The troika of Greece’s international lenders from the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) depart from Athens on Wednesday. An unscheduled meeting was called by Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis on Tuesday evening in an effort to prepare a regulation that would allow Greeks who owe money to the state to pay in as many as 100 installments. At the meeting, the troika gave their seal of approval to the Finance Ministry’s plan, however some modifications need to be made by Friday before it can be announced.

A Finance Ministry official said that the government is close to an agreement, however certain points in the plan for overdue debts may change. Sources say that the government had initially hoped for up to 100 installments for some debts and 72 installments for smaller amounts, however the proportion of the size for different debts has yet to be agreed upon and there are negotiations for a limit to be placed between 15,000 or 50,000 euros. Development Ministry officials insist that there will be two legislations for the bad loans, one for the business loans and another for the households. Quite possibly, the interest rates will also be regulated according to the number of installments with sizable reductions given in the case of debt payments made in full. Troika proposed that the 1,000 businesses with the higher debts should not be included in the arrangement in order to avoid a delay in the legislation.

Mr. Hardouvelis was joined in the meeting by Development Minister Nikos Dendias, Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras and the prime minister’s adviser Stavros Papastavrou. The troika officials present were the head of the EC delegation Declan Costello and the ECB’s Klaus Masuch.