BRUSSELS: Greece lurched deeper into crisis today as European finance ministers prepared to consider a request for new loans in a last-ditch effort to keep the country in the eurozone after it defaulted on a key payment and a bailout keeping its economy afloat expired.

Cash-strapped Greece became the first developed country to default on the International Monetary Fund after missing a 1.5 billion euro payment, as efforts to find a compromise with its EU lenders came to naught.

The missed payment underscored the failure of more than five months of wrangling between Greece's left-wing government and its creditors to reshape the country's bailout and prevent it dropping out of the eurozone.

But talks were set to resume today after Athens asked for a new two-year aid plan the third in five years as ratings agencies cut their ratings on Greece's debt, predicting it will return to recession this year.

Athens is asking for a further 29.1 billion euros from the European Stability Mechanism, to "fully cover its financing needs and the simultaneous restructuring of debt," for the next two years, according to the prime minister's office.

Greek officials indicated they would be willing to suspend a referendum planned for Sunday on the reforms demanded by its creditors if today's eurozone talks in Brussels yield agreement on the new funding request.

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