BRUSSELS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) disbursed on Monday the fifth and final tranche of loan of 15 billion euros (17.3 billion U.S. dollars) to Greece, according to an official statement.

The 9.5 billion euros of the tranche will be used for building up Greece's cash buffer and 5.5 billion euros will be used for debt service.

That money will help to cover around 22 months of Greece's financing needs after the end of the program on Aug. 20.

"The last disbursement and the positive conclusion of the final review send out a message that Greece has come a long way during the three years of the ESM program. The commitment and hard work of the Greek people are now paying off," ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling said.

"We have transferred a little over 200 billion euros to Greece over the last eight years. So we will monitor very intensively whether Greece continues to meet all conditions, also in the future," said Kalin Anev Janse, secretary general of the ESM in an interview with NOS Radio 1 News in Netherlands.

"Our loans run until 2060. So in the coming years and decades we will ensure that Greece continues to reform. That it remains a modern country, so that they can also pay the money back to us over time," he added. (1 euro=1.16 U.S. dollar)