[Dhaka Tribune] Greece emptied an emergency IMF holding account to repay 750 million euros ($839 million) due to the international lender, a Greek central bank official said, avoiding default but underscoring the dire state of the country's finances.| Time to sell some of the smaller islands? |
Member countries of the International Monetary Fund are required to keep a holding account which may be used for emergencies but the money can only be used with the lender's approval, the central bank official said.
A government official told Rooters that Athens used about 650 million euros from the holding account and 100 million euros from its cash reserves to make the payment on Monday.
The Greek central bank official confirmed the account had been tapped after government officials met the central bank chief last week to figure out how to make the payment.
"The negative is that the account was emptied but in order to avert a default it was necessary to weigh the options," the Bank of Greece official said.
Made a day early, the payment calmed immediate fears of a Greek default, but Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Monday the liquidity situation was "terribly urgent" and a deal to release further funds was needed in the next couple of weeks.
The IMF on Tuesday confirmed Athens had made its payment to the fund.
But it declined to give details about how it was made.
"Regarding aspects of the payment that some of you have asked confirmation about, we don't publish information on the details of members' transactions with the Fund," an IMF spokeswoman said in response to questions about how Greece made the payment.
Central bank chief Yannis Stournaras met Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis and Deputy Foreign Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, a top negotiator in talks with lenders, on two occasions last week on how to meet the May IMF repayment, the central bank official said.