Greece's creditors to fly in for bailout talks

Greece's creditors will fly to Athens in the coming days to launch talks on a huge bailout for the debt-crippled country, officials said on Thursday.

The Greek finance ministry said negotiators from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund with whom it is discussing plans for a third bailout worth up to 86 billion euros ($93 billion) over three years were likely to fly in on Friday.

A European source said it was not certain that Friday would see the opening of the talks, adding: "Our people haven't bought their airline tickets yet."

Greece and its creditors last week struck a bailout-for-reforms deal aimed at preventing Athens from crashing out of the eurozone as it struggles to pay its enormous debts.

Greek lawmakers passed a bill in the early hours of Thursday on a second batch of reforms needed before the talks could go ahead.