Athens does not need help from IMF: Greek min.
The Greek minister of state says his country does not need more help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Europe would be better off without the US-based institution.
Nikos Pappas’ remarks came ahead of a summit meeting of the European Union to determine whether the country would remain in the eurozone or leave the bloc.
"I am one of those who think that the IMF should not be in Europe. I hope we find a solution without its participation," Pappas, who is close to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, told the daily Ethnos on Sunday, AFP reported.
The minister added that Europe "has no need" to the Washington-based IMF, because its agenda shows that it "is not at all European" and Europe "can continue without it and its money."
The IMF was asked by the EU to intervene and help rescue Greece at the end of 2009, when the debt-ridden country was no longer able to borrow on international markets.
The EU was supposed to provide 240 billion euro in loans to Greece in exchange for drastic austerity measures and reforms implemented by the Greek government. However, EU’s role in saving the crisis-hit country will end at the end of this month, while IMF is expected to continue its involvement up to March 2016.
During past nine months, bailout talks between Greece and its international lenders – the IMF, the European Central Bank, and the European Union - have been in a position of deadlock over the payment of the last tranche of Greece’s bailout, which amounts to 7.2-billion-euro.
Greek government argues that continuation of the bailout should be aimed at helping the country's devastated economy without enforcement of additional austerity measures.
"The agreement should be of a type and timeframe so that it would restore confidence," Pappas told the Greek newspaper, adding, "It shouldn't be short-term which would only lead to further uncertainty."
According to the terms of the bailout deal with international lenders, Greece should make a 1.6-billion-euro payment to the IMF at the end of this month, while another 6.7-billion-euro payment is due to the ECB in July and August. Geek officials have already announced that their country would not be able to make those payments.
Economic analysts have been warning for a long time that Greece’s default on its debt to international creditors can trigger a cascade of events which may lead to Athens’s exit from the eurozone, known as Grexit.
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