ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece received 14.5 billion euros in bailout loans from 10 other European Union (EU) countries yesterday, the finance ministry said, just a day before a crucial debt refinancing deadline that threatened the country with default.

The loans from other countries that use the EU's joint currency, the euro, are part of a 110 billion euros ($136 billion) joint EU and International Monetary Fund rescue package to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt and dealing a severe blow to the euro.

Greece desperately needed the money by today, when it faced repaying a debt of around nine billion euros in bonds that it could not finance otherwise. It already received the first 5.5 billion euros from the IMF last week.

"These disbursements cover the immediate and short-term financing needs," the finance ministry said in an announcement.

Germany is the largest single contributor to the first eurozone installment of the loan, with 4.4 billion euros from the government-backed KfW Development Bank. It is followed by France with 3.3 billion euros and Italy with 2.9 billion euros. The other countries contributing are Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta, the ministry said.

To secure the loans, the center-left government of Prime Minister George Papandreou has passed painful austerity measures, cutting salaries and pensions, raising consumer taxes and pledging to crack down on rampant tax evasion.

The measures have led to a backlash by labour unions, who have staged a series of strikes in recent months. Three people died during a general strike on May 5, when they became trapped in a bank torched by protesters after a demonstration in Athens turned violent. Another general strike set for Thursday is to shut down all public services and disrupt public transport.

Schools will shut down, state hospitals will function on emergency staff, while all ferries will remain tied up at port. Journalists will also walk off the job, pulling news broadcasts off the air. But air traffic controllers are not expected to join the strike, leaving the country's airports open.