Reuters Athens/London
GREECE cannot make debt repayments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month unless it achieved a deal with creditors, its interior minister said yesterday, the most explicit remarks yet from Athens about the likelihood of default if talks fail.
Shut out of bond markets and with bailout aid locked, cash-strapped Athens has been scraping state coffers to meet debt obligations and to pay wages and pensions.
After four months of talks with its euro zone partners and the IMF, the country’s leftist-led government is still scrambling for a deal that could release up to e7.2 billion (R94.15bn) in remaining aid to avert bankruptcy.
“The four installments for the IMF in June are e1.6bn. This money will not be given and is not there to be given,” Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis told Greek Mega TV’s weekend show. Asked about his concern over a credit event if Athens misses a payment, he said: “We are not seeking this, we don’t want it, it is not our strategy. Things have matured for a deal of logic.”
Optimism
“We are discussing, based on our contained optimism, that there will be a strong agreement (with lenders) so that the country will be able to breathe. This is the bet,” Voutsis said.
Previously, the Athens government has said it is in danger of running out of money soon without a deal, but has insisted it still plans to make all upcoming payments.
The government is under pressure to agree to more cuts and reforms to secure the funding, but opposes measures which it says make the situation worse by preventing recovery from one of the deepest recessions in modern times.
Voutsis said the government was determined to fight against the lenders’ strategy of “asphyxiation”.
“This policy of extreme austerity and unemployment in Greece must be hit,” he said.
In an effort to placate the hard left faction of his Syriza party, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Saturday the government was on a final stretch towards a deal, but would not accept ”humiliating terms”.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Greece had made “enormous strides” at reaching a deal with its lenders to avert bankruptcy, but it was now up to the institutions to do their bit.