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Greece repays €750m loan instalment to IMF earlyMove aims to banish fears of insolvency in Athens but little optimism exists about a breakthrough in bailout talks any time soon
Greece tapped emergency reserves in its holding account at the International Monetary Fund to make a crucial 750 million euro ($839 million) debt payment to the Fund on Monday, two government officials said on Tuesday.With Athens close to running out of cash and a deal with its international creditors still elusive, there had been doubts whether the leftist-led government would pay the IMF or opt to save cash to pay salaries and pensions later this month.Member countries of the IMF have two accounts at the fund - one where their annual quotas are deposited and a holding account which may be used for emergencies.One official told Reuters that Athens used about 650 million euros from the holding account to make the payment."We made use of money in our holding account in the fund," the official said, declining to be named. "The government also used about 100 million of its cash reserves."Made a day early, the payment calmed immediate fears of a Greek default, but Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Monday the liquidity situation was "terribly urgent" and a deal to release further funds was needed in the next couple of weeks.
The office of government spokesperson Gabriel Sakellaridis announced that the cash reserves which have been transferred to the government account in the Bank of Greece amounts to 600.3 million euros.In greater detail, the spokesperson’s announcement indicates that 64.5 million euros were from local government and the remaining 535.8 million euros came from other general government bodies.
