Greece rejects creditors' five-month bailout extension offer
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrives to speak to journalists after an EU summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on June 26, 2015 (AFP Photo)


Greece has rejected on Friday an offer from its international creditors to extend the country's bailout by five months.The creditors – comprising the European Commision, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – said it is necessary for Greece to seal a deal this weekend to avoid an IMF default early next week.The proposal, aiming to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt, would have released $13.4billion funding, but Greece said in a statement that it "cannot be accepted".The statement said: "The creditors' proposal to the Greek government would require introducing deeply recessionary reforms as a condition for the funding, which is totally inadequate, over the five months period."Eurozone finance ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Saturday to reach a deal on the debt negotiations.Greece must make about $2 billion in payments to the International Monetary Fund by the end of June. Athens is currently negotiating with the Eurogroup and the International Monetary Fund in order to receive 7.2 billion euros ($8.2 billion), the last installment of the bailout package, which expires by the end of this month.