Lagarde confirms Greece has made €459m IMF loan payment

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde has confirmed Greece made a crucial €459m payment to the fund today.

"Yes, I've got my money back," Ms Lagarde replied when asked at an Atlantic Council event whether Greece had made the payment.

Earlier, a Greek finance ministry source had confirmed the payment, saying: "The payment order has been given."

Greece's precarious finances have been closely monitored since the election of its new government in January.

The government is engaged in difficult talks to renegotiate the terms of its EU-IMF bailout, and as a result has received no money left in the multi-billion loan package.

Later this month, Athens has to make interest payments of nearly €400m and roll over €2.4bn in six and three-month treasury bills due to mature on 14 April and 17. The government yesterday raised €1.14bn in six-month treasury bills. This morning it announced the sale of another €625m in three-month bills next week.

Greek Prime Minster Alexis Tsipras met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday, but talk of financial aid was denied by both sides.

"The Greek side has not addressed us with any requests for aid," Mr Putin told a joint news conference after the Kremlin talks.

"We discussed cooperation in various sectors of the economy, including the possibility of developing major energy projects."

Mr Tsipras added: "Greece is not a beggar going around to countries asking them to solve its economic problem, an economic crisis that doesn't only concern Greece but is a European crisis."

Elsewhere, senior eurozone finance officials met in Brussels for an update on slow-moving negotiations between Greece and its creditors on a comprehensive package of reforms they require to release urgently needed remaining bailout funds.

Greece submitted a 26-page reform list last week but negotiators say it was vague and optimistic on revenue numbers and omitted key issues of pensions and labour markets.

A eurozone official said no breakthrough was expected at the meeting, and the crunch was likely to come at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Riga on 24 April.

Before then, many of the ministers will have a chance to meet on the sidelines of the IMF's spring meetings in Washington from 17-19 April.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis met IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and US Treasury Undersecretary Nathan Sheets in Washington to seek support for Greece's position.

The Greek finance ministry said Ms Lagarde had pledged the "utmost flexibility" in assessing Greek reform commitments, and the United States had offered to act as an "honest broker".

Greece's jobless rate eased to 25.7% in January from a downwardly revised 25.9% rate in the previous month, statistics agency ELSTAT said today.

January's reading, based on seasonally adjusted data, is the lowest since October 2014 when unemployment stood at 25.9%.  The jobless rate hit a record high of 28% in September 2013. Greek unemployment has come down from record highs as the economy stabilised last year after a severe slump, but remains more than double the euro zone's average of 11.3% in February. Greece's economy grew by 0.7% last year, with recovery expected to gain traction this year.

(Πηγή: www.rte.ie)