IMF only backs 'comprehensive' Greece deal
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it will not sign up to a bailout program for Greece unless both the country and its European partners reach a “comprehensive” agreement on the issue.
A senior IMF official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that "the IMF can only support a program that is comprehensive."
"In order to ensure... medium-term sustainability, there is a need for difficult decisions on both sides ... difficult decisions in Greece regarding reforms, and difficult decisions among Greece's European partners about debt relief," the official added.
"One should not be under the illusion that one side of it can fix the problem," the IMF official noted, adding, "What is clear is that it will be some time before the two sides are ready to take these decisions."
The remarks by the IMF official came after Greece started a new round of talks earlier this week on pension and labor market reforms over its third bailout with the so-called troika of international lenders -- the IMF, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission.
High-level negotiations are expected to be held between Greek ministers as well as European Union and IMF officials later this week.
The Greek government, which came into power with anti-austerity vows, is in talks over an 86-billion euro (USD 93.8 billion) bailout in exchange for reforms, the country’s third loan from lenders since 2010.
Analyst say the deal is unlikely to be reached by August 20, when Athens is due to repay 3.4 billion euros (USD 3.7 billion) to the European Central Bank.
Greece recently received a short-term loan of 7.16 billion euros (USD 7.77 billion) from the EU in return for reforms, which allowed the cash-strapped country to repay about two billion euros (USD 2.2 billion) of its debt to the IMF.
Athens has received two bailout packages worth a total of 240 billion euros (USD 272 billion) over the past five years.
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