{"id":6902,"date":"2016-05-06T12:41:31","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T09:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/?p=6902"},"modified":"2016-05-06T12:41:31","modified_gmt":"2016-05-06T09:41:31","slug":"imf-tells-eurozone-to-start-greek-debt-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/archives\/6902","title":{"rendered":"IMF tells eurozone to start Greek debt talks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-1 counter-arrowed facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbestinsurance.gr%2Fa1%2Farchives%2F6902\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6902\" data-url=\"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap arrowed\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-1 counter-arrowed twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbestinsurance.gr%2Fa1%2Farchives%2F6902&text=IMF+tells+eurozone+to+start+Greek+debt+talks\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6902\" data-url=\"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap arrowed\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div><p>IMF tells eurozone to start Greek debt talks.The International Monetary Fund has told eurozone finance ministers they must immediately begin negotiations to grant debt relief for Greece despite German opposition, upending carefully-orchestrated negotiations ahead of an emergency meeting on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter to all 19 ministers sent on Thursday night and obtained by the Financial Times, Christine Lagarde, the IMF chief, says stalemated talks with Athens to find \u20ac3bbn in \u201ccontingency\u201d budget cuts, which have gone on for a month, had become fruitless and that debt relief must be put on the table immediately \u2013 or risk losing IMF participation in the programme.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe that specific [economic reform] measures, debt restructuring, and financing must now be discussed contemporaneously,\u201d Ms Lagarde wrote. \u201cFor us to support Greece with a new IMF arrangement, it is essential that the financing and debt relief from Greece\u2019s European partners are based on fiscal targets that are realistic because they are supported by credible measures to reach them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[expander_maker more=&#8221;\u0394\u03b9\u03b1\u03b2\u03ac\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c3\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03b1&#8221; less=&#8221;\u0394\u03b9\u03b1\u03b2\u03ac\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5 \u03bb\u03b9\u03b3\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03b1&#8221;]The IMF has come under intense criticism in Athens, where senior officials in Alexis Tsipras\u2019 government have blamed Poul Thomsen, the IMF\u2019s European chief, for making excessive austerity demands and holding up an agreement on the \u20ac86bn bailout\u2019s first review.<\/p>\n<p>But Ms Lagarde\u2019s letter makes clear the IMF wants less austerity, arguing that the budget surplus targets agreed last year between the EU and Athens \u2013 a primary surplus of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic target by 2018 \u2013 is unrealistic and should be drastically reduced. A primary surplus is a country\u2019s budget surplus when debt payments are not included.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA clarification is needed to clear unfounded allegations that the IMF is being inflexible, calling for unnecessary new fiscal measures and \u2013 as a result \u2013 causing a delay in negotiations and the disbursement of urgently needed funds,\u201d Ms Lagarde wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Originally, Monday\u2019s eurogroup meeting \u2013 which was to be held last week but was rescheduled after negotiations stalled \u2013 was seen as a make-or-break session, with both sides needing to reach a deal before Britain\u2019s EU referendum campaign intensifies next month before a June 23 vote.<\/p>\n<p>Athens is facing \u20ac3.5bn in debt payments in July that it needs bailout aid to pay, and EU officials have told Greek government officials they do not want messy negotiations to continue during the Brexit campaign \u2013 meaning if no agreement is reached this month, leaders will not begin discussions again until just weeks before a possible default.<\/p>\n<p>Similar last-minute talks a year ago rattled the Greek economy and raised questions about whether Greece could be ejected from the eurozone.<\/p>\n<p>Relations between the IMF and Athens, already strained after last year\u2019s brinkmanship, have reached a new low in recent weeks following WikiLeaks\u2019 publication of a transcript of a private teleconference between Mr Thomsen and other IMF officials \u2013 a transcript Greek officials claimed showed the IMF was negotiating in bad faith.<\/p>\n<p>Athanasios Papachristopoulos, a Greek MP from the junior coalition member in Mr Tsipras\u2019 Syriza-led government, on Thursday appeared to admit the recording was made by Greek authorities and given to WikiLeaks. Mr Papachristopoulos told the Greek parliament the government had decided to \u201cblurt out\u201d the transcript \u2013 though he later went on national television to insist he was misinterpreted.<\/p>\n<p>In her letter, Ms Lagarde writes that all sides have nearly agreed on a core set of economic reforms that would cut the Greek budget by 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2018; some officials believe that list could be finalised at Monday\u2019s eurogroup.<\/p>\n<p>But Ms Lagarde sticks by the IMF\u2019s assessment that such reforms would only produce a primary surplus of 1.5 per cent in 2018 \u2013 not the 3.5 per cent the EU has mandated. Instead, Ms Lagarde urges the EU to go change its target to 1.5 per cent, a sign she believes Brussels is demanding too much austerity of Athens.<\/p>\n<p>Source : <a href=\"https:\/\/next.ft.com\/content\/eb9e5ab8-1367-11e6-91da-096d89bd2173#axzz47rmdYHAx\">link<\/a>[\/expander_maker]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-1 counter-arrowed facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbestinsurance.gr%2Fa1%2Farchives%2F6902\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6902\" data-url=\"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap arrowed\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-1 counter-arrowed twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbestinsurance.gr%2Fa1%2Farchives%2F6902&text=IMF+tells+eurozone+to+start+Greek+debt+talks\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6902\" data-url=\"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap arrowed\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div><p>IMF tells eurozone to start Greek debt talks.The International Monetary Fund has told eurozone finance ministers they must immediately begin negotiations to grant debt relief for Greece despite German opposition, upending carefully-orchestrated negotiations ahead of an emergency meeting on Monday. In a letter to all 19 ministers sent on Thursday night and obtained by the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6903,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6902\/revisions\/6903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}