European Debt Inspectors to Return to Greece

Posted September 20th, 2011 at 6:10 pm (UTC-5)
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Officials from the European Union and International Monetary Fund will be back in Athens next month to resume inspections of the Greek economy and whether it should get another loan payment.

EU, IMF, and European Central Bank officials held a second telephone conference call with Greek leaders Tuesday. An EU statement says good progress was made along with an agreement for inspectors to return to Greece to continue their review of economic reforms.

It is up to the inspectors to determine if Greece is meeting lenders' demands for spending cuts and a smaller government and whether it can receive the next installment of a $159-billion economic bailout.

Without the payment, Greece will run out of money next month and default on its financial obligations. That could have devastating consequences across the European Union and the United States.

Greece is deep in debt and has already slashed government spending, laid off thousands of civil servants, and imposed new taxes to close its budget deficit.