The Greek government is preparing to agree to fire more than 5,000 civil servants by the end of next year in order to conclude its latest round of negotiations with the troika, Kathimerini understands, as Athens eyes the quick release of its next tranche of bailout funding reports Ekatimerini.

Troika officials left Athens on Thursday after the two sides failed to agree on several issues relating to structural reforms. They are due back at the beginning of April. Greece and its lenders played down the failure to reach a deal.

“We’ve identified quite a number of areas in which reforms have actually exceeded expectations and are delivering important and permanent results,” European Commission spokesperson Simon O’Connor said on Thursday. “Overall the message is quite positive but there is still quite a lot of work to be done.”