Greek Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos will continue talks with EU/IMF creditors over the next steps to address the Greek debt crisis on Tuesday, according to a press release issued by the Greek Finance Ministry Monday evening.

"A productive and substantive discussion took place. On Tuesday morning the teams of technical experts already in Athens will further elaborate on some data and the conference call with be repeated," said the notice released shortly after the first teleconference between Venizelos and EU/IMF auditors.

Monday's conference call was initially scheduled for earlier in the day and local media expected the Greek government to announce a fresh set of austerity and reform measures by Tuesday.

If deliberations with foreign lenders on the appropriate measures to be introduced wind up Tuesday evening, the announcement will be made shortly afterwards.

Citing government sources, Greek media reported that the socialist administration will most probably announce the closure or merger of many public sector companies and layoffs of thousands civil servants in coming months, the acceleration of privatizations and further cutbacks on wages, pensions, along with tax hikes of some 4 billion euros (5.5 billion U.S. dollars) in total worth.

The supplementary measures which have already caused reactions by opposition parties, entrepreneurs and labor unions, are regarded as a fundamental condition so that the debt-ridden country will secure further foreign funding this autumn to avoid a destructive default that could rock the eurozone and global economy.

Without the 8 billion euros (11 billion U.S. dollars) of the sixth tranche of bailout loans initially approved for Greece in May 2010 by EU and IMF in exchange of a painful three-year stability and growth program, Athens could run out of cash by mid-October.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet