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Greece reaches $11bn deal with eurozone creditors Greece reaches $11bn deal with eurozone creditors
(35 minutes later)
Greece has won an essential batch of bailout funds from international creditors following agreement among the 19 eurozone finance ministers and can start looking forward to debt relief in the future.  Eurozone ministers have reached a “breakthrough deal” to ease Greece’s debt burden and extend further bailout loans on Wednesday.
After the ministers approved Greece's recent reform efforts, they decided early Wednesday to disburse €10.3 billion ($11.5 billion) in funds to see Athens through the next months.  Greece’s creditors gave a green light allowing the release of €10.3 billion ($11.5bn; £7.8bn) in new loans to ease the country’s €321 billion (£245 billion) of debt, after an 11 hours meeting between 19 eurozone ministers in Brussels. 
The first disbursement of €7.5 billion ($8.4 billion) could already begin by the middle of next month with other disbursements coming after the summer, pending positive feedback from European institutions.  The bailout cash will be released in tranches, with over €7.5 billion ($8.4bn) to be allocated in June, and another payment expected sometime in the fall.
“We now have global agreement which opens the way for a significant disbursement of much needed funding for Greece and important measures on debt relief,” which will be progressively phased in, said EU Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.  “We now have global agreement which opens the way for a significant disbursement of much needed funding for Greece and important measures on debt relief,” which will be progressively phased in, said EU Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.
The breakthrough came after 11 hours of tortuous talks instead of the easy approval which had originally been seen. But considering the bad blood between Athens and its creditors over the past years, Wednesday's deal was seen as a major step forward.  "This is stretching what I thought would have been possible not so long ago."
“This opens the way for a return of confidence that is so essential for lasting economic recovery in Greece, which is our common purpose,” said Moscovici.  The International Monetary Fund, which previously argued that Greece’s programme didn’t offer a path to financial sustainability, has stood down from its hard-line stance.
EU President Donald Tusk, who had been vital in staving off Greek bankruptcy last year, also looked at the future. He called the deal in a Twitter message “a Strong message of stability for Greece, Europe and the global economy.”  “We on the part of the IMF have made a major concession and I might as well be open about that. We had argued that these debt-relief measures should be approved up front and we have agreed that they will be approved at the end of the program,” said Poul Thompsen, IMF Director of European Departments.
A representative of the International Monetary Fund welcomed the deal but said its board would still have to rule on its participation. The linking in of the IMF into the program was seen as essential.  Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, has previously said that the budget targets set for Greece are “highly unrealistic” and would require “heroic” efforts by the Greek people to meet the level of austerity required.
  The €10.3 billion bailout is the long-delayed second instalment of Greece’s third bailout agreed last August, worth €86 billion (£67bn; $96bn).
AP The IMF and the Eurogroup have been at odds for months over the issue of reducing Greece's debt.
The agreement was made two days after the Greek parliament approved another round of spending cuts and tax increases demanded by its international creditors.
Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said the deal was an “important moment” for the country and may pave the pave for the nation to end its cycle of recession and austerity.
“This agreement underlines the considerable efforts and the confidence we can have in the Greek government today,” French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said after the meeting.