Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Tuesday that international creditors had agreed to release long-delayed emergency loans without the need for new austerity measures. "Long negotiations have ended successfully and the government, united, carried out its mission - to lead the country of the crisis," Samaras said in a televised address from the Finance Ministry where marathon talks were held. Greece and representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), known as the troika, have been negotiating for months on the terms for new loans, dpa reported. Samaras said 500 million euros (695 million dollars) from the 2013 primary surplus will be distributed to help more than 1 million people in need of financial assistance, especially the homeless. The prime minister also announced measures to reduce social security contributions in an effort to fight record unemployment, which has reached nearly 28 per cent.
