Greek Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis was scheduled to meet IMF managing director Christine Lagarde in Washington yesterday ahead of the country’s Thursday deadline for its next payment to the fund. Varoufakis and Lagarde were to have informal discussions on the Greek government’s reform program, according to the IMF and a Greek Ministry of Finance statement released on Saturday.
A government source told reporters that Varoufakis “will also meet with US Treasury officials” tomorrow, including US Under Secretary for International Affairs Nathan Sheets.
The meetings come amid speculation that Athens might fail to pay a 460 million euro (US$501.17 million) IMF installment if forced to choose between the IMF and paying government workers.
Greece has not received the funds remaining in its 240 billion euro EU-IMF bailout package as Brussels has demanded it first approve Greece’s revised reform plan. However, Greek Alternate Minister of Revenue Dimitris Mardas on Saturday said that Athens does have the money needed for the IMF payment.
“The payment to the IMF will take place on April 9. There is money for the payment of salaries, pensions and whatever else is needed in the next week,” he told Greek television network Mega TV.
The IMF meanwhile denied a report in German magazine Der Spiegel that it had withdrawn IMF staff temporarily in protest at the Greek government’s slowness in implementing reforms.
Greek Minister of Productive Reconstruction, the Environment and Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis, who leads the far-left wing of the SYRIZA party, accused Greece’s European partners of being annoyed at having to work with a left-wing government.
“The institutions and especially the German establishment are treating the government with doctrinal superstition and the country like a semi-colonial state,” he told the Agora newspaper. “They are not interested in the content of our proposals, but they are bothered those proposals are coming from a radical left-led government... That annoys them to the point of hysteria.”
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has stepped up his courting of Russia. Tsipras, who was already scheduled to visit Russia next month for its annual Victory Day parade, is now also set to travel to Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tsipras has made no secret of seeking closer ties to Russia.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
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