Eurozone gives Greece more time to meet budget targets

Eurozone ministers have agreed to give Greece two more years within which to meet its deficit-reduction targets.

The finance ministers however delayed taking a decision on whether to release the latest €31.5 billion tranche of bailout funds, as rifts emerged among Greece's lenders on how to make the struggling country's debt sustainable into the next decade.

The proposal to extend Greece's deadline was presented as part of a report, prepared by the 'troika' of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, for the ministers which also said the extension would add €32.6 billion to the cost of the bailout.

But the extension would cost an additional €32.6 billion and comes with "very large" risks, the report says.

Those risks include the uncertain political support for the programme within Greece, the possible negative effect on the economy of the fiscal consolidation and possible court challenges to the measures.

The ministers will meet again to discuss releasing the latest instalment of bailout funds on 20 November.

The latest €31.5 billion tranche, which was postponed, will first have to be approved by some national parliaments, including Germany's.

However, the eurozone ministers are arguing that Greece needed to implement a "few remaining" prior actions to allow the bailout money to be released.

Greece had been pushing for the funds after passing a tough budget for 2013, including further cuts to pensions and wages, in a vote on Sunday night.

More than 10,000 people joined demonstrations outside Greece's parliament on Sunday to protest against the cuts.

Greek PM Antonis Samaras has warned that without the new funds Greece will run out of money within days, as Greece faces a repayment deadline for €5 billion of debt on Friday.

It is now expected to make an urgent bid to raise funds from the financial markets on Tuesday.