Greece's
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had at one stage warned foreign creditors that
Athens would not repay 750 million euros due to the IMF in May unless they
provided it with immediate liquidity, the Kathimerini newspaper reported on
Saturday.
Citing
European sources, the newspaper said Tsipras made the threat in a May 8 letter
to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, IMF head Christine Lagarde and
ECB President Mario Draghi.
The Greek
government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In his letter,
Tsipras said Greece was starved of domestic sources of liquidity as it has been
meeting its domestic and foreign debt obligations despite not having received
any aid under its 240 billion euro bailout since last August, the newspaper
said.
To restore
liquidity, Tsipras proposed the ECB raise Greece's treasury bill issuance
ceiling; a partial disbursement of loan tranches worth 7.3 billion euros; the
return of 1.9 billion euros in profits the ECB made by buying Greek bonds since
2010; and the return of 1.2 billion euros in the euro zone's bailout fund, the
EFSF.
The letter
was viewed as "possible bluff" and reinforced a climate of mistrust
between the two sides, the newspaper said.
Greece's
cash reserves are dwindling and negotiations between Tsipras's new left-led
government and its lenders over a cash-for-reforms deal have been fraught with
delays for months.
On Friday,
Tsipras said the two sides had found some common ground, but the government
would not back down from its red lines such as no cuts to wages and pensions.
(Πηγή: reuters.com)
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