Angel Gurria, general secretary of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), has arrived in Athens to meet Greek finance minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou, Greek national television has reported.

EU Finance Ministers are assessing whether Greece's austerity programme is succeeding in getting its budget back on track.

Officials in Athens and Berlin have denied reports that the Eurozone is preparing to bail out Greece as it struggles with its enormous debt burden.

Meetings between Greek authorities and the Eurogroup (finance ministers of the eurozone who have adopted the euro) and Ecofin (covering EU policy in areas such as economic policy coordination and economic surveillance) are scheduled to take place on March 15-16. These discussions will evaluate the growth and stability plan deemed crucial for Greece's economy.

These meetings will determine if there is plan for financial aid to Greece mounting to 25 billion euro, either as a direct loan from European Union member states or granted as a guarantee on loans. Recent articles in the European press tend to veer to the latter scenario, despite the Commission's denial on March 13, the Greek national television website said.

According to the BBC World Service, the austerity measures implemented by the ruling Pasok party seem to be "enough" and on target to reduce the country's enormous debt of 12.7 per cent. The Greek government has refused to ask for a bail out, and will not press the "panic button", the BBC said.

More industrial strikes are expected, however, and civil servants are also expected to be on strike on March 16 to show that they are against "European intervention in Greek affairs". Greece is also likely to experience power cuts as workers from the national grid DEH stage a series of protests.

Greek debt is reported to be about 13 per cent of GDP. The country's cabinet and parliament earlier approved a fresh set of austerity measures, including public service pay cuts, a pension freeze and an increase in sales tax. This, in turn, unleashed widespread protests.