ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greece’s government has given the order to repay a roughly 450 million euro ($485-million) loan instalment to the International Monetary Fund due Thursday – a debt Athens had insisted it will honor despite being severely cash-strapped.
The debt stems from Greece’s international bailout, under which the country was extended 240 billion euros in rescue loans from other eurozone countries and the IMF to prevent bankruptcy.
“The order (for the repayment) has been given,” and the payment was being processed and carried out, a Finance Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, in line with ministry regulations.
Doubts about whether Athens could repay the loan had renewed fears the country might default and have to leave the eurozone.
Greece’s new left wing-led government has been locked in strained negotiations with creditors since winning elections in January on pledges to abolish the deeply resented budget austerity measures required by the rescue program.