The new Greek government has not formally approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to table its proposals, according to the organization’s spokesperson, Gerry Rice. Rice said there is no official dialogue between the Greek government and IMF. “Therefore, we can neither assess the state of the economy nor discuss further steps,” the IMF spokesperson stressed. The statement comes following confusion as to whether the IMF and the new Greek government have discussed the future of the country’s financial aid. The IMF holds a small portion of Greece’s overall debt and the new government has so far largely focused its efforts to establish a new loan agreement with its European partners. Earlier this week, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis stated that Greece would no longer deal with the Troika inspectors tasked with assessing Greece’s implementation of the current program, but would only deal with the individual bodies represented in the Troika at a leadership level. Athens is seeking a new agreement that will relax certain requirements in the bailout program. Varoufakis has argued in favor of a renegotiation that would reduce the level of primary surpluses (but not return to primary deficits) Greece was required to achieve in order to enable the economy to grow again. However Greece’s lenders – and Germany in particular – seem adamant that Greece should stick to the previous agreement. According to Rice, while the Greek Finance Minister reportedly had an informal meeting with Poul Thomsen over the weekend, the two did not discuss the specifics of the support program.
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