Pressure rises on Greece as IMF rebuffs repayment delay

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday played down talk of Greece delaying its debt payments, maintaining pressure on Athens as it runs out of money to pay. With an April 24 deadline looming for Greece to reach a deal on new financing from EU creditors, markets are fearful that it could fail to pay its debts and split from the eurozone.
Lagarde cut off one possible avenue of relief, saying there was little chance that Greece would be able to delay payments of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Fund next month.
"We have never had an advanced economy ask for payment delays," the Fund's managing director told reporters in Washington, at the opening of the IMF-World Bank spring meetings. "It's clearly not a course of action that would actually fit, or be recommendable in the current situation," Lagarde said.
"Payment delays have not been granted by the board of the IMF in the last 30 years." Greece has denied reports that it has already formally asked for a delay in payments to the IMF, and Lagarde's response suggested that any such approach would not be welcomed.
In this, the IMF is closing ranks with Greece's European Union creditors as the clock ticks on Athens reaching a new financing deal with its bailout lenders before its next debt payment comes due.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' new Greek government has sought an easing of austerity and reform conditions on the IMF-EU bailout loans, but creditors have refused to budge. "We continue to work with other institutions and the Greek authorities. Talks are ongoing. However at this stage, we are not satisfied with the level of progress," European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Thursday. The official target for an interim agreement is the April 24 meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Riga, Latvia. Riga was meant "to be able to take stock of the situation (but) we have to have more progress than we actually have," Schinas said. A European Union source, meanwhile, said that "nothing has happened over the past few days. Absolutely nothing."