Greek Government To Repay $494M IMF Debt, Says Will Meet 'All Obligations' To Its Creditors

The debt-ridden Greek government has agreed to make a loan payment due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) later this week. In a statement released on Sunday after a meeting with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said that payment owed to the organization “would be forthcoming on April 9th.”

“Continuing uncertainty is not in Greece’s interest and I welcomed confirmation by the minister,” Lagarde said in the statement. Greece's loan installment due on April 9 amounts to 450 million euros ($494 million).

Following the meeting, Varoufakis said his government plans to “reform Greece deeply” and would seek to improve the “efficacy of negotiations” with its creditors. “(Greece) intends to meet all obligations to all its creditors, ad infinitum,” he said, according to media reports.

Greece has not received bailout funds since August last year, forcing it to resort to contingency measures such as borrowing from state entities to tide over the financial crisis gripping the country. In February, its newly elected government negotiated a four-month bailout extension in return for dropping key anti-austerity measures and undertaking a raft of eurozone-approved reforms. However, Greece’s international creditors, including the so-called troika of the IMF, the European Union and the European Central Bank, have so far refused to endorse the reform package.

As a result, Greece is yet to receive the remaining funds in its 240 billion euro ($263 billion) rescue package.

The latest development comes just hours after Panagiotis Lafazanis, the Greek energy minister, reportedly accused the international creditors of treating the country with “unbelievable prejudice and as a colony.”