IMF Insists On Greek Debt Restructuring

Those of you who thought that the Greek tragedy had melted away are wrong.

The IMF is sticking to its guns that the eurozone must commit to a formal restructuring of Greece’s debt before the IMF will lend anymore money to Greece.

Bloomberg quotes David Lipton, the IMF’s first deputy managing director, as saying that pledges to review Greece’s debt servicing won’t be enough unless they’re accompanied by specific terms for paring back the borrowing burden.

Greece received an 86 billion-euro bailout in August from the eurozone, which now wants the IMF to provide further support.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has requested a new IMF program, which would replace a dormant one that will expire in March.

Germany, and other eurozone nations, wants the IMF to play a financial and technical role in shoring up Greece’s economy and restoring the nation’s access to financial markets. Unfortunately the IMF won't play ball until there is debt restructuring, which is an anathema to the eurozone.

The result will be stalemate, until Greece is on the edge of financial collapse again!