IMF open to extending terms on official Greek loans

The International Monetary Fund has said it would consider delaying Greece’s repayment of its international bailout money but is warning that a major restructuring of its debt would create “untold problems” in the euro zone.

Bob Traa, the IMF’s senior representative in Greece, speaking at a banking conference, praised Athens for making progress in tackling its debt crisis but said it can’t afford to relax the pace of reforms.

“Greece is at a critical juncture and has no time to waste, now is not the time to slow down,” Traa said.

On repayments he hinted the IMF was open to other solutions: “Stretching out payment terms, for instance in loans from euro area partners and the IMF, is a reasonable thing to think about because we have amortisation right at the end of the programme. This is a technical issue we can think about.”

At the same time a senior Greek official said that the government expected parliament to vote by the end of June on its medium-term austerity plan. That is a condition for a further international bailout by the IMF and European Union.

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