US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday more-or-less praised the IMF’s handling of the Greek program, when fielding a question regarding the Trump administration’s involvement in Euro zone financial relief.
“…The IMF was very helpful in regards to stabilizing the Greece situation and working with Europe. I think that could have been a major problem this summer that would have had significant concerns to the markets and the economy, and I think she (IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde) was a very important part of those negotiations,” Mnuchin told reporters at a press briefing in Washington D.C.
When queried over the level of US support to the Fund, and by extension towards the current Greek bailout program, the US official reminded, as he said, that the IMF’s commitment to Greece is “quite small.”
“I’m not even sure that Greece is necessarily going to use that, so I think the significance was really more of a stamp of approval. And, again, there’s no direct cost to the US or the taxpayers,” he said, adding that his administration remains both supportive of the D.C.-based Fund, but will also review whether “we’re spending the taxpayers’ money properly.”
