Greece and its international creditors reached a preliminary agreement over the next steps the country must take to receive additional loans and work toward exiting its bailout, various media outlets reported Dec. 2.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the so-called "staff agreement" between Athens, various eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund lays the groundwork for Greece to receive about €5 billion in funds in January 2018. The funds would help Greece prepare financially to exit its bailout, which is slated to officially come to an end in summer 2018.
The agreement includes roughly 100 reforms in a range of areas including the energy sector, financial system and social programs, Bloomberg reported; Greece will be required to implement the changes in order to get fresh cash and to complete the latest audit of its bailout.
In a statement, the European Union said the staff level agreement will be presented to eurozone officials on Dec. 4. Greek authorities plan to implement the agreed-upon actions to conclude the third review of its bailout program "as soon as possible," the EU said.
