ATHENS: Cash-strapped Greece has made a €200m (£148m) repayment to the International Monetary Fund, as its long-stalled bailout negotiations appeared to make some progress.
The country has a much larger repayment due next week that it will struggle to make. On May 12, Greece must repay about €770m (£554m) to the IMF – and it is not clear if it will be able to meet both that payment and pay some pensions and salaries due mid-month. Greece once more faces the possibility of defaulting on its debts in the next few weeks, which could set off a chain reaction that jeopardises its membership in Europe’s joint currency.
Its left-wing government has been locked in negotiations with its creditors and the institutions overseeing its bailout for the past three months over reforms required to unlock the remaining €7.2bn (£5.3bn) installment of its €240b (£178bn) bailout.
