Greece has paid in full its arrears to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) equivalent to some EUR 2 B, the global lender said on Monday. “Greece is therefore no longer in arrears to the IMF,” Gerry Rice, Director of Communications at the IMF, said in a statement. As the IMF has already said, it is ready “to continue assisting Greece in its efforts to return to financial stability and growth,” Rice added. The repayment of debt arrears became possible after the EU approved a short-term bridge loan of EUR 7.16 B to Greece last week to allow the cash-strapped country to meet debt repayments to the IMF and the European Central Bank while an agreement on a third bailout package of up to EUR 86 B is still being ratified. Greece was unable to make a EUR 456 M debt repayment to the IMF on 13 July after failing to pay a EUR 1.5 B loan installment which fell due on June 30. A week ago, Greece and the leaders of the eurozone reached an agreement on granting a third bailout package to the country in exchange for painful economic reforms involving tax hikes and pension cuts.
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