Wall Street Journal
May 12, 2011
The International Monetary Fund has been considering extending the repayment schedule for its loan program to Greece should Athens need more time to complete the program, a fund spokeswoman said Thursday.
The fund made public earlier this year it had proposed that Greece's program could be moved from its current stand-by lending facility, which usually has a three-year repayment schedule, to its extended fund facility, which is for repayments up to 10 years.
But IMF spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson on Thursday gave the clearest insight yet as to why the IMF has been considering the option if the current program is sustainable.
"We are open to the idea of a conversion, and the idea for that is to give more time so that...if Greece needs more time to get to a position where they are...finished with the program, an [extended fund facility] allows for a longer period," Ms. Atkinson said at a regular fund meeting.
Although many economists, analysts and euro-government officials have said that Greece will need extra cash above and beyond the current joint European Union-IMF bailout program, IMF officials still contend Greece's debt is sustainable under the current program.
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