Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has cancelled a visit to the US amid mounting concern over the country’s debt crisis.

His office said he had decided to return as “next week is particularly crucial” in efforts to secure the country’s next bailout loan.

Greek media said he took the decision after consultations with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos.

Mr Papandreou had planned to attend the UN General Assembly and IMF meetings.

The decision comes a day after eurozone ministers delayed a decision on releasing more money to Greece.

Eurozone leaders will now decide in October whether to release the next 8bn euros ($11bn; £7bn).

The BBC’s Chris Morris says there are different views within the zone about whether Greece has done enough to deserve further loans.

‘Fiscal measures’

Mr Papandreou was on his way back to Greece from London after cancelling his onward trip to New York, media reports said.

“The prime minister had decided to postpone his planned visit to the United States because next week is particularly crucial for addressing the decisions taken on 21 July in the eurozone and for the initiatives that Greece must take,” a statement from his office said.

Eurozone leaders decided on a second bailout of 109bn euros for Greece at a Brussels meeting in July. It is still receiving the initial 110bn-euro bailout, agreed in May last year, in tranches.

An official said Mr Papandreou cancelled the visit to focus on fiscal measures which were key to securing the loans.

“The prime minister judged that he should not be away. He wants to ensure that all of Greece’s commitments [to its EU partners] are fulfilled,” government spokesman Ilias Mossialos told Reuters news agency.

October’s loan decision will be based on assessments by the three lenders, the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank.

There are concerns they may rule that Greece has fallen behind on its spending cuts targets – the government was forced to introduce a property tax amid fears prompted by the recession that it would miss its target of capping its budget to 7.6% of GDP.

Mr Venizelos is expected to hold a teleconference with the three lenders on Monday.

Demands that Greece accelerate its austerity plans, and divisions among governments and policymakers over support for indebted eurozone members, have sparked turmoil in the financial markets.

But the head of the Eurogroup of ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, said Greece was making “significant progress” and welcomed Athens’ commitment to the austerity programme.

Source; BBC News