Greece is likely to receive an €8 billion aid tranche it needs to stave off bankruptcy in early November, EU, IMF and ECB inspectors said in a joint statement today, the Irish Times reported. The statement came after the troika concluded its week-long review of the country's finances. In the statement, the troika said the Greek recession will be deeper than was anticipated in June and a recovery is now expected only from 2013 onwards.

Greece would be in much better shape now if it had never joined the euro zone, or if it had been kicked out in 2004 when it admitted that it had lied about its finances to join the club. So would the rest of Europe, the International Herald Tribune reported. One answer is the same one that was given when Greece’s cheating was revealed: Legally, there is no way out. The euro was designed to be the Roach Motel of currencies. Once you enter, you can never leave. There is no provision for departure. But, of course, there is a way out. It would be messy, and perhaps disastrous.

French Finance Minister François Baroin Wednesday said the extent of private-sector involvement in bailing out Greece may need to be reexamined after the volatility on financial markets over the summer, The Wall Street Journal reported. The comments mark a public acknowledgment from France—which up until now has argued that an agreement by euro-zone heads of state on July 21 should be applied in full—that further participation from private-sector creditors may be required as Greece's financial crisis deepens.

The admission by top European officials that Greece's fiscal distress is deepening has increased the chance that a July deal to give Athens more cash could be revised to exact a greater toll on its private-sector creditors, The Wall Street Journal reported. At a two-day closed-door meeting here that ended Tuesday, European finance ministers debated what to do with their sickest patient. No decisions were made, but the notion of bigger losses for creditors was broached, people familiar with the matter said.

The Greek government submitted a 2012 budget Monday that includes sharp increases in taxes and spending cuts in an attempt to bring its deficit back on track. But the country's disclosure Sunday that it would miss budget targets for this year prompted further fears the country would be forced to reschedule its debts, The Wall Street Journal reported. The 2012 deficit is now seen at 8.5% of gross domestic product, or about €18.69 billion ($25 billion)—well above a previous target of €17.1 billion, or 7.8% of GDP.

Greece will miss a deficit target set just months ago in a massive bailout package, according to government draft budget figures released on Sunday, showing that drastic steps taken to avert bankruptcy may not be enough, Reuters reported. The dire forecasts came while inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, EU and European Central Bank, known as the troika, were in Athens scouring the country's books to decide whether to approve a loan tranche. Without that installment, Greece would run out of cash as soon as this month.

A new front in the euro crisis is opening up: what to do if Greece's second bailout package, worth €109 billion ($147.8 billion) and agreed to in July, isn't enough, The Wall Street Journal reported. That risk is real. But with Greece reaching the limits of austerity, at least in the near-term, there are only two options for filling any shortfall. Either euro-zone governments and the International Monetary Fund must dig deeper into their pockets, or Greece has to unpick its deal with bondholders to secure more debt relief.

Greek lawmakers approved a controversial new property tax Tuesday that aims to boost revenue as the country struggles to obtain a critical installment of international bailout loans that will prevent it from default, The Associated Press reported. The new tax passed 154 votes to 143 against in the 300-member parliament. It was announced earlier this month after international debt inspectors suspended their review of Greek reforms amid talk of missed revenue targets and delayed implementation of austerity measures. The inspectors are expected to return to Athens this week.

The German government is pushing a plan to restructure Greece's debt that would include up to a 50% loss to bond holders and new draconian budget measures imposed on the Greek government, local media report Sunday. According to the center-right Kathimerini newspaper, the German plan would involve a forced, non-voluntary restructuring of Greece's public debt, that would include slashing the value of that debt by between 40% and 50%, Dow Jones reported.

Greek workers staged a 24-hour strike today, forcing the transport system to a standstill in protest against the government's intensified austerity drive to secure aid to save the country from bankruptcy, RTÉ News reported. Striking taxi drivers and bus, metro and rail workers meant commuters had to use their own cars, triggering long traffic jams and stranding tourists at hotels in Athens city centre for several hours. Unions said more strikes were planned. In his first public comments on yet more austerity moves, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said they were vital.