The International Monetary Fund last night confirmed Greece had not made its €1.5 billion euro loan repayment, making it the first advanced economy to ever be in arrears to the Fund.

The missed payment, the largest in the Fund's history, is equivalent to a default, in that both imply a breach of Athens' obligations.

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said Greece can now only receive further IMF funding once the arrears are cleared. Greece had asked for a last-minute repayment extension, which the Fund's board will consider 'in due course.'

Athens had earlier asked its European partners for new aid and offered to scrap a referendum in an attempt to lure creditors back into talks after five months of inconclusive negotiations have brought Greece close to leaving the euro currency bloc.

Sources said the offer was made by Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on a call with eurozone colleagues.

Greece’s existing aid package, with locked-up funds it needs to pay wages, salaries and debt, expired at midnight last night.

The Greek overtures came as tens of thousands of people descended on Athens’s central square in two different rallies – one to support the government and the other to push for Greece to remain in the euro.

The left-wing Greek government’s gambits seemed to work in part.

European officials said it was too late to prevent Greece’s current bailout from expiring at midnight, meaning Athens will forfeit €15.3 billion in frozen funds. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out further negotiations until after Sunday’s referendum that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called on further bailout terms.

Greece had asked for a repayment extension, which IMF will consider in due course

Yet finance ministers said they would confer today over Tsipras’s latest loan request, effectively coming back to the negotiating table.

Sources said the officials today are expected to discuss Tsipras’s request for a new two-year loan to pay debts that amount to nearly €30 billion. Tsipras is also seeking debt restructuring, an issue the lenders have so far been reluctant to tackle.

In what seemed like an effort to soften them, Varoufakis indicated

during the call that his government might change its stance on the July 5 referendum when Greeks will vote on the latest bailout proposals by creditors.

Greece is ‘open’ to calling off referendum

The 40-year-old premier says the plebiscite is the democratic way for Greeks to say whether they will accept more budget-cuts and taxes in order to maintain international aid. He has been urging people to vote against it, angering creditors.

During the call, Varoufakis said the Greek government was open to either call off the vote or change stance and recommend a “yes” vote if a deal were reached, according to euro zone sources. A Greek official said that, as of late Tuesday, there were no changes to the planned referendum.

Greece has received nearly €240 billion euros in two bailouts from the European Union and International Monetary Fund since 2010. The money has allowed the country to stay afloat but at a high cost to its population which has swallowed many austerity measures such cuts to pensions, wages and public services.

With its likely missed payment to the IMF, Greece is on a path out of the euro with unforeseeable consequences for both the EU’s grand currency project and the global economy.

“What would happen if Greece came out of the euro? There would be a negative message that euro membership is reversible,” said Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who a week ago declared that he did not fear contagion from Greece.

“People may think that if one country can leave the euro, others could do so in the future.”