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4:3 IMF chief visits, presser with Papandreou, protest

(7 Dec 2010) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) supports a plan to extend Greece's repayment of bailout loans without imposing new conditions on the financially struggling country, the organisation's chief said on Tuesday. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in Athens on a one-day visit, also urged the European Union to seek a "comprehensive solution" to the continent's debt crisis. Greece is currently negotiating terms of repayment for the three-year, 110 (b) billion euros (150 billion US dollars) bailout loan that saved the debt-ridden country from default in May. The loan package ends in 2013, but analysts and officials have been concerned over Greece's ability to cope with the large debt repayments it would face afterward, in 2014 and 2015. Last month, European Union governments agreed to look into extending the repayment deadline for Greece from three years to seven and a half years, bringing the Greek loan package in line with Ireland's. The terms of the repayment - the timing schedule and whether it would include the full 110 (b) billion euros (150 billion US dollars) or just the portion still to be disbursed - have not been decided. On Monday, Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the European Union's Executive Commission, said in Brussels that the EU has already decided in principle to extend Greece's loans. Facing a mountain of debt and a deficit of 15.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, Greece's Socialist government has imposed tough cost-cutting measures, including reducing civil service salaries, trimming pensions and increasing consumer taxes, in order to receive the bailout loans. Greece is not the only eurozone country to be facing problems, and Strauss-Kahn advocated a comprehensive solution to the European debt crisis. "We believe in the IMF that dealing with one country then dealing with another country, maybe tomorrow with a third country, is not a good way of addressing the problem," he said at a news conference with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. While he disagreed with those saying the debt crisis puts the future of Europe's single currency at stake, he said the problem is one that needs to be addressed. He said that would take time but he's confident it will happen. Meanwhile, protests against austerity measures continued. Several thousand protesters demonstrated in central Athens on Tuesday against Strauss-Khan's visit. Unions angered by the austerity plan have held a series of strikes, with the latest planned for Wednesday, when all public transport in Athens will stop for 24 hours. Workers across Greece will also walk off the job in a 24-hour general strike on December 15. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...