ATHENS: The government is scrambling to find the funds it needs to avoid defaulting on the International Monetary Fund on May 6, when it is due to repay a €200m loan.
Panic over the pensions payment “suggests that this comparably small IMF payment will be a headache to scrape together and underlines that Greece might well struggle to stay financially afloat much beyond May,” said Robert Kuenzel of Daiwa Capital Markets.
Greece has received no bail-out cash since August last year, as international lenders have squeezed economic reforms and imposed stringent austerity on the debt-laden country. Talks over securing the funds continued in Brussels on Friday, ahead of a vital meeting of eurozone finance ministers on May 11.