MOSCOW, January 17 (RIA Novosti) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday it had approved a loan installment of 3.24 billion ($4.3 billion) for Greece.

The fund said in a statement that the decision was made after the IMF “completed the first and second reviews of Greece's economic performance under a program supported by a four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement for Greece."

The international lenders have also approved a loan disbursement of 839 million euro for Portugal.

Greece has largely remained afloat by loans since May 2010. To date Europe and the IMF have given the country nearly 149 billion euros ($191 billion) of the 240 billion euros promised.

The country’s international lenders - EU countries and Greece - have agreed on cutting the country’s state debt to 124 percent of the GDP by 2020, below the forecast of 144 percent.

On November 8 the Greek parliament passed a highly unpopular austerity bill, setting out 13.5 billion euros in spending cuts, as well as tax hikes and labor reforms by 2016 as demanded by the lenders to reduce the country’s debt and deficit.