Greece may have upped its reforming zeal in recent months, but it’s going to have to do more to get the next 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) due from its bailout, The Associated Press reported yesterday. The release of the money is important for Greece, particularly since it will bring it one step closer to the next phase in its bailout program. Following a period of calm in its six-year debt crisis, tensions with Greece’s creditors are resurfacing as the country faces pressure to deliver on reforms. Greece needs to pass a series of economic reform measures to get money from its three-year 86 billion-euro ($93 billion) bailout program that it agreed on this summer in the face of potential economic collapse. Once the promised reforms have been passed, discussions between Greece and its creditors can move on to the key issues of recapitalizing Greece’s ailing banks and how to lighten Greece’s public debt load. As a condition of the bailout agreement, Greece has to enact a series of measures to overhaul its economy. If it doesn’t, Greece would be cut off from its bailout funds and would again face the prospect of bankruptcy and an exit from the euro.
