The International Monetary Fund is prepared to give Greece more time to repay its loan to the institution if European nations, which provided the bulk of a joint 110 billion euro ($154 billion) package, decide to do so first, Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (photo) said.
Greek officials are doing “exactly what they need to do” to rein in spending and meet the benchmarks set out as a condition of aid, Strauss-Kahn said in a television interview with Bloomberg HT Sunday. Whether Greece needs the extension depends on the state of the global economy, he said.
“If the Europeans decide to do something, we certainly will do the same thing,” Strauss-Kahn said. “We can do this and it may be useful, but it’s only a small part.”
Greece is discussing prolonging the repayment of a 110 billion euro ($153.4 billion) EU/IMF bailout deal, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told Greek Skai television on Monday.
Papaconstantinou said Greece had not officially asked for such an extension.
“If at one point the decision is taken it must come as a reward for the good work we’re doing and not because we could not achieve our targets, because then it would send the wrong message to markets,” he said.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
