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Greece sees Monday deal on EU-IMF rescue funds

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A security guard (centre) checks the entrance to the finance ministry building in Athens during a protest by municipal police officers on Saturday, July 6, 2013. Municipal police officers oppose plans to incorporate them into the national force. Photo: AP

Greece and its international creditors hope to reach a deal by Monday on reforms including thousands of job cuts needed for the debt-laden nation to unlock further aid worth 8.1 billion euros (HK$79.9 billion).

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“We have made substantial progress,” Poul Thomsen, the International Monetary Fund’s representative, told reporters in Athens on Sunday.

“I hope we will reach an agreement on Monday before the Eurogroup meeting,” Thomsen said, according to the state-run Athens News Agency.

Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras was also “optimistic that tomorrow (Monday) we will have an agreement.”

Greece needs to come to an accord with the troika of international creditors -- the IMF, the European Union and the European Central Bank -- by Monday, when eurozone finance ministers are due to meet to decide if the bloc should release the next instalment of rescue funds worth 6.3 billion euros (HK$62.1 billion).

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The marathon talks which began last month will now move from Athens to Brussels up until the start of the Eurogroup meeting.

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