The International Monetary Fund has released $4.6 billion in aid to Greece, after a year-long delay to ensure that Athens was meeting the targets set by bailout lenders.

The disbursement followed the release at the end of April by the Euro group of €6.3 billion ($8.6 billion) in rescue programme support to Greece, in a firm nod to its progress in cleaning up its finances and narrowing its budget deficit.

The IMF funds are part of a four-year joint package with the European Union set in March 2012 and worth a total of $235 billion (€173 billion) to rescue the sinking Greek economy.

The package has required extensive reforms and painful austerity budgeting by the government.

Two IMF disbursements were delayed over the past year — lumped into Friday’s single payout — amid questions over whether Athens was sticking to its promises on structural and financial reforms.

The Greek Government though has fought to limit the austere demands of lenders, as it remained stuck in a grinding recession dating back to 2008.

The economy remained in recession in the first quarter of 2014, contracting at a 1.1 per cent annual pace, but is expected to achieve overall growth of 0.6 per cent this year.

In April, the European Commission had confirmed that Greece achieved an underlying budget surplus of €1.5 billion last year, beating its bailout programme target of just balancing its accounts.

That achievement opened the door for the Euro group disbursement, as well as the government’s successful return to commercial debt markets that month, raising $4.2 billion.

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