Greek finance minister: IMF and EU can wait for repayment of loans

In a recent interview, Greece’s finance minister sought to play down swirling rumors of a coming default, but did suggest that the country might delay repayment of International Monetary Fund and European Union loans: Greek Finance Minister Georges Papaconstantinou said in an interview published on Monday he believed Greece’s debt was sustainable and there was ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

In a recent interview, Greece's finance minister sought to play down swirling rumors of a coming default, but did suggest that the country might delay repayment of International Monetary Fund and European Union loans:

In a recent interview, Greece’s finance minister sought to play down swirling rumors of a coming default, but did suggest that the country might delay repayment of International Monetary Fund and European Union loans:

Greek Finance Minister Georges Papaconstantinou said in an interview published on Monday he believed Greece’s debt was sustainable and there was no question of a restructuring.

Papaconstantinou told the French daily Liberation a better solution would be to delay repayment of the country’s 110 billion euro bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

According to this Dow Jones report (subscription site), the IMF could delay repayment by shifting the existing loans from one program to another, and is open to doing so.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

Tags: EU, IMF

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