AlQa'dah 1, 1432, Sep 29, 2011, SPA -- International auditors were in Athens Thursday to complete a review of the Greek government's cost-cutting program and issue a verdict whether to continue vital bailout loan payments, according to dpa. Inspectors from the European Union, European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), known as the troika, left Greece suddenly on September 2, saying the government had been slow in jump-starting reforms and had missed targets under its 110-billion-euro (150 billion dollars) bailout agreed last year. The auditors' report will be used by the EU, the ECB and the IMF to decide whether Greece can receive the next tranche of its bailout worth 8 billion euros (11 billion dollars), which it needs by mid-October to avoid bankruptcy. Reports in the Greek daily Kathimerini newspaper said the troika is likely to approve the disbursement of the sixth tranche of loans, following a written pledge by Prime Minister George Papandreou for the full implementation of the agreed measures. Spooked by widespread talk about a sovereign Greek default, the government decided to pass fresh austerity measures earlier this week which include cutting public sector salaries by a fifth, additional pension cuts, start sacking civil servants and a new tax on property owners. The newspaper report said international auditors hope to have completed their monitoring by the start of next week. Speaking to Greek state television NET on Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested that parts of the second rescue deal worth 109 billion euros - which was agreed in July - could be reopened, depending on the outcome of the troika's audit. Berlin has repeatedly said that negotiations about the details of the second rescue can only start once the troika has given Greece the green light to receive the sixth tranche of loans under the first bailout. The Greek cabinet is scheduled to meet early Thursday to decide on a pay scale for civil servants and a labour reserve into which 30,000 state workers will be put at 60 per cent of their salary. Those who fail to find another state job within 12 months will be fired. Greeks have been outraged by the announcement of new austerity measures and have held months of repeated strikes and demonstrations. Taxi owners who oppose the liberalisation of their trade are continuing their 48-hour strike on Thursday while hospital workers, protesting cuts will walk off the job for three hours. Late Wednesday, demonstrators marched outside the Finance Ministry in central Athens, urging Greeks not to pay emergency property tax bill being sent to households this fall. Protesters also burned copies of tax notices. The two main labour unions - the civil servants' union ADEDY and the General Confederation of Greek Labor - have called two 24-hour nationwide strikes for October 5 and 19 to protest the government's austerity drive.
