Greece meets first IMF payment deadline

Greece has met the deadline for repaying the first part of it loan to the International Monetary Fund for March, a senior government official said on Friday.

The installment, which was due on Friday, was worth EUR310 million euros ($341.93 million). Greece has to pay EUR1.5 billion in total to the IMF over the next two weeks.

The senior government official added that the Greek Finance Ministry has sent another list of reform proposals to Brussels ahead of a crucial meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Monday.

“It mainly clarifies the reforms that have already been sent and adds some new ones,” the government official said.

Athens last month struck an agreement with its creditors for a four-month extension to the terms of its bailout. As part of the deal, the government sent a list of proposals outlining a number of reforms for the cash strapped economy, including a draft bill to restructure the repayment of state arrears, and reforms to the auditing and collection of taxes.

But Greece faces a funding shortfall in the coming weeks if it fails to agree a revised program of austerity measures with its international creditors.

Earlier on Friday, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras met with the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to brief him on the outcome of the European Central Bank’s governing council meeting for March.

After the meeting, Mr. Stournaras told reporters Greek banks were sufficiently recapitalized and there is no danger for deposits. But he added that Monday’s Eurogroup has to be “successful” for Greece.