Greece passes 2013 austerity budget

Greek lawmakers approved the country's 2013 austerity budget early today, an essential step in Greece's efforts to persuade its international creditors to unblock a vital rescue loan installment without which the country will go bankrupt. The budget passed by a 167-128 vote in the 300-member Parliament. It came days after a separate bill of deep spending cuts and tax hikes for the next two years squeaked through with a narrow majority following severe disagreements among the three parties in the governing coalition.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras pledged that the spending cuts will be the last Greeks have to endure.

"Just four days ago, we voted the most sweeping reforms ever in Greece," he said. "The sacrifices (in the earlier bill and the budget) will be the last. Provided, of course, we implement all we have legislated. "

"Greece has done what it was asked to do and now is the time for the creditors to make good on their commitments," he stressed.

Athens says that with the passage of the two bills, the next loan installment, worth about USD 40 billion, should be disbursed. Without it, the government has said it will run out of cash on Friday, when USD 6.35 billion worth of treasury bills mature. Finance ministers from the 17-nation eurozone are meeting in Brussels later today, with Greece high on the agenda.

However, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has indicated it is unlikely that the ministers will decide on the disbursement at that meeting.

"We all ... want to help Greece, but we won't be put under pressure," Schaeuble told the weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Schaeuble said the so-called troika of debt inspectors likely won't deliver their report on Greece's reform program by today. The creditors also want to see what the debt inspectors have to say about Greece's debt sustainability.

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