International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde this week repeated the Fund’s standing line of a necessity for debt relief to be extended to Greece, while adding that interventions must be “decided” beforehand.
The latest statements place the Fund on the side of the beleaguered Greek government, which has requested debt relief before a latest round of austerity measures for 2019 and 2020 are implemented.
Moreover, in a somewhat new development, Lagarde said the Fund was considering some sort of lending involvement in the Greek program, nevertheless saying a final decision is only “halfway” there.
Finally, she said the Greek side is moving in the right direction, in terms of reforms, in praising results of an April 7 Eurogroup that witnessed an agreement, in principle, between Athens and its creditors over the new austerity measures.
Meanwhile, in an Easter message from Athens, the Netherlands’ ambassador to Greece, Caspar Veldkamp, posted this statement: “ …A diversity of positions by creditor countries and Institutions needed be taken into account.
“Completion of the review will soon be possible. Subsequently, debt-relief measures for the medium term will be specified, on the basis of what was outlined by the Eurogroup in May of last year. Such measures can be defined and decided upon this Spring, to be applied if needed after the end of the program in 2018.”
