Greece will pay the installment of 312 million due to the IMF on June 5, because by then the agreement with the creditors will be reached. The Minister of Economy, Yanis Varoufakis, said it in Athens during an interview with CNN’s, announcing a tax on bank transactions and an amnesty on deposits hidden abroad by taxing them at 15%. His announcement was denied by the head of Finance of his own government, though.
«We will pay because I have no doubt that we will reach an agreement with European institutions and partners», said Varoufakis. But international lenders must “act together” so to propose a new agreement on the “bridge loan” (loan meant to cover the intermediate current phase between the previous loan and the future structured financial aid – Ed.note). «It’s time that the institutions, particularly the IMF, act together and reach an agreement with us».
How much money should Athens return – Athens has to return about 1.6 billion euro to IMF in June, in four instalments, the first due on June 5, in fact amounted to 312 million. In recent days several members of the Greek government have said that Athens would not be able to pay until it had reached an agreement with creditors to unlock new financial aid.
The Greek minister of the economy then denied the possibility of a tax on bank deposits, but has announced a series of measures to facilitate electronic payments in order to fight tax evasion. «For instance, there may be a small commission on ATM withdrawals. We are discussing about it as an incentive for the use of cards; a decision was not made yet, it might be a very small fee», said Varoufakis.
The denial of the Ministry of Finance – However, shortly after the statements of Varoufakis, the Greek Ministry of Finance issued a statement explaining that the proposal to impose a tax on bank transactions and a fee on ATM withdrawals is no longer in discussion with the country’s creditors. The note – in contradiction with the statements of the Minister – said that the proposals were withdrawn from the negotiating table because of the opposition of the Greek government, which believes it not effective enough to discourage cash transactions.
Source: tg24.sky.it
Translation by PLANET360.info
