Greece formally asks for first loans from EU

The Greek government is formally asking on Tuesday the first sum of financial aid to tackle the country's debt crisis from the European Commission and the European Central Bank, according to Greek Finance Ministry sources.

Greece needs to pay 19 billion euros (approximately 24.1 billion U.S. dollars) to cover old debt payments by May 19 and is to receive first injection of new loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the first place possibly on Wednesday, according to Greek officials who asked not to be named.

The Greek government has secured a 110 billion euro support from the newly-created EU-IMF safety net over the next three years and is expected in May to collect about 20 billion euros from the mechanism, around 14.5 billion euros from fellow European partners and 5.5 billion euros from the IMF.

Based on Tuesday's facts, Greek officials estimate that the second sum of funds will be requested in August and the last one for this year in autumn.

Source:Xinhua