“The Greek authorities have informed the fund today that they plan to bundle the country’s four June payments into one, which is now due on June 30″, Gerry Rice, IMF spokesperson, said, citing rules allowing debtor countries to regroup “multiple principal payments falling due in a calendar month”.
Some analysts pointed to the rising risk of a political explosion in Greece as creditors seek to force Alexis Tsipras’s radical Syriza government to break some of its manifesto commitments in exchange for €7.2 billion (£5.3 billion) in bailout funds.
The leftist prime minister declined to give a deadline for the talks, stating instead: “There is no time limit… our limit is reaching a deal that is viable and fair”.
“I would like to believe that this proposal was an unfortunate moment for Europe, or at least a bad negotiating trick, and will very soon be withdrawn by the same people who thought it up”, said the prime minister.
The Greek government can not consent to absurd proposals, ‘ he said. “As such, stabilization in the euro is likely to be more linked to the selloff in German bunds running its course than to the specific outcome of Greek negotiations”.
European stocks fell and Greek bond yields shot higher as investors anxious that four months of bitter negotiations between Greece and its worldwide creditors might yet end in failure. Not since Zambia in the mid-1980s has a country made the request, according to the IMF.
Mr. Tsipras repeated Friday that Greece’s counterproposal is the only viable solution.
The current phase of Greece’s crisis is nearing its conclusion as the country runs out of money after four months of deadlock.
Her spokesman said Tsipras wouldn’t be invited to the G7.
Greece sent its own 47-page compromise proposal to lenders this week, calling for low primary surplus targets and a reversal of labour and pension reforms enacted at the behest of worldwide lenders in recent years.
Greece needs to clinch a deal to unlock fresh funds before a bailout program with the EU and IMF expires at the end of June.
Tsipras is set to address an emergency session of parliament later amid growing discontent within his left-wing Syriza party over demands for new austerity measures from bailout lenders.
Senior eurozone officials are due to hold a teleconference later Thursday, officials told AFP. Economists polled by Reuters expect the report will show U.S. employers added 225,000 jobs in May, which would reinforce the case for a September move.
Avgi, the Syriza party newspaper headlined Thursday’s edition: “A continuation of austerity?”
Another demand for Greece to drop a special sales tax rate for its tourism-vital islands drew a dramatic retort from Mr Tsipras’ flamboyant coalition partner, the nationalist Panos Kammenos.
An EU source said Tsipras could return to Brussels for further talks late on Friday night or Saturday, possibly along with top IMF and ECB officials.
Only a few hours earlier, IMF chief Christine Lagarde told a Washington news conference audience that she was “confident” Greece would make the Friday payment.
