-bill

The eurozone and the International Monetary Fund will approve the disbursement of bailout tranches to Greece adding up to 11.9 billion euros if the Greek Parliament votes for the draft law that includes all the measures agreed with the country’s creditors. Representatives of the IMF and the European Commission said they are ready to approve the installments once the multi-bill is passed in an effort to bolster the government’s arguments supporting the latter.

Sources say that the eurozone is ready to approve a tranche of 8.3 billion euros and the IMF 3.6 billion euros. A Finance Ministry official said most of the eurozone loans will be disbursedv as the sole prior action required is the voting of the multi-bill. These funds are estimated at about 6 billion euros and combined with the one-off disbursement from the IMF will cover the country’s obligations amounting to 9 billion euros at end-May.

As for the funds from the eurozone that will not yet be disbursed but only approved, the same sources in Brussels noted that they will be paid out in two parts after May. Their release will depend on the implementation of prior actions.

A senior European official said on Thursday in Brussels that the informal Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers scheduled to take place on Tuesday in Athens will officially approve the program and the disbursement of the bulk of the bailout tranche. “All that is left now is for the Greek Parliament to vote for the draft law so that we can formally approve the disbursement,” he stated.

IMF spokesman William Murray said on Thursday that owing to the delay to the fifth assessment, the tranches to Greece will be restructured. “I...