/ world today news/ The country will go bankrupt if it does not pay by July 1, said the head of the IMF
Greece is likely to remain in the eurozone, even though talks with its creditors have yet to produce results, according to British bookmakers. William Hill today resumed accepting bets on whether the country will leave the eurozone by the end of the year, Reuters reported. The bookmaker offers odds of 3.25 that this will happen. The coefficient for the country remaining in the Eurozone is much lower – 1.33. When William Hill stopped taking Grexit bets in April, the odds were 4.00. Competitor Paddy Power offers odds of 2 to 1 on Grexit (33%). According to a company spokesperson, due to the constant development of the situation, further fluctuations in the final outcome in the next few days cannot be ruled out.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Director Christine Lagarde has warned Greece that it will no longer be granted additional time to make a 1.6 billion euro debt payment due at the end of the month. “There will be no more grace period,” Lagarde said in Luxembourg, where eurozone finance ministers met yesterday. “I have until June 30. If it is not paid by July 1, then it is not paid and Greece will be in bankruptcy with the IMF,” she said, adding that the rumors about a possible delay of a month or two are not true. Greece has already bought itself some time by combining four payments to the IMF into one, the deadline of which is precisely the end of the month.
Lagarde said Greece’s creditors are “fully prepared to discuss the pension system”, which Greece says is a major issue for the country in discussions with creditors.
Greece’s finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, said at the Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg he would present “new ideas” to the government on how to avoid problems for the eurozone. “The goal is to reach an effective consensus instead of costly disagreements,” he added before the talks. “We are optimistic that we will now receive the proposals,” said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble upon arrival at the meeting in Luxembourg. However, he added that reaching an agreement depends on Greece and refused to comment on the possibility of our southern neighbor leaving the eurozone. “Germany is making every effort for Greece to remain a member of the Eurozone,” Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Bundestag. “I still have hope. Where there is a will, there is a way. If the political leaders of Greece show such will, there is still a chance to reach an agreement,” Merkel said.
Reuters reported that in just 3 days, 2 billion euros were withdrawn from banks in Greece. This amount is equal to nearly 1.5% of the deposits of companies and households at the end of April, which were 133 billion euros. Until the last week, the withdrawals were 200-300 million euros per day.
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