IMF won’t be excluded from Greek bailout

Tsipras accused global body last week of making unrealistic reform demands

The IMF will not be excluded from Greece’s third bailout programme review, Eurozone officials told Greece on Saturday after its prime minister said the global lender was not playing a constructive role.

Alexis Tsipras last week accused the IMF of making unrealistic reform demands, triggering a reaction from German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, who said it was not in Greece’s interest to question the fund’s involvement. “There is no chance that the first review will conclude without the IMF,” Eurogroup Working Group President Thomas Wieser told the Kathimerini weekly newspaper.

“This is not my opinion or that of EU institutions, but a reality that occurs from the parliamentary procedures in some member states,” he said.

The IMF said earlier this year it would wait to see the outcome of Greece’s debt relief talks with EU partners before agreeing to inject new cash as part of an €86 billion (Dh347 billion) third bailout programme.

Painful pension reform

Athens, meanwhile, hopes to start debt relief talks in February after a successful conclusion of the latest bailout’s first review that includes a painful pension reform.

European Stability Mechanism chief Klaus Regling, said the IMF would participate in Greece’s bailout with a small contribution, adding in an interview to weekly newspaper To Vima that this was agreed in July.

The ESM chief said the organisation aimed to re-profile Greece’s debt and smoothen servicing payments to make it viable and attract investors.