Greece missed another IMF payment last night
Raising virtually no eyebrows at all, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced last night that Greece has missed another payment – this time of about €456m (£323.9m).
Lest we forget, Greece is already in arrears to the IMF, to the tune of €1.6bn, after it missed a payment at the end of June. A statement by the IMF said this new payment brings what it owes up to about €2bn – although the payment is denominated in the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket of currencies.
Gerry Rice, the IMF's spokesman, confirmed last night that Greece had missed its payment, and added that Greece's request for an extension of the repayment due in June "is expected to be discussed by the executive board in the coming weeks".
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faces trying to persuade his coalition to accept painful proposals agreed with the country's lenders yesterday. Although factions of Syriza, Tsipras' own, far-left, party, have said they'll rebel, it's likely the measures will pass thanks to pro-European parties.