国际英语新闻：Greece to face painful reforms after receiving aid

ATHENS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The uNPRecedented bailout deal reached on Sunday gives hope to Greece and other eurozone countries to put an end to the current debt crisis that has shaken the whole Europe.

Finance ministers of the 16 eurozone countries met in Brussels on Sunday for an extraordinary meeting to finalize a multi-billion-euro rescue package for debt-hit Greece.

It was widely expected that the finally agreed EU-IMF joint rescue package would give Athens a lifeline worth 120 billion euros (160 billion U.S. dollars) for the next three years.

After marathon talks that have been dragged on for weeks, the Greek government announced on Sunday that a new package of harsh austerity measures would be implemented for the next three years.

The measures will mostly affect public sector employees who may lose 20-30 percent of their incomes.

The number of public sector employees in Greece totals more than 1 million, accounting for one tenth of the country's total population.

Greece's public sector has ballooned in recent years and threatens to strangle the country's economy, Giannis Stournaras, general director of the Foundation of Economic and Industry Research, told Xinhua.

It is necessary for the Greek government to cut public expenses in order to bring its deficit under the EU's maximum of 3 percent of gross domestic product from the current 13.6 percent by 2014.

"We have to make painful sacrifices in return for our country's survival," Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Sunday.