Bailout auditors return to Greece PUBLIC sector job cuts are at the centre of Greece's bailout review as international auditors assess the country's progress in implementing reforms before unlocking another loan to help it out of its debt crisis. Representatives from the so-called troika of Greece's creditors - the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - held a two-hour meeting with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras in Athens on Sunday as part of regular efforts to review the steps Greece has taken to meet its bailout obligations. Thorny issues that Athens still needs to address include reducing the number of jobs in the public sector, speed up privatisation plans and recapitalise four of its main banks. Under the bailout conditions adopted last year, Greece needs to cut public sector workers by 25,000 in 2013 and a total of 150,000 by the end of 2015. In an interview published in the Sunday newspaper To Vima, Stournaras said there would be "no lay-offs." "Over the past year and a half, the public sector has been reduced by 75,000 people," he was quoted as saying. The paper said thousands of people have retired in recent years and that the measures that will be implemented in 2013 will leave the sector with gaping holes. The audit interviews will take about a week, ending with a meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. Facing a sixth year of continuous recession, the heavily indebted country has been relying on international rescue packages to avoid bankruptcy and get its economy back on track. Since 2010, the EU and the IMF have committed 240 billion euros ($A309 billion) overall in rescue loans to Greece. The next payment to Greece, of 2.8 billion euros, is due at the end of March.