Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund have approved the payment of the next tranche of financial support to Greece, a senior euro zone source told Reuters on Friday.

The 8 billion euro payment is the sixth tranche from a total package of 110 billion euros of bilateral loans agreed between the EU/IMF and Greece in May last year.

The sixth tranche is agreed, it's free to go, the source, who is involved in the discussions, told Reuters.

Without the payment, Greece faced the possibility of defaulting on its debts later this year.

(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt; Writing by Luke Baker)

International Monetary Fund