IMF Gives Greece More 'Credit'

Deputy IMF Board Director Murilo Portugal has stated Greece deserves credit for its austerity measures. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The International Monetary Fund has disbursed EUR 2.5 B from its bailout package to Greece, with senior IMF saying it deserved "credit" for pushing its austerity measures.

On Friday, the Executive Board of the IMF completed a review of Greece's economy and stated it found the Greek government remains determined to implement the painful reforms to bring down its staggering budget deficit.

The Deputy Managing Director of the IMF Board, Murilo Portugal, declared the Greek government should be given credit for working to make progress on the austerity measures, seeing the competitiveness of the Greek economy improve and the inflation go down.

"Given pressure points in the public sector and still unfavorable investor sentiment, comprehensive and timely reforms remain essential to secure renewed growth and sustainable public debt dynamics, while protecting vulnerable groups," Portugal said in a statement.

He warned that the Greek government should not succumb to public pressure because of the dissatisfaction with the highly-unpopular austerity reforms. The IMF has disbursed to date about EUR 10.58 B to Greece as part of a broader rescue effort with the 27-country European Union.

After in May 2010 the budget deficit crisis in Greece, which came after data cooking by government officials was discovered threatened the stability of the euro zone, the EU and the IMF agreed on a joined bailout package for Greece amounting to EUR 110 B.

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