Timeline: Bailout Efforts in Greece

Greece's lenders are sending a team to Athens to inspect a government austerity plan they want implemented in exchange for aid.

Here is a timeline of economic events since Prime Minister George Papandreou first sealed a bailout deal in May 2010:

May 2, 2010 - Papandreou says has sealed a deal with the EU and IMF, opening the door for a bailout in return for extra budget cuts of 30 billion euros ($43 billion) over three years.

-- Three-year package amounts to 110 billion euros and represents first rescue of a euro zone member.

May 4/5 - Public sector workers stage 48-hour nationwide strike. Three people are killed when a bank is set on fire.

May 6 - Greek parliament approves austerity bill.

May 9 - IMF unanimously approves its part of rescue loans, with 5.5 billion euros being provided immediately.

May 10 - Global policymakers install emergency safety net worth about $1 trillion to bolster international financial markets and prevent Greek crisis from damaging the euro.

-- consists of 440 billion euros in guarantees from euro zone states, plus 60 billion euros in European debt instruments. EU finance ministers say IMF will contribute a further 250 billion euros.

May 18 - Greece receives 14.5 billion euro ($18.7 billion) loan from EU and can repay immediate debt.

July 7 - Greek parliament passes pension reform, key requirement of the EU/IMF deal, which includes raising women's retirement age from 60 to match men at 65.

Aug. 5 - EU and IMF inspectors give Greece green light for fresh 9 billion euro tranche from bailout.

September - IMF says Greece is ahead of schedule in economic reform.

Jan. 2011 - Fitch becomes third ratings agency to cut Greek debt to "junk" status after S&P and Moody's.

Feb. 11 - EU and IMF inspectors approve a fresh tranche of 15 billion euros of bailout funds.

May 11 - EU and IMF inspectors arrive in Athens to press Greece to shore up finances and to determine if country will get fifth aid tranche of 12 billion euros.

May 23 - Greece unveils series of privatisations, part of its goal to raise 50 billion euros by 2015 to pay down debt.

June 1 - Moody's slashes Greece's credit rating by three notches to move it deeper into junk territory.

June 8 - Greece agrees to 6.48 billion euros of extra austerity measures for 2011 and savings up to 2015 to cut deficits and to keep getting aid.

June 13 - Greece gets the lowest credit rating in the world after S&P downgrades it by three notches, to CCC from B.

June 17 - Papandreou reshuffles cabinet, appoints Evangelos Venizelos, Papandreou's main party rival, as new finance minister. The new cabinet wins confidence vote on June 22.

June 28 - Main labour unions launch 48-hour strike.

June 29 - Papandreou wins parliamentary majority in favour of five-year austerity plan by 155 votes to 138, clearing major hurdle to winning access to new international funding.

-- Euro zone finance ministers approve release of next tranche of emergency loans on July 2, saying 12 billion euros would be paid by July 15.

-- Police clash with protesters outside parliament. About 100 people are injured.

July 8 - IMF approves disbursement of about 3.2 billion euros to help Greece pay debts due this month. This tranche brings IMF disbursements to about 17.4 billion euros.

July 21 - Euro zone leaders agree on second rescue package with extra 109 billion euros ($157 billion) of government money, plus contribution by private sector bondholders estimated to total as much as 50 billion euros by mid-2014.

Sept. 14 - Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy tell Papandreou he must implement reforms and meet fiscal goals set under July bailout plan.

Sept. 21 - Greece adopts more austerity measures, including cutting high pensions by 20 percent. Puts 30,000 civil servants on road to redundancy and extends real estate tax.

-- IMF says crisis has increased European banks' exposure by 300 billion euros, and they need to recapitalise to ensure they can weather potential losses.

Sept. 22 - Greek workers stage 24-hour strike forcing transport system to standstill.

Sept. 27 - Greece passes an unpopular property tax to persuade IMF and EU it deserves the next 8-billion-euro tranche it needs to pay October salaries and avoid bankruptcy.

-- Using tear-gas, police disperse 1,000 protesters in Syntagma Square, the epicentre of anti-austerity protests.

Sept 29 - The "troika" team of inspectors, which had threatened to cut aid if Athens did not move faster on austerity, are to begin talks on a plan demanded by lenders to deepen budget cuts and raise taxes.