The International Monetary Fund needs to see more realistic eurozone assumptions about Greece's economy and more detail on planned debt relief measures to join a bailout, IMF's European Department head Poul Thomsen said.
Thomsen said the IMF and Greece's eurozone lenders made progress in talks on Monday, but were not yet quite there.
Dijsselbloem said there was progress towards an agreement on making Greece's debt more sustainable – something the IMF has made a condition of its involvement – but that a deal was not ready yet.
"We still think there is a need for more realism in assumptions and more specificity," Thomsen said today.
The eurozone and the IMF agreed on Monday that Greece would have to keep a primary surplus – the budget balance before debt servicing – at 3.5 per cent of GDP for five years after the bailout ends in 2018.
But officials said the size of the surplus afterwards was still under discussion and there were also differences on economic growth assumptions – especially that forecasts used for debt relief plans spanned dozens of years.
A group of eurozone countries led by Germany wants the IMF to join the Greek bailout, now handled by euro zone governments alone, to increase credibility. The IMF says that it will only join if Greece is granted debt relief.
The basis of the discussions is a promise made by eurozone lenders in May 2016 which spells out some assumptions for the possible debt relief. The IMF wants eurozone governments to spell out the various measures in more detail.
"We accept the main assumption of the May 2016 agreement that it does not have to be finally approved, calibrated or delivered before the end of the programme (bailout) but we need more specificity on what will come at the end of the programme," Thomsen said.
Greece's international lenders failed to reach a deal on Monday on additional debt relief measures for Athens after an 8-hour meeting in Brussels, the head of the eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers said.
Ministers did not agree on releasing new loans to Athens, but Jeroen Dijsselbloem said work was progressing towards a next disbursement "before the summer". Greece needs a new loan to pay debts due in July.
Dijsselbloem said that eurozone finance ministers hoped to reach a deal on disbursing more bailout funds to Greece at their next meeting on June 15.
EU Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici also said he saw a deal at the next Eurogroup meeting, in Luxembourg.
Dijsselbloem said there was progress towards an agreement on making Greece's debt more sustainable – something the IMF has made a condition of its involvement – but that a deal was not ready yet. (Reuters)