Greece denies will delay IMF payment without new aid

[ATHENS] Greece's government denied on Wednesday it would delay a payment to the International Monetary Fund due on April 9, after the interior minister was quoted as saying Athens would take the step if it did not get fresh aid from lenders.

"There is no chance that Greece will not meet its obligations to the IMF on April 9," government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told Reuters in response to the comments by the minister to Germany's Spiegel.

Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis told Spiegel that if foreign creditors do not send it further funds by April 9, the government would first pay salaries and pensions first and then come to an agreement with lenders on paying the IMF late.

Greece is rapidly running out of cash but its eurozone and IMF lenders have frozen aid until it implements reforms, with talks bogged down over the measures Athens must take. It must make a payment of about 430 million euros to the IMF next week.

Mr Sakellaridis said talks with lenders had covered common ground and that the government expected a "positive outcome" at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

REUTERS