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No grace period for Greece's 1.5b euro payment: IMF

Merkel is optimistic about reaching a deal when EU leaders meet at a summit next week

Published Thu, Jun 18, 2015 · 09:50 PM

Luxembourg

INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde said that Greece will not be given a grace period if it fails to make a payment at the end of the month as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that there is still time to reach a deal on aid.

Ms Lagarde, whose policies were labelled "criminal" last week by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, said that Greece will immediately be considered in default unless it pays about about 1.5 billion euros (2.3 billion) due to the fund on June 30.