Greece's government submitted a request to its euro-area creditors to extend the availability of bailout funds for six months in a last-ditch effort to avert a cash crunch.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs meetings of the 19 euro-area finance ministers, confirmed on Twitter that the group had received the request. Euro-area officials are scheduled to assess the Greek proposal later Thursday. If they see room for an agreement, the currency bloc's finance ministers will discuss it on Friday.

The Greek state and its banks have effectively lost market access and stay afloat thanks to emergency lifelines extended by euro-area member states and the European Central Bank. The aid is attached to belt-tightening terms which the country's new government, led by Alexis Tsipras, opposes. Two attempts to strike a compromise in the last 10 days ended in acrimony.