Greece has formally requested a six-month extension to its euro zone loan agreement, offering major concessions as it raced to avoid running out of cash within weeks and overcome resistance from sceptical partners led by Germany.
With its EU/IMF bailout programme due to expire in little more than a week, the government of leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras urgently needs to secure a financial lifeline to keep the country afloat beyond late March.
Euro zone finance ministers will meet on Friday afternoon in Brussels to consider the request, the chairman of their Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said.
That raised hopes of a deal to avert possible bankruptcy and a Greek exit from the 19-nation currency area.
A government official said Athens had asked for an extension to its assistance agreement with the euro zone. However, he insisted the government was proposing different terms from its current bailout obligations.
Greece had committed to maintain fiscal balance during the interim period, take immediate reforms to fight tax evasion and corruption, and measures to deal with what Athens calls its "humanitarian crisis" and kick-start economic growth, he said.
Greece has pledged to meet its financial obligations to all creditors, recognise the existing EU/IMF programme as the legally binding framework and refrain from unilateral action that would undermine the fiscal targets.
Crucially, it accepted the extension would be monitored by the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, a climbdown by Mr Tsipras who had vowed to end cooperation with "troika" inspectors accused of inflicting deep economic and social damage on Greece.
The six-month interim period would be used to negotiate a long-term deal for recovery and growth incorporating further debt relief measures promised by the Eurogroup in 2012.
Euro zone partners have so far said Athens must comply with the terms of the current bailout, which require it to run a 3 per cent primary budget surplus this year, before debt service payments.
The wording chosen could help to satisfy at least some of the concerns that have held up agreement over the past two weeks, allowing Athens to avoid saying it is extending the current programme that it opposes while creditors can avoid accepting a "loan agreement" without strings attached.
Crucial details remain to be clarified on the fiscal targets, labour market reforms, privatisations and other measures due to be implemented under the existing programme.
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