Greece doubts it will be able to cover its multiple loans by July
GREECE will struggle to make debt repayments to the IMF and the European Central Bank this year, its finance minister said yesterday.
“We will not have liquidity problems for the public sector. But we will definitely have problems in making debt payments to the IMF now and to the ECB in July,” said finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. His remarks come a day after the Eurogroup of finance ministers agreed to a four-month bailout extension for Greece.
Greece must repay an IMF loan of €1.6bn (£1.17bn) that matures in March and €7.5bn in maturing bonds held by the ECB in July and August. Greece is due to receive €7.2bn in remaining EU and IMF bailout funds, but German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said Greece would not be paid if it does not fulfil the conditions.
“This is what I tell my counterparts: if you think it is in your interest to shoot down progressive governments like ours… then you should fear the worst,” said Varoufakis in response.