IMF Mulling 'Approval in Principle' for Greek Programme, Rice Says
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is currently mulling the option of "approval in principle" for Greece's programme with financing contingent on the necessary debt relief, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice confirmed on Thursday.
Rice said that the Fund considers such an approval in principle to be the second-best choice, since "the IMF's primary objective remains the full package, of reforms plus debt relief," that will allow the IMF to approve financing for Greece. For this to happen, however, in addition to the legislation of reforms there must also be sufficient clarification of the measures that will be adopted to relieve Greece's debt that they "add up", he said.
Rice said that the talks on Greece were continuing and that progress has been made. However, given Greece's higher financing needs in July and in order to avoid "undesirable" situations of the sort that have occurred in the past, the IMF was prepared to consider "approval in principle" as it had done for certain countries during the 1980s, he added, though this option had not yet been presented to the IMF's board.
ANA-MPA