Voce del verbo TO Tap= attappare , mettere una toppa , inkiappettarsi chi crede che il buco lo hai chiuso
EXCLUSIVE-Greece
tapped its emergency IMF reserves to pay IMF debt-sources
(Adds central bank official)
By Lefteris Papadimas and George Georgiopoulos
ATHENS, May 12 (Reuters) - Greece emptied an emergency IMF
holding account to repay 750 million euros ($839 million) due to
the international lender, a Greek centralbank official said,
avoiding default but underscoring the dire state of the
country's finances.
With Athens close to running out of cash and a deal with its
international creditors still elusive, there had been doubts
about whether theleftist-led government would pay the IMF or
opt to save cash to pay salaries and pensions later this month.
Member countries of the International Monetary Fund are
required to keep a holding account which may be used for
emergencies but the moneycan only be used with the lender's
approval, a Greek central bank official said.
A government official told Reuters that Athens used about
650 million euros from the holding account and 100 million euros
from its cash reserves to make the payment on Monday.
The Greek central bank official confirmed the account had
been tapped after government officials met the central bank
chief last week to figure out how to make the payment.
"The negative is that the account was emptied but in order
to avert a default it was necessary to weigh the options," the
Bank of Greece official said.
Made a day early, the payment calmed immediate fears of a
Greek default, but Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on
Monday the liquidity situationwas "terribly urgent" and a deal
to release further funds was needed in the next couple of weeks.
[ID:nL5N0Y2255]
Central bank chief Yannis Stournaras met Deputy Prime
Minister Yannis Dragasakis and Deputy Foreign Minister Euclid
Tsakalotos, atop negotiator in talks with lenders, on two
occasions last week on how to meet the May IMF repayment, the
central bank official said.
"The central bank governor put forth the idea to tap the 650
million euros in the holding account, which neededIMF
approval," the official said, declining to be named.
"Governor Stournaras made the arrangement with the IMF and
on Saturday we got their okay and the account was unlocked."
Greece's IMF holding account - which is held at the Bank of
Greece - has been in existence for 30 years for emergency needs,
the official said.
A second Greek official said on Tuesday that the reserves
the government tapped must be replenished in the IMF account in
"several weeks."
Followinglegislative changes, Greece has meanwhile gathered
600 million euros of local government and other public entity
money to help it deal with the cash crunch, the government's
spokesman said on Tuesday. [ID:nA8N0WT02E]
Euro zone finance ministerssaid on Monday that more work
was needed to reach a cash-for-reform deal between Athens and
the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank.
Created in 1945, the IMF is accountable to the 188 countries
that make up its near-globalmembership. Each member is assigned
a quota, based on its relative size in the world economy, which
determines its contribution to the fund's financial resources.