ATHENS: Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras made a last minute plea to parliament on Sunday to adopt the 2013 austerity budget, saying it would assure the release of aid funds needed to prevent the country from going bankrupt.
Minutes ahead of a key vote on the budget, Stournaras told parliament that "with a positive vote ... no one can say that Greece has not held to its commitments".
"I assure you in the most categoric manner that the tranche (of aid funds) will be released in an imminent fashion," he said.
The budget which includes draconian cuts must pass for Greece to have any chance of unlocking a 31.5 billion euro ($40 billion) tranche of bailout funds from its three international creditors -- the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.
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