Greece makes IMF payment, but uncertainty over euro zone future continues
Greece’s existing cash reserves will reportedly, based on Finance Ministry estimations, be sufficient only until April 24, when the Eurogroup is due to hold its next meeting, with the Greek officials hoping for a decision to disburse some of the pending bailout funds.
With time for Greece running out fast, reports suggest a Euro Working Group meeting held Wednesday seems to have accepted a proposal by Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to break the review of Greece’s adjustment program into parts, thus allowing for small tranches of bailout money to be disbursed while negotiations continue.
Under this formula, technical talks between experts will continue in Brussels and Athens and each subject area will be examined separately as opposed to a single, comprehensive review.
Greece will be able to receive small amounts of bailout funds when each one of the reforms it has proposed is agreed upon – such as in the taxation area, without necessarily having reached agreement in more difficult reform areas like as labour relations or social security.
Meanwhile, Greece met a deadline today to repay a 450 million euro loan installment to the International Monetary Fund – a debt Athens had insisted it would honour.
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