Delaying, Greece will bundle June IMF payments
ATHENS, Greece — Greece took up its right Thursday to bundle together the four payments it has to make to the International Monetary Fund in June into one at the end of the month — a sign that Greece is struggling to make ends meet.
The request, which is allowed by IMF rules but hasn’t been used by any country for decades, came as Greece struggles to make headway in protracted bailout discussions with its international creditors. They have to give their blessing to a Greek overhaul package before vital bailout loans are released.
“The Greek authorities have informed the fund to-
day that they plan to bundle the country’s four June payments into one, which is now due on June 30,” said IMF spokesman Gerry Rice. “The decision was intended to address the administrative difficulty of making multiple payments in a short period.”
Under an IMF rule from the 1970s, countries can ask to bundle multiple payments if they fall within a single calendar month. Not since Zambia in the mid- 1980s has a country made the request.
Still, the request buys the Greek government some time. Its first payment of a little more than $ 340 million was due today. Its four payments due to the IMF this month total $ 1.8 billion.
Greece has bigger payments due to the European Central Bank this summer and can’t meet them without rescue money. It would then face the prospect of going bankrupt, being unable to repay its creditors or pay pensions and public- sector salaries.
The postponement does not appear to affect Greek banks’ ability to draw on vital emergency credit from the Greek central bank, as permitted by the European Central Bank.
Earlier Thursday, Greece conceded it has to overcome major disagreements with creditors before it can get its hands on the money.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras failed to break the deadlock in Brussels at a late- night meeting with Jean- Claude Juncker, the president of the European Union’s executive arm.
Tsipras noted that progress had been made on the scale of the budget surplus that Athens has to meet. But he said lingering disagreements over other key issues, such as proposed sales tax increases and pension cuts, mean that an agreement is not ready.
The Greek government, elected in January on a promise to end the hated austerity that creditors have demanded over the past five years, needs the release of a remaining $ 8.2 billion to pay big summer debt payments. To access the money it needs creditors to agree to an economic program.
At an emergency meeting Thursday with ministers, Tsipras called a parliamentary debate for today.
The Syriza party governs in a coalition with the rightist Independent Greeks. The coalition has a majority of 12 seats in the 300- member Greek Parliament. The growing dissent in his party has fueled talk of another snap election.
Information for this article was contributed by Elena Becatoros and David McHugh of The Associated Press.