"This is downright false," Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis responded, according to a ministry statement.
Should Athens fail to repay such an installment on time, the debt-laden country could face a credit event, analysts have warned, and talk of an imminent financial meltdown persists.
The media reports were amidst Greece's continued marathon negotiations with international lenders this week to strike a deal at the upcoming Eurogroup meeting on April 24 on the conditions of further vital financing to stay afloat.
Speaking earlier on Thursday to Greek media, Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas assured that despite the pressure, Greece, which has not received international aid since last summer, was still in a position to fulfill all its financial obligations in the coming weeks.
The state would continue paying pensions and wages, Mardas stressed, in addition to the repayment of maturing loan installments to IMF, which were met with no problems in March and early April.
The Greek official expressed optimism that an agreement would be reached soon and noted that if necessary the government could use cash reserves of the wider public sector through the central Bank of Greece to cover financing needs.
Mardas stressed that the obligatory transfer of such cash reserves by the general government has happened in the past in other European countries, such as England, Portugal and The Netherlands.
Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
17/4/15
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IMF rules out Greek debt repayment extension...
ReplyDeleteThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) has ruled out giving Greece an extension for its debt repayment.
Greece has to repay the IMF about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) by early May.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde suggested the issue had been raised - and had been flatly rejected.
"We have been able to express and explain the policy of the IMF in terms of payment delays, and give the precedence and history about that to (Greek Finance Minister) Mr Varoufakis," Lagarde said.
"Payment delays have not been granted by the board of the IMF in the last 30 years.....aljazeera.com
17/4/15