Greece to run out of cash by April 20 without fresh aid: source

[ATHENS] Greece will run out of money by April 20 unless it receives fresh aid from creditors, a source familiar with the familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Athens is scrambling to send a list of planned reforms to its European lenders in the coming days in the hope of unlocking fresh aid and averting bankruptcy.

It has lately relied on repo transactions - where it borrows money from state entities - to cover its cash crunch, but can continue to rely on that only for a few more weeks, the source said. "Although it will be hard, the country can make it without help until about April 20, using the short-term borrowing from public entities," the source said.

Specifically, Athens is hoping that if eurozone finance ministers approve the country's latest reforms list then that would allow for the return of about 1.9 billion euros (S$2.83 billion) in profits made by the European Central Bank on Greek bonds, the source said.

Athens also expects the return of about 1.2 billion euros in cash left in the Greek bank bailout fund that was taken back by the eurozone last month, the source said.

REUTERS