"At the request of the EU Commission and at the invitation of the Greek authorities, a fund staff member is in Athens this week to provide assistance to an EU Commission team," an IMF official said.
Greece has vowed to reduce its budget deficit from an estimated 12.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2009 (GDP) -- by far the highest budget deficit in the eurozone -- to below the EU limit of 3.0 percent by 2012 and has warned major cuts in public spending will be needed.
Under heavy pressure from its eurozone partners to bring order to its public finances, Greece's Socialist government is weighing cuts to benefits, a rise in the retirement age and other measures that have sparked union resistance.
The EU has pledged political support for Greece and has hinted at more concrete financial assistance in the future but it has also imposed strict deadlines and monitoring for Greece's deficit-cutting program.
A European Commission spokesman said Monday that Greece had missed a deadline from the commission to give a full account of financial operations allegedly used by Athens to hide the true extent of its budget deficit.
Greek authorities failed to meet the Friday deadline, telling European Commission officials that the delay was due to a four-day strike at the country's finance ministry.
The European Commission's data office "Eurostat has received some information, but not all the information needed from Greek authorities," said a spokesman for the commission, the EU's executive arm.
Brussels is hoping to receive the documents "very soon" as "this would be to the advantage of all parties concerned," he said.
Eurostat's inquiry focuses on allegations in the New York Times and Financial Times that major Wall Street banks helped Greece hide the holes in its budget through complex operations, facilitating the country's accession to the eurozone.
Greece's finance minister has said the schemes were legal at the time.
News of the IMF and EU presence in the Greek capital came as Greece braces for a nationwide strike scheduled for Wednesday, called by unions to protest austerity measures, and reports that it may attempt a bond issue this week.
Highlighting the country's critical need for more financing, Greece on Monday said it had asked Abu Dhabi, the richest of the seven states making up the United Arab Emirates, to invest in a Greek development fund.
A crucial test of market confidence in Greece could come as early as this week with the government attempting a multibillion-euro (dollar) bond issue, the Financial Times reported earlier, citing bankers in Athens.
Prime Minister George Papandreou added further urgency in an interview with the BBC's "Andrew Marr Programme" on Sunday in which he said that Greece's borrowing needs were only covered through the middle of March.
"Our borrowing needs are covered till mid-March," Papandreou said, adding that Greece needs EU support "so that we can borrow at the same rate as other countries, not at high rates" that undermine the country's reform efforts.
The yield on 10-year Greek bonds -- the interest rate that Greece must pay on bonds it issues to borrow money in the markets -- was at 6.411 percent during trading on Monday, compared to 3.281 percent for German 10-year bonds.
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