Greece may turn to IMF, reports

Date: Thursday 18 Mar 2010

Greece was back in focus again on Thursday amid press reports that the troubled country will turn to the International Monetary Fund for financial help.

The Wall Street Journal quotes a senior Greek official as saying that Greece might seek help from the IMF over the 2-4 April Easter weekend if no detailed rescue plans are forthcoming from the EU.

"We still want a solution within the European Union, but it doesn't look good," the official told the paper.

"If there is no clear support at the EU summit on March 25, we will have to decide where to go next. There are a number of scenarios on the table, but the most prominent one is the IMF."

Earlier this week, European countries made yet more vague promises to help the debt laden country if needed. The euro zone’s 16 finance ministers declared late on Monday that they have agreed the "technical modalities" for financial help for Greece, but the exact details of how the package would work remained vague.

“The objective would not be to provide financing at average euro zone interest rates, but to safeguard financial stability in the euro area as a whole,” the ministers said.

They stressed that financial help will only be made available if Greece's austerity measures fail to reduce the country's public deficit and national debt.

Elsewhere, Greece's taxi drivers and petrol station owners are due to go on strike.

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