GREECE admitted Tuesday it tapped into an emergency account to pay 750 million euros (US$845 million) due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adding pressure to reach a deal to avoid crashing out of the eurozone.

    Billions more in loan repayments are due over the next three months, and Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis warned that his country risked running out of cash within two weeks if no deal was reached with its creditors to unlock the last tranche of aid funds.

    Greece won some support in the latest round of debt talks as it battles to keep itself solvent, but eurozone finance ministers have demanded more key reforms before they agree to release the final 7.2-billion-euro tranche of its EU-IMF bailout.

    With the two sides standing firm on their positions, the government was informed last week by Greece’s central bank chief Yannis Stournaras that it could draw 660 million euros from a special account held at the IMF, like all member states.

    That account holds Greek reserves and is only meant to be used in cases of “extraordinary need,” a central bank source said, adding that subsequent meetings with government officials and the IMF led to the release of the funds.

    Greece “has done all it can for vis-a-vis its European partners, respecting the way of working in the eurozone; now it is the partners’ turn to take the adequate steps,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Tuesday.

    Late Monday, Varoufakis warned after talks with his Eurogroup counterparts in Brussels the country faced a grace risk.

    “The liquidity issue is a terribly urgent issue. It’s common knowledge, let’s not beat around the bush,” he said.

    “From the perspective (of timing), we are talking about the next couple of weeks.”

    Experts say Greece is required to replenish the 660 million euros that it withdrew from the emergency account as soon as possible.

    The remainder of the sum due to the IMF was scraped together by the government.

    In Washington, the IMF confirmed receipt of the repayment, declining to give further details.

    Even though it narrowly averted default Tuesday, Greece faces a punishing debt repayment schedule in coming weeks.

    (SD-Agencies)