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Greece fails to repay its $1.8 bln debt to global financial regulator — IMF

IMF Spokesman Gerry Rice said that Greece would be able to receive further financial assistance from the global regulator after the country clears its 1.6 billion euro debt

© AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

WASHINGTON, July 1. /TASS/. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that Greece failed to repay its 1.6 billion euro debt [$1.78 billion] to the global financial regulator as the deadline expired on June 30 at 18.00 Washington time [22:00 GMT].

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IMF Spokesman Gerry Rice said that Greece would be able to receive further financial assistance from the global regulator after the country clears its 1.6 billion euro debt.

Since 2010, when Greece’s sovereign debt crisis broke out, Athens received 240 billion euros in two tranches of bailout loans from the EU and the International Monetary Fund [IMF].

Despite a partial debt write-off in 2012, Greece’s sovereign debt exceeded 315 billion euros or 175% of its GDP up to date. This figure was almost three times the debt-to-GDP ratio set for the eurozone countries, which should not exceed 60% of GDP according to the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact.

Greece was scheduled to repay the 1.6 billion-euro loan to the IMF on June 30, which was just an interest payment at a reduced rate. Greece also had the chances of rescuing the situation by resorting to the 7.2 billion-euro loan intended for Greece as part of the second international macro-finance assistance program.

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