Greece repays latest IMF installment amidst efforts to reach debt crisis deal

Greece repaid a loan installment worth 458 million euros (about 492 million U.S. dollars) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday amidst ongoing efforts to reach a deal to unlock further vital international funding within the next fortnight.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis assured IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde at a meeting in Washington last Sunday that Greece would indefinitely meet all its obligations to creditors.

Meanwhile Athens and its international lenders were trying to clinch an agreement on the reform list the new Greek government pledged to implement in exchange for further aid.

The Eurogroup Working Group meeting in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday this week examined the reform list to pave the way for a deal to be reached by the next Eurogroup meeting in Riga on April 24.

Athens was under time constraints for a positive outcome as soon as possible, as the Greek state coffers seem to be running out of cash this spring.

Greek officials have recognized that Greece faces liquidity issues, but reassured that there would be no credit event in coming weeks. Endit