Greece received €2.8 billion for Third Bailout programme

Euro zone officials on Tuesday said they had approved €2.8 billion for Greece from its huge third bailout after the country delivered the needed reforms. 

After the latest disbursement approved by the European Stability Mechanism, Greece will have received €31.7 billion of the €86 billion bailout granted in July 2015, its third since being engulfed by debt in 2010. 

"Today's decision to disburse €2.8 billion to Greece is a sign that the Greek people are steadily making progress in reforming their country," the ESM's managing director Klaus Regling said in a statement. 

The Greek government has reached milestones in pension reform, bank governance, the energy sector, and revenue collection, according to the director of the ESM, the euro zone body controlling Greece's bailout loans. 

"It has also taken further steps in making the new privatisation and investment fund operational," Regling said. 

“If the government continues to implement the reforms agreed in the ESM program, growth of the Greek economy could accelerate next year and the government may be able to start issuing bonds again next year,” he said.

This 2.8 billion euro disbursement consists of two parts: 1.1 billion euros was approved for release following the full implementation of a set of 15 milestones by the Greek authorities, and is to be used for debt servicing. A further 1.7 billion euros can now also be disbursed after a positive assessment of the clearance of net arrears by Greece; this amount will be disbursed to a dedicated account for clearing arrears.

The euro zone had demanded more data before approving disbursement.