Greek Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and IMF chief Christine Lagarde at the Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg. Lagarde said their will be "no period of grace" if Greece doesn't pay the IMF on time. (Photo: Council of the EU)

Eurogroup starts with talk of Greek default

Green Economy

by Eric Maurice, LUXEMBOURG,

Christine Lagarde, the director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), warned Thursday (18 June) that she would consider Greece to be default as early as 1 July if it fails to repay the IMF on 30 June.

Under IMF rules, she has 30 days to inform the board of any failure by the Greek government to repay the €1.6 billion it owes.   But Lagarde said there would be "no period of grace".

"[Greece] will be in default, it will be in arrears vis-a-vis the IMF on 1 July. But I hope it is...