Creditor talks resume in Greece amid Wikileaks row

athens — Greece on Monday resumes reform talks with its international creditors, including the IMF, amid leaks claiming the global lender was toying with the idea of a Greek default.

With IMF chief Christine Lagarde dismissing this as ‘nonsense’, Greek ministers will try over the next few days to bridge differences on the country’s budget goals and the scope of ongoing pension and tax overhauls. Over the weekend, Athens angrily demanded explanations after Wikileaks said the IMF was looking for a crisis ‘event’ to push the indebted nation into concluding the talks.

The whistleblowing website released what it said was a March 19 conversation between Iva Petrova and Delia Velculescu, who have been representing the IMF in the negotiations with Greece, and Poul Thomsen, director of the Fund’s European Department.

Later in the conversation, Velculescu reportedly replies: “I agree that we need an event, but I don’t know what that will be.”

After Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrote to Lagarde to complain, she made public her reply on Sunday. “Any speculation that IMF staff would consider using a credit event as a negotiating tactic is simply nonsense,” she wrote.

Tsipras’ leftist government has rarely seen eye to eye with the global lender, with PM often employing strong language against them.—