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The IMF will defer Greece’s repayments of the financial support

07 December 2010 / 17:12:57  GRReporter
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Exceptional security measures, violent political responses and civil protests are surrounding the visit of the International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Stors-Kahn in Athens. The guest said that the IMF never goes to countries that have no problems after he met with the Prime Minister George Papandreou and the President Karolos Papoulias. The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund said at a joint press conference with the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that the whole world is impressed by the difficulties the Greek people overcome, and that the elections showed that people understand how urgent the measures are.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn supported the decision of the Euro zone finance ministers for deferring the repayment of 110 billion euros granted to Greece by six years but at the same time he was clear that there is still much work to be done. In his opinion the most important task now is to restore the positive economic growth and this could be expected as early as 2012 according to him. He insisted on liberalization of the labor market, opening of closed professions, effective measures to stop tax evasion and urged both opposition parties and all the people to support the government efforts to cope with these problems.

Policemen and riot forces surrounded the Athens Hilton Hotel, where the head of the International Monetary Fund is staying, still in midday hours. His visit had to end tomorrow, but urgently necessitated changes in his program made it one-day visit. After a while Dominique Strauss-Kahn will speak at a plenary meeting of the Greek Parliament, and then he will answer one question from each party. As we have already informed, the members of the Communist Party of Greece will leave the meeting to protest the policy of the IMF and the Radical Left Coalition announced the guest persona non grata in Greece.

Two protest rallies against the policy of strict financial constraints, which the Greeks associate with the Memorandum signed between the Greek government and the IMF, the European Commission and European Central Bank, will be held in the late afternoon in Athens. Trade unions in the public and private sector organize demonstration for the Memorandum cancellation on Klavtmonos Square at five o’clock in the afternoon and the communist trade union organizes another demonstration on Syntagma Square at seven o’clock in the evening.

The last meeting in the Athens program of Dominique Strauss-Kahn is with the leader of New Democracy Antonis Samaras, who is also a fierce opponent of the Memorandum, and will be held at 07.30 pm.

The visit of the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund is explicably the hot news in all the Greek media. "A lot to be done" was the heading in Naftemboriki Journal. Ethnos and Kathimerini daily newspapers focus on Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s call for wider public support for reforms. "More attention to economic growth" is the heading of the Vima newspaper’s hot news, "Rescheduling is required," announced Ta Nea newspaper.

 

Tags: Dominique Strauss-KahnEconomic crisisGreek external debtIMFDebt rescheduling
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