New bailout for Greece may be delayed

Another international bailout for Greece scheduled for September may be postponed over the indebted country's failure to meet creditors' demands, a local business paper said on Saturday. An EU member, Greece has adopted a budget austerity program but has still failed to meet the economic targets set by the creditors - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. "If the mid-term budget program is to be redrafted or completed with new measures, issuing another 8 billion euros of the tranche may then take a longer time," the Naftemporiki website said. The country's total debt has ballooned to $490 billion. Naftemporiki said the mission of the three creditors was expected in Athens on August 29, a delay of one week, and the scheduled exchange of Greek government bonds would also be postponed until the end of September because private investors are not quite ready. Greece's budget deficit has increased 25% in the first seven months of this year to 15.5 billion euros. Unemployment has hit a record of 16.6% and annual economic growth lost 6.9 % in the second quarter. Despite continuing mass protests against the austerity program, Athens is planning further measures to save some $33 billion by 2015 through higher taxes and spending cuts.