The euro held its gains from last week after Greece and its international creditors agreed on the need to strengthen policy efforts to support the debt-stricken economy and comply with bailout terms.

Representatives from the so-called troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras in Athens over the weekend.

The talks will determine whether Greece continues receiving funds from the country’s €240bn (US$298bn) of rescue packages.

“The discussions on the implementation of the program were productive and there was an overall agreement on the need to strengthen policy efforts to achieve its objectives,” the troika institutions said in a joint statement yesterday.

Inspectors from the country’s creditors will return to Athens in early September to continue the talks, according to the troika.

“We made a lot of good progress,” the IMF representative Poul Thomsen said yesterday in Athens. “We’ll take a break now and come back in early September.”

The troika representatives have been in Athens since July 24.

Staff teams from EC, ECB and IMF concluded a visit to Greece to discuss with the new authorities the economic policies needed to restore growth and competitiveness, secure a sustainable fiscal position, and underpin confidence in the financial system in line with the objectives of the economic adjustment program that is being supported by the three institutions, the troika said in a statement.

The Greek authorities are committed to proceeding with determination in their work over the next month, it added.

New austerity package must be completed by early September, before a meeting of the euro area finance ministers, a Greek finance ministry official was quoted as saying.

Greece, which is in its fifth year of a recession, may run out of money without the disbursement of €4.2bn that was initially due in June as the first installment of a €31bn transfer.