The minister, George Papaconstantinou said that Greece has no intention of falling into arrears on their financial obligations to creditors to repay less than they owed. After the talks this weekend in the main offic1000e of the International Monetary Fund, said he expected the IMF board in early May approve the request by Greece for about 13,400 million dollars in loans.
“We are confident that this will be done over time and continue to be able to finance the public debt Greek absolutely no problem,” said Papaconstantinou told reporters.
Moments earlier, the IMF chief said negotiations on a large emergency loan for Greece were accelerating and expressed optimism that an agreement before the deadline next month in Athens have to do your payment.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he had held constructive talks this weekend in Washington with the minister Papaconstantinou on the loan application made 13 400 million dollars to the IMF.
Greece also hopes to obtain loans for about 40,000 million dollars from a group of 16 European countries.
Strauss-Kahn said that everyone involved in the bailout Greece understand “the need for speed” to the seriousness of the debt crisis.
“I have confidence that we can conclude these discussions in time to meet the needs of Greece,” said Strauss-Kahn in a statement. Athens, which also plans to implement austerity measures, facing the payment of 11,300 million dollars of debt on May 19.
“We are all aware of the seriousness of the situation and valiant efforts made by the Greek people, “said Strauss-Kahn.
The increasingly serious crisis of Greek sovereign debt was on Sunday the main issue of concern for financial leaders world, who are ready to conclude a conference in the U.S. capital to discuss the risks facing the global economic recovery.
One danger arises from the strong government budget problems, such as Greece . Another, perhaps more serious is the increasing level of unemployment in developed countries.
Given the increase in the price of money in the international bond market, on Friday formally requested Greece commissioning period of the plan devised less than a month ago as a last resort, to provide money from eurozone countries and the IMF.
But the plan does not contain sufficient funds to prevent Greece incurs a moratorium on payments on its huge sovereign debt. Members of the European Union this year will provide about 40,000 million euros and the IMF about 13,400 million.
Greece needs to borrow for some 54,000 million euros (72.000 billion) this year . He has won almost half of that amount by selling bonds and other obligations of their treasury, but must pay 10-year bonds of EUR 8,500 million which expire on May 19.
Athens adopted as a tough austerity program that reduced the salary of civil servants, freeze pensions and raise taxes.
However, the possibility that Greece pay its obligations became blurred due to long-term prospects for economic growth near zero, and because as a member of the euro zone no longer has to adopt its own currency devaluation, a painful but quick safety valve that could improve the country”s trade competition.