Separately, euro zone officials said deputy finance ministers
would hold a teleconference on Thursday to follow up on days of
negotiations between representatives of Greece and creditors the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank and the
European Commission.
Greece must repay four loans totaling 1.6 billion euros ($1.76
billion) to the IMF next month, starting with a 300 million euro
payment on June 5.
If no deal is reached within EU/IMF for new loans to be disbursed to
Athens, Greece is likely to default on the IMF loan repayment. This
would start a process that could lead Greece out of the euro zone.
But in Berlin a senior German official, speaking on condition of not
being named, said it was encouraging that Greece had signaled its
desire to meet the looming debt obligations.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/26/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png) "I find it encouraging, if it is true, that the Greeks signaled
yesterday their desire to repay the 300 million euros to the IMF on
June 5," the official said.
"I think there is reason to believe that we will not be talking
about a default situation around June 5, neither before or
immediately thereafter."
Talks between Greece and its creditors on more funding have been
dragging on since late January, when the left-wing government of
Alexis Tsipras took power on promises of ending austerity and
reversing some reforms agreed with the creditors by the previous
government.
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Despite progress on other issues, a deal cannot yet be reached
because the creditors believe that to repay its huge public debt,
Greece should be running a higher primary surplus, or the balance
before debt servicing costs, than Athens is prepared to accept.
To achieve that surplus, the creditors believe Greece should raise
its Value Added Tax rate and balance its pensions budget.
Greece, however, believes a lower primary surplus would make the
economy grow faster, increasing the chances of the creditors getting
repaid.
(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski/Noah Barkin Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)
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