Greece 'totally ready' for eurozone meet

(ATHENS) - Greece is "totally ready" for a meeting of eurozone finance ministers this week that could unlock a critical tranche of EU-IMF bailout loans, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said on Monday.

"There are no longer any pending issues on our side. Greece is totally ready," Stournaras told reporters ahead of Tuesday's eurozone meeting.

Greece's parliament earlier this month approved in quick succession the nation's budget and a new round of austerity worth 18.5 billion euros ($23.6 billion) that includes spending cuts and other reforms to be implemented by 2016.

Athens has also formalised a fiscal control mechanism demanded by its EU-IMF creditors to check overspending, Stournaras said, a day after holding a long meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

There will be closer scrutiny of local council budgets -- traditionally a gray area of public finances -- and monthly supervision of tax revenue and staff relocations in Greece's chaotic civil service.

Athens will also activate a special account at the Bank of Greece dedicated to servicing the country's enormous debt.

Some 9.5 billion euros that Greece must raise from state asset sales by 2016 under its EU-IMF loan obligations are to be placed in this account.

And another decree -- a form of emergency legislation which does not require parliamentary approval -- would be issued on Monday to limit health spending and liberalise closed professions, the minister said.

The decree is also designed to eliminate retirement perks for parliament staff and cut pensions of over 3,000 euros by 20 percent.

Worth 31.2 billion euros overall, the EU-IMF loan payment was supposed to have been disbursed by July but was held back owing to reform delays and protracted political uncertainty after a four-month electoral process in Greece.

Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker has said he hopes the meeting on Tuesday will clear the way for Greece to receive the July tranche.

Follow-up loan instalments worth another 13.3 billion euros are also pending, and Samaras has indicated that part of this money could be added to the frozen July payment.

Greece raised some quick cash last week to repay five billion euros in maturing debt on Friday.

But it now needs to repay another seven billion euros in December.

The EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are currently at odds over how to address and pay for Greece's soaring debt and an official sector writedown by bondholders including other eurozone governments is one of the options on the table.