ATHENS: 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.”
