Greece faces crucial week of IMF repayments

2 hours ago

Another crucial week for Greece - on Friday, it must pay the International Monetary Fund at least a quarter of the 1.5bn euros it has to pay in June.

However, the total this month Greece actually needs to pay in terms of bills is 6.7bn euros. The rest - 5.2bn euros - is short term treasury bills.

The assumption is these will be rolled over. If not, that would be a big disaster and there are more payments to come in July and August - at least another 10bn euros to the IMF, the ECB and short term bills.

Meanwhile, talks are still continuing in Brussels on whether the European Union, along with the IMF, can release further bailout funds. The stumbling block is the Europeans don't want to give Athens more money unless it meets various austerity targets.

Anna Holligan reports from Athens on how this is affecting the Greek people, and how desperate the situation is becoming.bbc