OREANDA-NEWS. A staff team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Delia Velculescu, visited Athens during July 30-August 12 to participate in technical discussions between the Greek authorities and the European Commission, European Central Bank and European Stability Mechanism (ESM) on an economic program that could be financially supported by the ESM.

At the end of the visit, Ms. Velculescu made the following statement:

“During our visit we worked closely with the Greek authorities and our European partners. The Memorandum of Understanding that has been agreed between the authorities and the European partners is a very important step forward. It puts in place far-reaching policies to restore fiscal sustainability, financial sector stability, and sustainable growth.

“In the period ahead, we look forward to working with the authorities to develop their program in more detail and for Greece’s European partners to make decisions on debt relief that will allow Greece’s debt to become sustainable. The IMF will remain closely engaged with the Greek government and the European partners to assist in this process, and will make an assessment of its participation in providing any additional financing to Greece once the steps on the authorities' program and debt relief have been taken, expected at the time of the first review of the ESM program."