Gerry Rice, Communications Department Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said in a press briefing on Thursday that the organization is working closely with Europe to keep Greece in the Eurozone and they are flexible in negotiations. Answering a question where a reporter said that the Greek authorities present the IMF as the bad policeman, Rice replied that he does not accept that description and said, “we are flexible, we are open to looking at all options, but we must insist on reaching the objectives of the program… So we are open to different ideas, different options, different ways we can get there.” In the question if the Fund is making contingency plans in case Greece defaults and there is no agreement, the IMF representative answered, “Our baseline assumption is that Greece remains in the Eurozone, that’s what the Greek government has stated as its objective and we support that objective and are working towards it. I also said a couple of weeks ago that it is our job to look at different scenarios, in different countries. That is something that we do for all countries.” Meanwhile, Poul Thomsen, Director of IMF’s European Department, said on Thursday that there is little progress in negotiations with the Greek side. However, he welcomed the fact that the negotiations coordination is now conducted by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. According to Greek correspondents in Washington, Thomsen said that a deal for partial disbursement of aid funds is possible. The points where there is convergence are the value added tax raises, the changes in the tax system and bad loans. The issues of pensions, labor market legislation, administrative reforms and fiscal policy remain thorny. Finally, Thomsen said that the Greek negotiation team is not providing all the data and figures needed, but added that he hopes that there will be progress when negotiations on a technical level restart on Monday in Brussels.
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