Greece Pays EUR 750 M Owed to IMF

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis (L) and Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem (R) talk during the Eurogroup meeting of Finance ministers at the EU council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 11 May 2015. Photo EPA/BGNES

Greece has paid some EUR 750 M in debt interest to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), averting the prospect of default, Reuters reported.

"The order to pay the IMF has been executed," the newswire quoted  a senior Greek finance ministry official as saying on Monday, a day before the payment was due.

News of the payment came as eurozone finance ministers met in Brussels to try to unlock the final tranche of EUR 7.2 B of EU/IMF bailout for Greece. There had been fears that Greece could default on its latest IMF debt repayment which would block the way for extension of fresh bailout funding.

However, no breakthrough in negotiations between Greece and other eurozone members emerged from Monday’s meeting of the eurozone finance ministers. Dutch finance minister and president of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that more time was needed to bridge the remaining gaps.

Greece’s left-wing government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has been negotiating for months with the country’s international lenders, trying to clinch a deal for much-needed fresh cash in return for painful economic reforms.

The current EU/IMF EUR 240 B bailout deal, of which the last EUR 7.2 B is yet to be unlocked, will expire at the end of June.

 

 

 

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