IMF says its priority is to help Greeks through difficult period

Gazzetta team
IMF says its priority is to help Greeks through difficult period
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) priority remains helping the Greek people through this difficult period of economic turmoil, the Fund said in a question and answer text published on its website on Wednesday.

The IMF said it believes that the best approach is through “the balanced approach laid out in a recent blog by the IMF’s Chief Economist, with Greece taking steps to reform its economy and the country’s European partners providing additional financing and debt relief.”

The Fund also said it knows through experience that economic change is hard and takes time.

It also said that the immediate effect for Greece not paying is that it can no longer receive financing from the IMF under the existing extended arrangement and the Fund will not approve new financing to the country until it clears its arrears.

It clarified that it does not extend payment terms as a matter of longstanding policy, while it notes that the IMF’s shareholders will not suffer losses.