Alexis Tsipras attacks troika divisions for threatening Greek recovery
Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has attacked the arguments over Greece's bailout programme between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union for stifling the country's recovery.
Speaking in Thessaloniki this morning, Tsipras said: "What is creating conditions of delay in regaining trust of markets and investors … is the constant clash and disagreement between the IMF and European institutions."
The IMF has not yet committed to provide more funds to Greece in the €10.3bn bailout package struck over the summer, stating it would wait until more detailed discussions on how to manage Greece's €300bn debt pile had been concluded. The Eurozone, however, coughed up €7.5bn worth of funds almost immediately after the Greek parliament passed a series of tax and pension reforms to pave the way for the deal back in May.
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The disagreements between the IMF and the European institutions had risked derailing that deal, and the involvement of the IMF was further brought into question last week after Eurozone finance ministers said the bailout programme could be knocked off course if Greece did not step up its reform efforts.
Tsipras also hit out at the wrangling between the troika as damaging Greece's prospects of gaining access to the European Central Bank (ECB)'s €80bn-a-month quantitative easing programme. Greek debt is currently not eligible to be bought by the ECB, though hopes had been raised the central bank would lift the ban following the latest deal.