IMF ‘ruthless’ on Greece’s economy

washington — The International Monetary Fund tried to be “ruthless truth tellers” in its assessment that Greece needs to pursue further reforms to its pension and tax systems, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.

Speaking at an Atlantic Council event in Washington on transparency, Lagarde said that the fund would not back down from its views on Greece’s economic prospects despite protests from the Greek government that they were too pessimistic.

The IMF said in its first annual audit of Greece’s economy in nearly four years that Greece’s debt was still unsustainable even after years of grinding austerity.

In Athens, a government spokesman said the government would not yield to “illogical demands” by the IMF for “precautionary” austerity measures in a European bailout program that no longer includes IMF money.

“We tried, in full honesty, to be those ruthless truth-tellers,” Lagarde said of the IMF’s report. “Yes, we are criticised occasionally and I’m sure that the Greek authorities didn’t like some of the things that we said.”

Lagarde said the IMF acknowledged the pain suffered by the Greek people who have borne the brunt of austerity measures enacted since the first of three Greek bailouts was launched in 2010. But she said too few people, mainly wage earners, were bearing the burden of taxation, while the pension system needed to be made sustainable and better support the poor.

“Reforms are absolutely needed. Somebody can ask me the questions three times over, I will still say the same thing,” Lagarde said.