Greece to make April IMF payment, but uncertainty reigns

Greece is due to make its 459 million euro ($495 million) April loan payment to the IMF Thursday following days of uncertainty, but the European nation’s ability to honour its debts remains a source of acute anxiety to creditors. As Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras launched a two-day charm offensive in Moscow on Wednesday, the order for the payment had already reached the Bank of Greece, a source familiar with the details told AFP. Additionally, interest payments of just under 400 million euros and the renewal of 2.4 billion euros in six- and three-month treasury bonds due to mature on April 14 and 17 were also assured, according to the source.

And the real drama begins in summer when we’ve got to negotiate a third 30 billion euro package for Greece. On balance, we think the deal will be there (on April 24 at the Eurogroup meeting) but there’s a lot of politicking going on.

Michael Gallagher, Director of Research at IDEAGlobal

Greek banks are dependent on the European Central Bank for financing, but the eurozone’s central bank no longer accepts Greek sovereign bonds as collateral for loans. IMF chief Christine Lagarde said late Sunday that Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis had pledged to make the payment on time in a meeting in Washington, but that failed to quell speculation that the hard-left government was finding it increasingly difficult to raise money to pay its debts. Since 2010, Athens has received two successive loans from the EU and the IMF totalling 240 billion euros in exchange for tough austerity measures and sweeping economic reforms.

I think that this government will be able to do the job, being a bit more radical they will be able collect taxes a bit more aggressively than previous governments’ have.

Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group

Europe Greek debt