Fresh bailout money for Greece

Greek officials confirmed Thursday the cash-strapped southern European nation had received the first tranche of funds from its new bailout loan.

Athens said it had received 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in cash through the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the EU's rescue fund.

"Today's ESM disbursement will allow Greece to meet its urgent financial obligations," ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling said in a statement.

The remaining money of an initial 23-billion-euro tranche would be paid at a later stage, the government said, with the overall aid package approved by the eurozone's finance ministers and national parliaments amounting to 86 billion euros.

Get some, spend some

Straight after receiving the fresh funds, Athens on Thursday made a 3.2-billion-euro payment to the European Central Bank (ECB) on a maturing government bond and sent off an additional 200 million euros in due interest payments.

The Greek government was supposed to spend a total of 12 billion euros of the received funds to pay down debt, including a bridge loan granted to keep the country afloat while bailout negotiations were underway.

News agency Reuters reported that ESM officials had transferred another 10 billion euros in non-cash ESM notes to a segregated account, with the money to be used for the recapitalization of ailing Greek banks.

hg/sri (AFP, Reuters)