Greece’s parliament is due to vote on the hefty cuts and reforms proposed by the government to address the country’s financial crisis.
It comes a day after three bank workers died in a petrol bomb attack as demonstrations over the planned austerity measures turned violent.
Bank workers have gone on a nationwide strike in anger at the deaths. Unions are also planning fresh protests.
President Karolos Papoulias has warned Greece is on the "brink of the abyss".
"We are all responsible so that it does not take the step into the void," he said in a statement.
Sombre mood
Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou told parliament ahead of the vote that the "only way to escape bankruptcy" was to accept the 110bn euro ($142bn; £95bn) bail-out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union.
"The precondition is to agree on the three-year austerity plan," he told MPs.
The measures include wage freezes, pension cuts and tax rises.
The aim is to achieve fresh budget cuts of 30bn euros over three years, with the goal of cutting Greece’s public deficit to less than 3% of GDP by 2014. It currently stands at 13.6%.
Wednesday’s deaths – the first such fatalities in protests in nearly 20 years in Greece – have shocked the public, observers say.
There is a sombre mood on Stadiou Avenue, outside the Marfin bank branch where two women – one pregnant – and a man were found inside, having been unable to escape the fumes, the BBC’s Malcolm Brabant in Athens says.
What went wrong in Greece?
Greece’s economic reforms that led to it abandoning the drachma in favour of the euro in 2002 made it easier for the country to borrow money.
Greece went on a debt-funded spending spree, including high-profile projects such as the 2004 Athens Olympics, which went well over budget.
It was hit by the downturn, which meant it had to spend more on benefits and received less in taxes. There were also doubts about the accuracy of its economic statistics.
Greece’s economic problems meant lenders started charging higher interest rates to lend it money and widespread tax evasion also hit the government’s coffers.
There have been demonstrations against the government’s austerity measures to deal with its 300bn euro (£267bn) debt, such as cuts to public sector pay.
Now the government has announced that it needs to access the 30bn euros (£26bn) in emergency loans it has been offered by other EU countries.
People on their way to work, stop, look at the blackened shell of the building, and absorb the magnitude of what has happened, he adds.
Prime Minister George Papandreou told MPs in parliament on Wednesday the killings were a "murderous act".
"Nobody has the right to violence and particularly violence that leads to murder. Violence breeds violence."
Bank workers took to the streets on Thursday to demonstrate their outrage at the deaths.
Unions also urged their members to remain undeterred by Wednesday’s events and continue demonstrating.
The GSEE private sector union condemned the "fires, blind violence, vandalism", but added: "We are determined to pursue and extend our struggle to meet our fair demands."
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