Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras put his leftist government and the IMF “on the same page” as far as the country’s debt issue is concerned, taking to Twitter immediately after his meeting in Beijing with the Fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde.
“Meeting with Chr. Lagarde today in Beijing. Despite our disagreements on policy issues, we’re on the same page regarding the Greek Debt … Essential reduction of debt is crucial in order to end the financial crisis and turn the economy back to growth…”
While the beleaguered leftist-rightist coalition government is at loggerheads with the Fund over the latter’s demand for more structural reforms and market-friendly policies in bailout-dependent Greece, Athens and the IMF agree over a need for debt relief – albeit for different reasons.
For the Tsipras government debt relief is viewed as an imperative milestone in overturning its collapsing popularity and pointing to at least one major success; for the Washington D.C.-based Fund specific debt relief measures are necessary to ensure that the Greek debt is “sustainable.” The latter would satisfy the Fund’s charter, its officials have repeatedly stated.
In echoing his government’s leitmotif over the past year, Tsipras said a substantive reduction in the debt is a condition for the country’s complete exit from the financial crisis and the Greek economy’s rapid recovery.
