The President of the World Bank has dampened the prospect of handing billions of euros to Greece to boost jobs and growth as he signalled that securing board approval would be difficult.

Greece approached the World Bank about contributing to a €3bn (£2.6bn) loan last month to finance policies to get more people into work.

Jim Yong Kim insisted that “no decision has been made” on whether to put the proposal to its board of directors in what he said would trigger a “very lively discussion” among members.