German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make her first visit to Greece next week since the euro zone debt crisis erupted, in a show of support for Athens after it said it will run out of money at the end of November without fresh international aid.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras hailed the trip as a very positive development at a time when his country is locked in negotiations with euro zone and IMF creditors who are holding back some 31.5 billion euros in urgently needed loans.
"The key is liquidity. That is why the next credit tranche is so important for us," Samaras told the German business daily Handelsblatt. Asked how long Greece could manage without it, he said: "Until the end of November. Then the coffers are empty."
A German government spokesman said Merkel would travel to Athens on Tuesday for her first visit since the crisis began in late 2009, when a previous government revealed that Greece had hugely understated its public deficit.
Read more: Merkel to visit Greece as its money is running out
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