The scheduled press conference by EU and IMF inspectors concerning their latest inspection and the release of the third tranche of the loans to Greece has been postponed until Tuesday instead of Monday as originally planned, finance ministry sources said on Sunday night.

Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou also briefed Prime Minister George Papandreou on the results of his marathon two-day talks with European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF inspectors in Athens, sources at the prime minister's office confirmed on Sunday night.

Talks between Papaconstantinou and the troika officials began on Saturday morning and continued until late on Sunday night. Finance ministry officials said that the discussion would focus mainly on the implementation of structural reforms included in the memorandum. Thorny issues on the table were labour issues and sector labour agreements, as well as transfers of staff in public utilities and state enterprises.

The troika team, headed by European Commission Deputy Director General for economic and financial affairs Servaas Deroose, IMF European Department deputy director Poul Thomsen and ECB division chief Klaus Masuch, were in Athens for their regular progress report on the Greek economy for the disbursement of a 9 billion euros third tranche of the 110 billion euros EU-IMF support loan to Greece.

The government is optimistic that EU-IMF officials will agree to the release of the third instalment of loans to Greece under the financial support mechanism.