PRESS RELEASE

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Greece Won’t Pay the IMF on June 5, Unless There Is a Deal on the Debt

May 20, 2015 (EIRNS)—The Greek government’s parliamentary speaker, Nikos Filis, said in an interview today with ANT1 TV, that Greece will not be able to make its upcoming 300-million-euro payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), without a comprehensive deal on the debt. Filis was blunt:

"Now is the moment that the negotiations are coming to a head. Now is the moment of truth, on June 5. If there is no deal by then that will address the current funding problem, they won’t get any money... There is no money for the foreign [lenders] when they have not given us any funds for a year. We don’t have it to make the payment, and this is part of the discussion."

Filis said the government would, however, find the money to make its pension and wage payments, before paying the IMF. Greece owes the IMF a total of €1.5 billion in various payments over June, the first portion of which comes due on June 5.

Labor Minister Panos Skourletis said the same thing, but a bit more politely:

"There’s a deadline, which is June 5. We all know that if there is no solution, let’s say until then, in relation to funding, things will be difficult."