Luxembourg: IMF obliged to provide "credible" programme – MD Lagarde

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) "has an obligation" to its 188 members to support a "credible" programme, managing director, Christine Lagarde, stated as she arrived for the Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday. The meeting today is considered to be Greece's last chance to resolve its debt crisis and avoid bankruptcy. Greece still owes 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to the IMF, which is due at the end of June, and Lagarde previously made it very clear that there will be no grace period, should the country struggle to make the payment. However speaking before the conference, the IMF managing director said that if "good proposals" are made then "of course" they are going to be reviewed. The Greek government and its three lenders, the (IMF), the European Union and the European Central Bank (ECB) are currently in deadlock over the last installation of €7.2 billion ($8.1bn) in rescue funds. The Eurogroup members are hoping to reach agreement in the Luxembourg meeting, thus preventing Greece from bankruptcy and a possible Grexit, the term coined for Greece's potential exit from Europe.