Greece piles on pressure as it delays paying loan
Print Edition
GREECE has ramped up pressure in make-or-break negotiations with its EU-IMF creditors after postponing a loan repayment due yesterday, and securing time to reach a deal compatible with its anti-austerity program.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was to brief parliament this evening on the state of talks with the creditors, with hardliners in his party insisting on a firm rebuttal of austerity demands.
Athens had been scheduled to repay the International Monetary Fund 300 million euros (US$340 million), but late on Thursday it announced it would bundle all four IMF remittances totalling 1.6 billion euros due this month in a single June 30 payment.
While the decision may have taken Greece’s eurozone partners by surprise, Athens maintained that the exceptional move, permitted by the IMF only once before, “had been on the table since the previous payment” a month ago, Greek Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis told the BBC.
Dodging the threat of an immediate default, Greece has bought more time to negotiate with its creditors — the European Union, IMF and the European Central Bank — who are demanding tough reforms before releasing the final 7.2 billion euros in bailout funds.
But the move rattled investors, with the Athens Composite Index falling by more than 5 percent before closing 4.96 percent down yesterday.
Many worry that a default would set off a chain of events that could lead to a messy Greek exit from the euro.
Next week, Athens will seek to raise nearly 2.3 billion euros in treasury bills.
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