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Christine Lagarde and Yanis Varoufakis Virginia Mayo/PA Wire
Deal Done
'We will pay': Greece agrees to IMF loan repayment
The country’s finance minister has promised deep reform.
GREECE HAS AGREED to meet its next loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund.
The development comes after an “informal” meeting between IMF chief Christine Lagarde and Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.
According to Lagarde, the €460 million repayment will be made by 9 April.
There had been doubts over whether Greece would meet the installment, with suggestions last week from a cabinet minister that its priorities were wages and pensions.
“Continuing uncertainty is not in Greece’s interest and I welcomed confirmation by the minister that payment owing to the Fund would be forthcoming on April 9th,” Lagarde, however, said in a statement.
In his own remarks to reporters, Varoufakis said Greece intends to meet all of its obligations.
The government, which has been locked out of bailout funds since last August, needs to agree reform proposals with the EU and the IMF to ensure it has access to borrowing.
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