Greece Reaches Tentative Deal With International Lenders

Greece secured a tentative deal with its international lenders on Monday, just in time for a meeting of euro zone finance ministers to greenlight its latest tranche of bailout funds.

Negotiators for the “troika” – a trio of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – said in a statement that the staff-level agreement will cut more public sector jobs, a move critical to meeting the conditions of the original bailout.

Athens faced massive protests on Monday as workers flooded the streets to demonstrate against public sector layoffs. The IMF said without a deal that would disburse funds from the bailout without 12 months of financing,

The rest of the troika, which is under the European Union’s umbrella, is estimated to run out of funds for its bailout program by next year.