Greece will make June 5 IMF payment if deal with lenders reached: official

[ATHENS] Greece will make a 300 million-euro (S$446.5 million) payment to the International Monetary Fund due on Friday it reaches a deal with its lenders by then, even if aid is not disbursed in time, a Greek government official said on Tuesday.

The June 5 payment is the first of four this month totalling 1.6 billion euros. Athens, which depends on foreign aid to stay afloat, has said it may not be able to pay the IMF without new loans from its European and IMF creditors. "If we judge that a deal has been sealed, then we will make the June 5 payment normally," the official said, adding that the payment would be made if there was a preliminary agreement without necessarily being approved at a Eurogroup meeting.

The official also said the Greek government had not yet received any text or document on a proposal from lenders following Monday's meeting of European leaders, the IMF and the European Central Bank.

REUTERS