ATHENS, Aug 30: Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Thursday that “painful” cuts worth 11.5 billion euros were inevitable to keep the country in the eurozone. “Many of these cuts are difficult, painful,” Samaras told a meeting of his conservative New Democracy party.

“But they are inevitable. Without them, the country would return to zero credibility and, in essence, would exit the eurozone,” he added.

“This is the last package of such cuts,” Samaras said.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said on Wednesday that the basic framework of savings needed to unlock an instalment of EU-IMF loans had been finalised. But Greece’s coalition government has yet to agree on the final details of new austerity measures to be implemented in 2013and2014.—AFP