IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde received Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the Fund's headquarters in Washington D.C. on Tuesday morning, with both sides sticking to positions widely known and expressed over the past few months.
On her part, Lagarde emphasized afterwards that the IMF insists on the current leftist-rightist coalition government implementing agreed to reforms, a condition to starting talks over whatever debt relief from European creditors.
Tsipras, on his part, stayed "on message" by saying Greece is experiencing an economic recovery after many years of recession. One of the low points of the ongoing Greek economic recession was the "annus horribilis" of 2015, when Tsipras' leftist SYRIZA rode to power in a snap election.
As expected, both sides "agreed" that looming negotiations for the third review of the bailout should be concluded as soon as possible, with the goal being by the end of the year.
The current credit-linked bailout program, the third in a row, is set to end in August 2018, although creditors' supervision of Greece's finances will extend far into the future.
"Everyone knows that in the past we had delays, and everyone knows that this occurred due to disagreements between the institutions. But now I am happy to say that we have surpassed these disagreements and everyone wants the review to conclude as soon as possible," Tsipras said, referring to creditors ("institutions") and a punishing year and a half of delay to conclude the previous second review.
