QUESTIONER: Hi, good morning. I have some questions on Greece. When
does the mission goes back the 12th, and why haven't you announced yet a
date? Are there any conditions for your return?
MR. MURRAY: Okay, so those three questions. Thanks for them.
Basically, at this stage, we're discussing with the authorities what is
needed from them before the mission can return for further discussions
on policies for the completing the review -- the Sixth Review. This
would also determine the timeline, these discussions also determine the
timeline for the return of the next mission, so quick answer is, I do
not have a date for mission return at this time. Right now, but let me
just elaborate a little bit for you, because I'm sure you're interested.
I mean, our focus at the moment is on the successful completion of the
Sixth Review so that Greece can continue to put in place the essential
conditions for sustainable growth and job creation and meet its fiscal
targets under our program, which, as you probably know, is scheduled to
expire in March, 2016. So year after next.
QUESTIONER: So you don't have a timetable for the return, but do you
have a timetable for the completion, which we all hope will be
successful -- the completion of this review?
MR. MURRAY: Like I said, those discussions are underway too, and as
we continue those discussions with the authorities about the policies
that we will be reviewing, we'll come up with a timeline. But we don't
have a timeline fixed at this moment.
QUESTIONER: A couple of follow up questions from that -- first of
all, do you think it's feasible for the review to be concluded before
the end of the year, given that the mission has been back to Athens yet,
and the second question is, you mentioned you're expecting the
authorities to send you what is required from them. What is this, and
could it be the 19 point document that was published in my newspaper,
Kathimerini earlier this week? Thank you.
MR. MURRAY: Well, just, I'm going to back track. This is really for
our audience. The Greek press corps is very familiar with the situation
in Greece and the relationship with the Fund, but let me just recap
briefly, so for context. The discussions with the authorities are
continuing, whether they're physically, the mission is physically in
Athens or note, so discussions are continuing, and as you know, the
staff team led by Rishi Goyal ended a technical visit to Athens in early
October. The managing director subsequently had a meeting with the
Greek authorities here in Washington during our annual meetings, the
annual meetings that were just concluded here in Washington. And as I
mentioned earlier at this stage, we were discussing with the
authorities, what is needed from them, before a mission can return for
further discussions on policies for the review. But beyond that, I
really can't elaborate. Just real quick, we do have a question -- I'm
going to -- this is I think I'm going to take my last Greek question,
but just for the record, I'll just going to go online here. You have a
Greek question too, okay. We'll bunch these a little bit. From Star
Channel, any updates -- I'm just going to read the question, so for the
record I think I've answered this but -- any updates on when an IMF team
will be going back to Athens? Do you think the Greek government has
made progress on key issues for successful completion of the upcoming
review? Demetrious, I think I've answered that here in the room. Anna,
why don't we take a Greek question from you and then, go there.
QUESTIONER: There was, I don't know if you saw my colleague's been
asking for an interview with -- sorry -- they had an interview with a
Greek official who said that they'd like to have a precautionary line
without as much micro-management and conditions.
QUESTIONER: So I was just wondering if you could explain what kind of
precautionary lines the IMF has and whether any of them are available
without as many conditions.
MR. MURRAY: Yeah. I think I'd bore everybody if I got into all the
nitty gritty of the sorts of credit facilities we have and how they're
treated. There's a ream of information that we publish on that. But one
point I do need to make just for the sake of arguments. The authorities
have not made any requests, so they've not made a request for
precautionary, so it's an academic question at this state. But there is,
for those that are really interested, there's a whole host of
information on our web site about what precautionary is, but
precautionary versus the normal facilities -- it's how you really -- the
bottom line is how you use it. It's really how you use, not what the
conditions are or the performance criteria. Can we do one last Greece
question? Okay. Thank you.
QUESTIONER: I promise this will be my last one. So what the IMF's
role will be, if Greece gets a credit line from Europe, from ASI?
MR. MURRAY: That's totally between the Greeks and the European
authorities to work out. I have no say in that and I have no input into
that.
QUESTIONER: So what will be the IMF’s role?
MR. MURRAY: Well if it's a facility between the Greeks and the
Europeans, it's their facility, but we have a loan -- you know we have a
program, so, that's the reality.
