IMF: Possibility of more than one tranche to Greece

In the standard Press Conference of the Fund in Washington deputy spokesman William Murray said there might be more than one tranche for Greece after the completion of the evaluation of the Greek program, probably in May.
 
After six months of negotiations, the fifth evaluation of the Greek program was completed this month. "As there was a delay in the evaluation, we will reorganize the tranches to Greece. I guess the payment will be higher because there were gaps between the assessments. I cannot say exactly how much the tranche will be."
 
Asked about when the IMF's Executive Board will meet again to approve the tranche he responded that there is no specific date yet, but it will be held in May.
 
Also, asked if the meeting will be before or after the European elections, he once again said that it will take place in May.
 
For whether the European partners have given assurances for adequate funding of the Greek program, he said that if the IMF Board has approved the tranche it must mean that the necessary assurances have been given.
 
Murray was asked for troika’s estimates on the primary surplus, saying this was mentioned in the recent joint statement by the IMF, EU and ECB, which reiterates that the financial performance of Greece is in the course of implementing the program objectives and that from the first estimations it is evident that the pursuit for a primary surplus in 2013 was achieved by a significant margin.
 

Finally, when asked if the IMF is claiming a special role for the recapitalization of banks, Murray said that the IMF encourages the ongoing efforts in Europe regarding the stress test for banks.