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Roundup: Athens stocks dive as Greece defers IMF repayment

Xinhua, June 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Greek people's mounting concern over the prospect of an imminent rift with international lenders this June was reflected Friday by a dive at the Athens Stock Exchange.

The general price index at the Athens Stock Exchange declined 4.8 percent by early Friday afternoon.

In a first for Greece and a developed country, Athens failed to repay on Friday a 300 million euros (333 million U.S. dollars) loan installment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to Greek ministers, however, the country has the cash and could cover the payment, as well as the next one next week.

On Thursday, the central Bank of Greece formally made a request to IMF to "bundle" its four payments due to IMF this June amounting to approximately 1.5 billion euros into one. Ongoing negotiations over a reforms-for-cash deal with European partners and the IMF have not concluded despite four months of talks.

IMF announced Greece's request had been accepted. The new final deadline for Greece was set for June 30 -- the day Greece's extension on its second bailout program expires under the Eurogroup's Feb. 20 deal.

Meanwhile, media commentators wondered whether Athens' gamble to withhold IMF payments would eventually backfire and if Greek citizens would have to pay a heavier price than the conditions set by creditors.

"Yesterday will be a day remembered in history," Antonis Karakoussis, Managing Editor of "Vima" (Tribune) daily noted. "The threat of an international disruption from a potential non-payment of the IMF is visible, but the dangers threatening Greece are more prominent. As more people become more concerned, the risk of an accident increases."

Karakoussis argued that if panic prevails and depositors withdraw cash en masse in the coming days, the banking system would not cope.

"The country needs an agreement here and now which will help to avoid bankruptcy and look ahead with relative optimism," Nikos Chatzinikolaou, owner of Real media group, said.

All recent opinion surveys have shown that most Greek citizens prefer a harsh new deal to stay afloat and in the euro zone rather than sailing in unchartered waters and risk financial collapse and a Grexit. Endit